The Roundhouse 1934

Roland Mousseau's "The Roundhouse" unfolds with dense marks of monochrome ink. What I love about this print is the idea that you can make something soft and subtle from something hard and rigid. I bet Roland was out there, hunkered down on a cold day. I can imagine him squinting in the grey light, trying to capture the mood of the scene. He’s trying to find a rhythm between those tight, controlled marks and the industrial chaos of all that smoke. I think he's enjoying contrasting this geometric infrastructure with the surrounding trees. Look at how the roundhouse is echoed in the roundness of the boats on the water. Everything is in dialogue with everything else! Like the Futurists, he's totally jazzed by modernity and industrialization but, unlike them, he presents this energy in such a quiet way. It shows how we are always inspired by those who came before us!