The Woolworth Building 1912

This is Joseph Pennell's etching, The Woolworth Building, made with dark lines on a light-colored paper. Look how the marks build up the forms of the buildings, like a spiderweb of lines catching the light. I can imagine Pennell standing on the street, squinting up at this brand new skyscraper, trying to capture its overwhelming scale and ambition. The Woolworth Building must have seemed like something from a science fiction movie back then. He’s scratching away at the plate, building up the darks to give the building its monumentality. See how he uses these tiny strokes to create a sense of atmosphere, like the city is exhaling around the building. It reminds me that artists are always looking at each other's work, responding, riffing, and pushing each other forward. Pennell was probably thinking about the etchings of Whistler. Artists are constantly in conversation, an endless chain of call and response across time.