The Woolworth Building 1912

Joseph Pennell made this print of the Woolworth Building with etching, using lines to capture the textures of the city. The whole thing has an interesting open quality – you can almost feel the air moving through it. Pennell’s print is really about mark making and the feeling of the ink on paper. The texture is a bit dry, not lush, but it gives the image a kind of starkness that I like. Look at the way he uses hatching to create depth. See how those marks around the top of the building become softer, more atmospheric? It’s a beautiful way of showing how a massive structure like this interacts with the sky. This piece reminds me a bit of Piranesi, with the scale and the way he captures the grandeur, but Pennell brings a distinctly American sensibility to it. Both artists embrace ambiguity, allowing the image to suggest multiple interpretations.