River Drive c. 1935 - 1943

This print called River Drive was made by Bernard Joseph Steffen. Look at how the forms have been built up through layers of graphite and color pencil. It feels as though Steffen patiently and intuitively worked the image into being. I really admire Steffen's choice of colors. They are all so muted: the greys, browns, and off-whites. They set a somber tone, and maybe this suggests Steffen was contemplating themes of loss or melancholy. What I love most is how the chimney stack has been rendered: the dark pencil work is interrupted by negative space—bare paper—which suggests smoke billowing from the chimney. You can see a similar approach in the clouds. Steffen isn't trying to trick us into thinking these objects are real. Rather, he is inviting us to explore the idea of a chimney, or smoke, or clouds. The work of other artists like Charles Burchfield comes to mind. Steffen, like Burchfield, seems to be encouraging us to see painting not as a representation of something that exists but as a thing in itself.