Ready for Service Again 1917

Curator: Joseph Pennell’s 1917 engraving, “Ready for Service Again,” certainly speaks to the anxieties of its time, doesn't it? The sheer scale and density almost overwhelms. Editor: It does. The detail is incredible! The lines give so much form to the battleships and figures. As a student, my first impression is simply that it represents an important historical moment... what are your thoughts? Curator: Precisely. Let's think about Pennell's choice of engraving. He wasn’t just representing a battleship; he was participating in a larger system of production. Prints allowed for mass distribution; it was reproducible propaganda, readily consumed. How does this medium inform our reading of the imagery, do you think? Editor: That's a very interesting way to put it. Considering the print medium, it was indeed more accessible. I see now that its social reach amplifies its significance as more than just a picture of ships, and how many could receive the artist's idea! Curator: Exactly! It underscores the industrialization of warfare. The print makes tangible the war machine. Consider the labor involved in building those ships, the steel they're made of, and the bodies of those working on them. All contributing to, and caught in, this vast apparatus of war. Editor: That context definitely sheds new light on it! Considering the ships as these material outputs of industrial labor really brings into focus their relationship to the human experience. I never looked at art that way before. Curator: Seeing art through the lens of its material origins allows us to understand its social and political force. We’ve moved away from idealizing warships. What do you think? Editor: I learned today how critical it is to consider the role of industry and manufacturing, which are too often separate, and now I’ll analyze them jointly. Curator: Exactly, it can be the beginning of a deep understanding, thinking in social, political and historical terms through materiality.