Untitled (Abandoned Truck) 1931

James Brooks made this print, "Untitled (Abandoned Truck)," using, I'm guessing, a kind of etching or lithography technique. Look at the subtle greyscale palette, the scratchy marks, and the dense, rhythmic strokes. I imagine Brooks, squinting and intensely focused, drawing and redrawing with a sharp tool, again and again. I can almost feel his concentration on the materiality of the print, the rough texture of the paper, and the way the ink bleeds into its surface. The abandoned truck sits heavy, in a landscape of broken verticals. Those marks around the central image could be blades of grass, or tears. It makes me wonder what Brooks was thinking about when he made this? It’s not as gestural as his paintings, so was it a study for a painting? What does it mean for a painting to become a study? Is it still a painting? Brooks, like many painters, was surely in dialogue with the other artists and their work that came before him, absorbing lessons, challenging assumptions, and pushing the boundaries of what painting could be. The history of painting is a continuous conversation, where artists inspire, challenge, and build upon each other's ideas across generations.