Illuminations 1959

Richard Florsheim created this lithograph called Illuminations using crayon and ink washes. It’s a dreamy scene of lights and darks where the city is reflected in the water. I can imagine Florsheim standing there, maybe late at night, trying to capture that feeling of the city twinkling back at itself. The litho crayon probably felt soft and greasy in his hand, each stroke pulling up the texture of the stone. The way he's used those ink washes gives it this hazy, almost underwater feel. It’s like he's not just showing us a place, but also a mood, a memory. I'm thinking about Whistler and his nocturnes and how artists keep coming back to these urban landscapes, trying to find something new in the reflections and refractions. It's like an ongoing conversation.