Lodgings for Gents 1923

Joseph Pennell made this print of a New York skyscraper, maybe with etching or engraving, at a time when these new buildings were changing the city skyline. Look at that raw, unfinished skyscraper. It’s like Pennell is showing us the city's skeleton as it reaches for the sky. And the way he uses all those lines, it's not just about showing us the building, but feeling the energy of the city growing and changing. It almost feels like he's in conversation with the futurist painters like Boccioni, who were obsessed with speed, machinery, and the dynamism of modern life. Pennell's thinking about similar stuff but with a unique eye on the city as a place of constant flux. Doesn’t it make you think about how much cities have changed since then? It's like Pennell's work is part of this big conversation artists have been having for centuries, each adding their own spin.