The Workplace 1936

Claire Mahl Moore made this image "The Workplace" using pencil or charcoal. Look at how the artist has built up layers of tone with very fine marks. I wonder what it was like to make this? The artist is dealing with a subject matter that has a dark mood. Are these workers being surveilled? Or, are they imagining their boss looking at them? I'm thinking about the hand of the artist moving across the surface of the paper - trying to create a sense of the psychological as much as the physical space of labour. That cluster of faces emerging from the left side of the image creates a sense of claustrophobia. Is this the gaze of the other workers? Do they know what the note taker is writing down in his book? Even the ticking clock seems to indicate a build up of pressure, the feeling of time running out. It makes you consider the wider body of work of an artist like Moore. The power of the artist lies in their ability to take an everyday scene and transform it into something meaningful and thought-provoking. Each artist adds something to the conversation about our world.