Linesman c. 1941

Editor: So this is Margaret Hunt Lansing's "Linesman," created around 1941. It's a drawing, pencil on paper, and it strikes me as surprisingly...lonely. All those converging lines, the single pole—it feels very isolated. What do you see in it? Curator: It’s a poignant image, especially considering its date. These lines, obsessively rendered, are not just wires but arteries of communication, connecting communities, families. But what does the artist tell us by depicting a singular point of connection, instead of the connected location itself? Editor: That’s interesting. It makes me think about what’s *not* there, the human element almost erased. The power lines create the landscape we take for granted but their very prevalence obscures that infrastructure is inherently about people. Curator: Precisely. The linesman, the unseen hero ensuring that link is maintained, is a symbolic bridge, isn’t he? This archetypal figure braves elemental forces and technical risks; however, his presence remains conspicuously absent, even erased, from this drawing. Don't you agree that is an accurate analysis? Editor: Absolutely. There's a tension between the intricate network the lines represent and the lone, almost stark quality of the drawing itself. It’s like a quiet elegy for the interconnectedness we both crave and often overlook. Curator: I see a lament that the human effort making our civilization a functioning, connected thing will go forever unthanked. In this moment, on the eve of a world war where communications were vital, was it not a reminder of an older agrarian ideal slipping from the Nation’s grasp? Editor: That is interesting—It makes you see an American Adam. Thank you! I'll look at works from this period in an entirely new light. Curator: It is my privilege! We should explore other connections the artist might be trying to show us.