Summer, 1941 1943

Helen Anne Swartz made this lithograph, Summer, in 1941, using delicate marks to describe a roadside scene. It’s a process of building up tone and texture with layers and layers of hatching, like tiny conversations happening all over the paper. Up close, you can really see the graininess of the lithographic crayon, especially in the darker areas, like the trees and the shadow cast by the IGA store. The surface has this lovely, almost velvety quality because of it. I'm particularly drawn to the way she renders the foliage, there’s a real sense of weight and volume but it’s also somehow light and airy. It feels so evocative of a hot summer day. Swartz’s print reminds me of the work of other American scene painters like Edward Hopper, but with a more intimate, folksy sensibility. These artists weren’t trying to give you any answers, but instead inviting you to look closely and consider what you find.