The Cut, Looking toward Ancon Hill 1912

Joseph Pennell’s etching, ‘The Cut, Looking toward Ancon Hill’ captures a scene of immense engineering. The printmaking process itself, using acid to bite lines into a metal plate, echoes the industrial power on display. Pennell wasn't just representing a landscape, but a feat of human labor. Notice how the dense network of railway lines converge, creating a powerful sense of depth, and how the smoke rising from the locomotives blurs the distinction between the natural and the man-made. The scene pulses with the energy of construction, the trains and machinery rendered with intricate detail. Pennell’s composition implicates the viewer in the relentless activity of the canal's creation. He wants us to consider this landscape not as a sublime vista, but as a monument to industrial capability, and the cost of its realization. By focusing on materials, making, and context, we can understand the full meaning of the artwork, bridging the gap between fine art and the realities of labor and progress.