Drop Testing Parachutes 1943

John Conway Menihan made this drawing, "Drop Testing Parachutes," using graphite on paper. Just imagine the sky, so full of potential disaster! The plane looks so delicate as it flies above the opening parachute. Then another one, already open, is floating gently toward earth. What was he thinking as he made this drawing? Were they thinking about engineering and how things work? The lines are so crisp, they have to be about something technical. You can feel the force of the air, can’t you? And yet, it’s strangely serene. It puts me in mind of Vija Celmins' drawings of the sky, which have that same balance of observation and reflection. Artists are always talking to each other, across time and space, in this ongoing conversation about how to see and feel the world. Each mark, each line, a small attempt to grasp something essential.