Outgoing Trains 

Salvatore Pinto’s “Outgoing Trains” is an etching made with black ink on paper, probably sometime in the mid-20th century. The printmaking process gives this image its character. The artist would have first coated a metal plate with a waxy ground, then scratched the design into the surface, exposing the metal beneath. The plate was then submerged in acid, which bit into the exposed lines, creating grooves that would hold the ink. Finally, the plate was pressed onto paper, transferring the image. Look closely, and you can see how the varying pressure and angle of the artist’s hand have created lines that range from delicate to bold, capturing the scene’s grimy industrial atmosphere. The subject matter – trains, tracks, and urban infrastructure – speaks to the energy of the industrial age, when both goods and labor were transported en masse. The print itself, as a multiple, is connected to this social reality. It invites us to consider how the work’s material and method are tied to wider issues of labor, politics, and consumption, blurring the boundaries between fine art and the everyday.