The Shambles 1929

James N. Rosenberg made this drawing titled ‘The Shambles’ in November 1929. The marks! They're like frantic scribbles, a kind of nervous energy buzzing across the paper. I imagine Rosenberg hunched over, charcoal stick flying, trying to capture the chaos he saw unfolding. There's this dense crowd of figures at the bottom, all these ghostly faces and hands reaching out, like souls in torment. Above them, these looming buildings tilt and sway, mirroring the turbulence below. You can almost feel the anxiety and fear of that moment, the stock market crash, the world teetering on the brink. What Rosenberg did here really resonates with other artists like Otto Dix or George Grosz, who used art to unflinchingly depict the anxieties of their time. There’s this feeling that Rosenberg is trying to get something out, to document, maybe even to warn. It's a raw, visceral response and a reminder that art can be a powerful form of witnessing.