San Francisco Landscape 1943

Robert Cranston Lee made this lino-cut print of a San Francisco street; it's a moody cityscape rendered in hard blacks and whites. I can imagine the artist carving away at that block, thinking about light and shadow. Those little cuts that make the cobbled street—wow, that is a lot of work! Look at the way the artist plays with perspective, how the buildings get smaller as they go up the hill towards Coit Tower. It's so physical, the act of making a print. There's a real contrast between the dark, solid blacks and the stark white of the paper, giving the whole scene a feeling of depth and texture. You can almost feel the steepness of the street! It reminds me of the German Expressionists; there’s that same emphasis on feeling and emotion. This feels like a love letter to San Francisco from someone with a real feel for the city's unique vibe. Artists look and learn from each other, building on what came before. It’s all one big conversation!