Miners 1937

Blanche Grambs made this etching called 'Miners', and right away I can see it's an image born out of darkness. I imagine her inking up the plate, wiping away at the surface, and pulling the print with a heavy press. There's so much black, but the scratchy lines create form and light. The miners emerge from the shadows, their faces obscured, but their presence weighty. I wonder what Grambs was thinking about, showing these workers so close, almost looming. There's a kinship here with the social realists like Kathe Kollwitz, who also used printmaking to depict the working class with empathy and grit. It's like these artists are in constant conversation, responding to the world around them through line and tone. And that’s what mark-making is all about, isn't it? It's not just about representation, it’s about expression.