A Day's Work c. 1930s

Hans Alexander Mueller made this print, "A Day’s Work," and honestly, you can feel that labor in every line. It's all graphite, I think, but the marks are so different. Some are light and whispery, almost like he's sketching out an idea, while others are dark and really dig into the paper. The texture he coaxes out of this simple medium is incredible. Look how he uses crosshatching to build up the shadows in the corners, but then leaves the open water so smooth and still. It’s about capturing the feeling of being there, in that cramped space with the workers, the smell of the sea mixing with the grind of the day. Notice how he uses a super dark outline on the figure at the front right, making it stand out, and your eye is drawn to the figures in the back who seem to be dreaming of what is beyond the walls of the factory. There's a similar vibe in some of Kollwitz’s prints, that focus on the working class, but Mueller brings his own sensibility. For me, it’s a reminder that art is never really finished, just abandoned. We keep working, keep pushing, keep trying to make sense of it all, line by line.