Sun and Dust c. 1936

This is a monochrome print by William LeRoy Flint. The dominant tones are sepia, like that dust, and the marks look like they are scratched into the plate, building up the image through labor and process. I can almost feel the grit and sun that Flint must have felt, standing in that desolate scene. What was it like to try to conjure the feeling of a place with lines? There's such sadness in the stillness of the old plough and the abandoned buildings beyond. I think about artists like Van Gogh, who also used printmaking to try and capture the feeling of the land and the lives of those who worked it. The artist is in conversation with those before him. It's as if they are whispering ideas and approaches across time, and it all culminates in these scratchy marks which conjure an idea, a feeling. It’s that feeling of an endless landscape that stays with you, reminding us of the beauty and hardship of rural life.