Gun Pit, No.II 1917

Joseph Pennell made this lithograph titled, "Gun Pit, No. II" sometime in his lifetime, using what looks like a grease pencil on a lithographic stone. The whole image is built up of smudgy, atmospheric marks, where the industrial scene emerges from a grey haze of tone. The soft marks of the grease pencil lend a hazy quality to the depiction of industry; Pennell's printmaking focuses on the process of image-making, of rubbing and pressing and layering. Look how the diagonal lines of the pit become lighter towards the top of the image, suggesting a vanishing point that allows the eye to imagine great depth. Yet, there's very little contrast in the image overall, so everything is flattened. I see a tension between depth and flatness that I often explore in my own work. Pennell's work reminds me of Whistler’s prints of industrial London, and it feels like part of an ongoing artistic conversation, where artists look for ambiguity, layering up multiple interpretations rather than a singular view.