The Old Hudson Donkey c. 1945 - 1946

William Sharp's "The Old Hudson Donkey" is an intimate etching on paper of monochrome hues. I can only imagine Sharp bent over a copper plate, meticulously incising these tiny lines to build up this scene. It feels so deliberate, so planned, yet there's a tension between the precision of the lines and the turbulent water they describe. There’s a lone figure on the dock, their coat billowing, maybe contemplating this donkey of a boat. Is it broken down? Is it waiting? The artist, like the man on the dock, is looking, thinking, and feeling. It makes me think of other artists obsessed with water, like Winslow Homer, but Sharp's got this gritty, urban edge to his work. He is finding beauty in the everyday, in the working harbor, and that’s pretty cool. It reminds me that artists are always responding to each other, riffing off the past, and making something totally new.