Country Fair-Night II 1949

John Muench made this print, Country Fair-Night II, and I love the way he's built up this whole scene using just black and white. It's like he's feeling his way through the image, letting the tones emerge. The texture here is amazing; you can almost feel the rough paper and the way the ink sits on it. Look at how he's layered the marks to create depth, especially in the crowd. There's a real push and pull between the light and the dark, which gives the piece a kind of nervous energy. And then you've got these small details, like the ferris wheel lights in the background. It all adds up to a feeling of being right there, in the thick of it, at the fair. Muench's work reminds me a bit of Honoré Daumier's lithographs; both artists had an eye for capturing everyday life with a real sense of humor and humanity. Art’s all about that conversation, right?