Invasion c. 1940s

Merritt Mauzey made "Invasion" with what looks like etching or engraving, sometime during his career. Look at all those marks, all working together to create this landscape! You can just imagine him, bent over the plate, making tiny decisions, one after the other. The material quality of the print, with its dense, almost furry blacks and grays, gives a real sense of the textures of the land, from the rough-hewn logs in the foreground to the distant fields. Notice the stump to the right of the image, its rings, the way the rope wraps around the top, the roots, all described by so many fine strokes. This detail gives the image depth and makes me wonder how Mauzey decided what to include and what to leave out. It looks like he was pulling the image from the land itself! Maybe Mauzey was looking at earlier printmakers like Dürer or Rembrandt, who also had a knack for capturing the grit and beauty of everyday life. It reminds us that art isn't just about pretty pictures, it's about how we see and experience the world.