Pittsburgh, No.3 1909

Joseph Pennell made this print called 'Pittsburgh, No.3' using etching; the lines are so fine, like thoughts forming on paper. I can only imagine him down by the river, squinting at the emerging city through the thick, hazy light. The buildings stand tall in the distance like modernist totems, while down below, there are tugboats and cranes amidst the dark waters. Pennell is using line here to capture the feeling of industry—the weight of metal, the grit of coal. Look at those tiny scratches that make up the sky, and then consider the way the buildings are reduced to simple, tonal blocks. It feels like he’s trying to get at something beyond just the surface of the scene. He is making a modern impression. Artists are always in conversation, and I see echoes of Whistler and maybe even a premonition of Sheeler in Pennell’s work. They build on each other, remixing ideas, offering new ways of seeing the world.