The Last of the General Post Office 1912 - 1913

Henry Rushbury created this print, 'The Last of the General Post Office', using etching and drypoint. Look at the sky – so bare and open, achieved through controlled mark-making, with all these dark verticals and horizontals intersecting. The artist's hand is so apparent in the lines, isn't it? You get the sense that Rushbury is deeply in tune with his materials; the surface of the paper, the bite of the acid, the scratches of the needle. The composition is great. The cranes looming above are like these enormous, watchful figures, their forms echoing the classical lines of the building below. But the GPO is being torn down to make way for something new. How interesting that he chose to show that moment of destruction and change. It’s about the fleetingness of a moment, the recognition that everything transforms, even the buildings we think are permanent. It's an invitation to contemplate the ephemeral nature of existence. What do you think?