Santa Sophia of the Gas Tanks c. 1935

Curator: This graphite drawing, created around 1935, is entitled "Santa Sophia of the Gas Tanks" by Mary Adeline McKibbin. What strikes you initially? Editor: Well, it’s oddly beautiful in a forbidding way. Like a silent, gray industrial cathedral. The density of the drawing style, especially with the pencil medium, creates a smoggy sort of ambience around this mechanical, industrial structure. It feels like a monument to something... or maybe a warning. Curator: McKibbin’s Precisionist style transforms an industrial cityscape into something almost reverential, don't you think? The title juxtaposes the grand architecture of the Hagia Sophia with the rather mundane, even utilitarian, nature of gas tanks. Editor: Absolutely, it's a conscious elevation. She’s finding the sacred in the secular, I suppose, or maybe mocking our tendency to build shrines to progress. What I find fascinating is the lack of human figures. The industry seems to exist entirely for itself. There’s something very post-human about it. Curator: Indeed. This absence really emphasizes the overwhelming presence and power of industrial structures. These gas tanks, pipes, and buildings, rendered with such meticulous detail, become almost monumental, like ancient ruins. One can ponder whether they signify progress, alienation, or a complex mix of both. Editor: That complexity is what I'm drawn to. It's not simply a celebration of industry, nor a simple condemnation. It feels very much of its time— the '30s, mid-Depression, a moment of intense uncertainty and the rise of automation. The formal structure and somber mood seems to invite questions of technology’s impact. What were the dreams and costs of that time? Curator: It speaks to the ambivalent feelings towards industrial advancement that were prevalent in the early 20th century. McKibbin isn't giving us easy answers. Her style emphasizes a feeling of precision that somehow manages to feel both very present and rather old. Editor: In that respect, "Santa Sophia of the Gas Tanks" manages to offer, I feel, a compelling vision of what could be and what will inevitably be lost. The future devouring its own creations... I appreciate how it complicates easy judgements of progress, offering both awe and concern in graphite lines.