The Miner 1937

Kenneth Miller Adams made this print of a miner with monochrome ink on a zinc plate. The texture feels built, hatched bit by bit with the tip of a dry needle. I can only imagine Adams inking the plate, wiping it back to reveal the image, and then pressing paper against it. What must it have been like to coax this figure out of the darkness? There’s a real tension between light and shadow here. It reminds me a little of Käthe Kollwitz. Notice the miner’s form. Adams has him kneeling, back to us, pickaxe in hand, ready to strike. There's a beautiful economy in the line, and I love how the light models his muscles. That thick dark shadow looms over the miner’s shoulder, a looming presence as potent as the figure himself. You can feel the grit and the weight of his labor. The soft yielding paper gives such contrast to the hard labour it represents!