W.P.A. Leaners on Shovels 1938

Bernece Berkman-Hunter made this print of W.P.A. Leaners on Shovels using hatching to build up tone – a technique that I love. The whole scene feels like it’s vibrating. Look at the way the repeating cylindrical forms of the pipes lead your eye into the background, and the figure walking into the distance, as if to echo the men in the foreground. All the marks push you around the image, up and down, near and far. These guys might be leaning on shovels, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton of labor going on in this image. The world depicted is full of labor. You can see it in the musculature of the figures, but also in the material process of making the image. I wonder if Berkman-Hunter was influenced by Kathe Kollwitz, another artist who used printmaking to draw attention to the plight of the working classes? What do you think?