Building the Great Turret 1916

Joseph Pennell’s lithograph, Building the Great Turret, is a flurry of marks on paper, the kind that makes you feel the artist was *really* looking. The hatching and cross-hatching, those tiny lines going every which way, aren't just descriptive, they're like a record of the artist's gaze moving across the subject. The subject, this massive turret, is built from a million tiny marks. Look at how Pennell renders the light filtering through the industrial space. It's all about texture, the way the pencil dances across the paper, creating shadows and highlights. There’s a sense of monumentality, but also of the hand – you can almost feel Pennell's hand moving as you look at the drawing. It reminds me of Piranesi's etchings of Roman ruins – the same sense of awe and the same way of constructing a world out of ink and paper. Both artists show us that art isn't just about what you see, but how you see it. It’s all up for grabs, totally ambiguous.