Anthracite 1936

Riva Helfond made this print, "Anthracite", using black ink to create the image. See how she lets the marks build up to create a sense of depth and atmosphere. The texture is key here, isn't it? The dense cross-hatching in the miners' figures versus the smoother, almost ghostly faces of the women, it's like two different worlds colliding on the same surface. Notice the repeated mark of the hatched line throughout, tying all aspects of the piece together, figures, landscape and architecture. Your eye can't help but move around and take in all of the details, connecting the miners to the mountains to the women looking on. It makes me think of Kathe Kollwitz, who also used printmaking to address labor and loss, though Kollwitz's approach is more expressionistic, maybe. Ultimately, it's that tension, that ambiguity between hope and despair, that makes this print so compelling.