The Shops at Night, Changing Shifts 1916

Joseph Pennell made this print, "The Shops at Night, Changing Shifts," using marks that feel like they've been scratched out of the darkness. The whole thing is swathed in shadow, with the skeletal structures of cranes reaching into the night. You know, I imagine Pennell out there, maybe with a small lamp, squinting to capture the mood of this industrial scene. What was he thinking, watching the workers shift? Was it about progress, or something else? The scratchy lines almost feel nervous. I love the way the light catches on those arched windows, they pull the eye. And it's not just light; it's the texture, the way the ink sits on the paper, making you feel the grit and the grime. It makes me think about Whistler's nocturnes, but with a harder, more restless edge. It's all part of this ongoing conversation artists have, riffing off each other, pushing ideas forward.