City Streets c. 1935

I. Iver Rose made "City Streets" using graphite on paper. The process looks so simple, just mark making, and the world is made. It's all in how you see the world, right? The image is so dark, but beams of light seem to fall from the sky. There’s something frantic about the mark-making. Take a look at the figures gathered in the lower part of the image; they’re roughly sketched, and although we can make out the contours of bodies, none of them have any real detail. You get the sense of a crowd in motion rather than a group of individuals. Now consider the tower, built with clean lines and sharp edges, a brutalist, expressionist imagining of the modern metropolis. The contrast suggests a tension between the individual and the urban environment. I’m reminded of Käthe Kollwitz, another artist interested in everyday people, but also of the Futurists and their obsession with machines. Art's an ongoing conversation, you know?