Exeter Hall 1905

This is Joseph Pennell's etching of Exeter Hall, and like all prints, it's about process. Look at how he’s built up the image, scratch by scratch. There’s a lot of gray here, a real tonal range. It’s not just descriptive; it’s atmospheric. Pennell captures the massiveness of the architecture but also, the hustle and bustle of the people milling about, going in and out. I love the way the dense darks of the interior pull you in. The whole thing feels like a memory fading at the edges. Especially where the marks get sketchier and the building becomes this ghost of a structure. It's not precise, and that's the beauty of it. It’s about the feeling of a place rather than a photographic rendering. You can see echoes of Whistler here, with that shared interest in capturing the energy of a city. It reminds us that art doesn't always need to shout; sometimes, it whispers.