Baling Hay at Ganado c. 1933

Mahonri Young made this etching, Baling Hay at Ganado, sometime in the early 20th century, and it feels like a memory. There’s a looseness to the marks, like he’s not trying to get every detail perfect, but instead capture a feeling, a sense of place. Look at how he’s built up the texture of the hay bales with all those tiny lines going in different directions. It’s almost like he’s drawing with a ball of string. You can almost feel the roughness of the hay. And then, the way he’s suggested the figures working on top of the bales – they’re so simple, just a few lines, but they convey so much movement and energy. It reminds me a little bit of Käthe Kollwitz’s prints, in the way it uses a limited palette and a kind of raw, direct approach to capture the everyday lives of working people. It’s like Young is saying, ‘this is what life is like, this is what it feels like to be here, in this place, doing this work.' Art is all about conversation, and this piece is just one voice in that ongoing dialogue.