Burial at Ludlow Colorado c. 1940

David Stone Martin created this monochrome print, Burial at Ludlow Colorado, to capture a very specific moment in time. Look at it! I can almost hear the scratch of the artist’s tool against the plate, as the image emerges. I wonder what it was like for David to make this work. What might he have been thinking about? Look at the man holding the coffin at the front - the weight of responsibility etched on his face. What does it mean to try and capture such a loaded moment with just lines? Each mark seems to carry not just the form of the figures, but also the gravity of the scene. The rifles slung over the shoulders of the men and the mournful faces of the crowd show both the weight of sorrow, and something about the human will to survive. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation. They respond to and build upon one another’s work. There is something that feels timeless about this print, something that speaks to the ongoing human experience of loss and resilience.