Acro, Corinth from Corinth 1913

Joseph Pennell made this etching, "Acro, Corinth from Corinth," using sweeping strokes of black ink to summon the monumental architecture and landscape. I imagine Pennell outside, squinting in the Greek sun, charcoal in hand, trying to capture the weight of those columns, the way they rise from rubble into the sky. There's a real contrast here between the solid forms of the architecture and the ephemeral sky. You can almost feel the energy of his hand moving across the plate, building up the image layer by layer, the way the hatching brings a sense of form to the ruins and the mountain. It's a dance between control and accident. It makes me think about Piranesi and his architectural fantasies, but Pennell’s got this American directness. He’s not just showing us a scene, he's inviting us into his experience of seeing it, his process of trying to understand it. It reminds me that we, as artists, are all in conversation, responding to what's come before, trying to make something new.