Coal—The Towering Breaker 1908

Joseph Pennell made this etching called Coal—The Towering Breaker in 1908, and you can see how he really digs into the metal plate with his lines. It's all about process, right? How deeply can you go? I mean, look at the sky, it’s all scratched up, like he's trying to pull the sky down to earth, make it as heavy as the coal itself. Then there's that breaker building, all these lines converging, making it look both solid and about to collapse. It reminds me a bit of Piranesi, with that sense of overwhelming architecture and precariousness. Art's always talking to itself, right? This piece leaves you with questions, not answers, and that's exactly where art should take us.