Paul Revere Print 1940

Archie Thompson made this "Paul Revere Print," and it looks like it was created with some kind of printmaking process, maybe a lithograph, then delicately hand-colored. The way the colors are applied—thin washes of watercolor, I'd guess—it's almost like the print is blushing. I like how Thompson handled the smoke from the muskets. It's not just a gray blob; it's got these delicate, feathery edges that almost dissolve into the background. It reminds me of the way Turner painted clouds, all atmospheric and ethereal. But then you look at the rest of the print and it's much more graphic and precise. There's a real tension between those two modes of representation, the blurry and the sharp. It's like Thompson is saying, "Here's the official story, but here's also the messy, chaotic reality." Think about Goya's "Disasters of War," how he used etching to expose the brutality of conflict, and you get a sense of what Thompson might be after. It’s not just about history; it's about the enduring human capacity for violence.