A Wind Is Rising and the Rivers Flow 1945

Benton Spruance made this lithograph, A Wind is Rising and the Rivers Flow, at some point in his career, and you can see he really gets to grips with the graphic qualities of the medium. It’s all about the push and pull of light and dark, this incredible tonal range he’s got going on. The thing that grabs me is the physicality of the image. The way the figures are rendered, they have a really sculptural weight to them. Look at the hands of the woman, they seem to be carved from stone. And then there's the dramatic chiaroscuro – it’s like a Caravaggio painting. The light source is not clear, but it creates a kind of spiritual drama, a really intense, emotional atmosphere. The title itself is full of drama - but what does it mean? You can see this same drama and gravitas in the work of Kollwitz. The two share a knack for lending emotional weight to social commentary. Ultimately, like all art, this piece holds its meaning loosely – ready to be reinterpreted with each viewing.