Santa Cruz Mission c. 1936 - 1940

Marguerite Redman Dorgeloh made this drawing of the Santa Cruz Mission sometime between 1890 and 1944. It’s all done in pencil, or maybe charcoal. I love how she's used such simple materials to create depth. The drawing feels like a study in light and shadow. Look at how the soft gradations in the sky contrast with the sharp lines defining the architecture. The texture of the roof tiles is just amazing! Dorgeloh created a sense of depth by layering and varying the pressure of her marks, almost like she's building the mission up from the ground. There is something obsessive about all those tiny marks and the way they build up the image, brick by brick. It reminds me a bit of the drawings of Charles Burchfield, particularly his architectural studies. Both artists seem interested in the way that buildings are imbued with a certain presence. But unlike Burchfield, Dorgeloh doesn’t push the building to the point of anthropomorphism, of turning it into a figure. Instead, she retains something of its silent monumentality.