The Commuter 1926

George Overbury, or Pop Hart, made this etching, "The Commuter," and immediately I wonder, was he the commuter? I think the artist is often depicting himself, somehow. Look at how those marks carve the paper away to create a grey rainy light. I imagine Pop Hart hunched over a metal plate, scratching into it, lost in his thoughts. What was he thinking when he made it? Maybe about the daily grind, the figures lost in shadow, the constant movement of city life. I see Hopper here, and the Ashcan school, all those painters of everyday life, who loved the working class. The way Hart etches the lines, it’s like he’s digging into the surface, trying to get at something deeper than just the image. It’s all about feeling, about being there, in that moment, in that rain. We are all just walking each other home.