Blighted Homes [verso] c. 1948

This aquatint and etching print, "Blighted Homes", was created by Dox Thrash, but the date is unknown. It is an image of urban housing rendered in dark shades and tones of gray. The sky broods above those houses. The clothing hangs limp. What was Thrash feeling as he created this image? I bet he was thinking about what he saw, about the weight of the walls and the bleak atmosphere of the scene. He must have been thinking about people, how they survive and even thrive in such places. I love how he used aquatint to create that sense of atmosphere. It's like a fog has settled over everything, softening the edges of the buildings. It reminds me of some of the lithographs that come out of the WPA. We’re all drawing from each other, right? Thrash made his mark, and now we’re all looking at it, thinking about houses and the feelings they contain.