Rainy Day, New York c. 1933

Levon West made this print, Rainy Day, New York, with etching, and aquatint, probably sometime in the 1930s. I love how he's captured this busy, wet street; the blurring of everything really emphasizes the feeling of being stuck outside on a day like that. The piece has so much texture, it feels like you could reach out and feel the rain. The tonal range is so close, made up of only a few shades of grey. Look how the umbrellas create dark blobs which obscure the figures underneath. But then look at how West makes the highlights sing. The blank flag is this strange white shape, which you almost can't look away from, and the reflections on the wet street mirror the chaos of the city. It's a messy picture, a lot like life, and it feels so very alive. You can see a similar tonal approach in Whistler's etchings of the Thames. It's all about feeling, atmosphere, and the poetry of the everyday.