The Old Shipyard 1916

Joseph Pennell made this print, The Old Shipyard, using etching, a process that demands close attention to materiality. The matrix of this work is a metal plate, most likely copper or zinc. The artist would have covered it with a waxy, acid-resistant ground, and then drawn through it with a sharp needle. The plate was then immersed in acid, which bit into the exposed lines. This process could be repeated to achieve different depths, controlling the tonality of the final image. Once Pennell was satisfied, he would have inked the plate, wiped the surface, and run it through a press with dampened paper, transferring the image. This print shows a shipyard full of cranes, looming high above, surrounded by masses of scaffolding. This evokes the enormous effort of shipbuilding, and the vast scale of industrial production. It’s not only an image of great labor; it’s also an image born of labor, from the skilled hands of the artist to the unseen workers who mined and processed the metal of the printing plate. When we attend to these material origins, we realize that this image is deeply enmeshed in the very world it represents.