Untitled (Parched Crops) c. 1935

Harriet Keese Lanfair made this print, Untitled (Parched Crops), on a plate, wiping and scratching to create these figures. It’s like she’s conjuring them, wouldn't you say? I wonder about Lanfair and her process. Did she plan this meticulously, or did it emerge, slowly, through mark-making and the resistance of the plate? There’s something deeply moving in these hunched figures, and their placement in what must be a desolate landscape. See how the bucket and the cup feel so heavy, and they bring water to tiny, shriveled figures on the ground? The more I look, the more I think about the role of the artist in bearing witness. The way the figures blend with the background makes me think about Goya, and how we are all participants in the cycles of life and death. The image is so subtle, but haunting, don’t you think?