Untitled (Steam Shovel) c. 1935 - 1943

John Johnson’s print presents an industrial scene in black and white. The contrast does the work. I wonder what Johnson felt like drawing the steam shovel, the workers dwarfed by the surrounding machinery, all playing their part in the city’s ceaseless transformation. His marks capture the grit and the grime, the sweat and effort of labor. You can feel the weight of the shovel and the energy of the people operating them. The artist uses a range of tones to model light and shadow, building a convincing picture of volume and depth. He focuses our attention on the human presence amidst all this industry. These figures seem as much a part of the machine as its cogs and pistons. Johnson knew what it was like to work, and this informs the way he drew. Artists respond to one another across time, in an ongoing conversation. I, too, find myself drawn to images of laborers and construction, the kind of work that is about building, about the relationship between humans and machines. There is always more than one reading.