Chelsea Church Tower 1905

Joseph Pennell made this etching of Chelsea Church Tower, sometime in his career, with a real hunger to capture the light and shadow of the city. I can almost feel him, standing there, squinting at the scene, trying to figure out how to translate the three-dimensional world onto a flat surface. Look at the intricate lines he’s scratched into the plate to define the architectural forms, from the sturdy church tower to the surrounding buildings. You can see how the light catches on the clock face, throwing the whole composition into sharp relief, like the city is holding its breath for just a moment. Pennell must have stood in the footsteps of Whistler and the whole gang of etchers—all those people trying to define modernity. He's taking a stab at it, trying to distill the chaos and beauty of urban life into something manageable, something you can hold in your hands. It is like he is whispering to us from another time.