Oil c. 1920s

Frederick Monhoff created this print, titled ‘Oil’, sometime in the middle of the twentieth century, most likely using etching. I imagine him hunched over a metal plate, carefully incising lines with a sharp tool. Look at the spindly oil rigs that reach towards the sky, rendered with a frantic energy that feels both industrial and slightly desperate. What was Monhoff thinking as he made it? Was he celebrating the modern age, or mourning the loss of something? The figures in the foreground, dwarfed by the machinery, seem to be in silent contemplation. The tonal range here is exquisite, moving from ghostly grays to stark blacks. It reminds me of other printmakers like Joseph Pennell or even some of the German Expressionists. Artists are always in conversation, picking up on each other's ideas, and pushing them further. Monhoff's 'Oil' is a striking reminder of how art can capture not just a scene, but a whole mood, a whole way of looking at the world.