Battalion Communications c. 1945

Edward Sallenbach made this monochrome drawing, called Battalion Communications, with ink on paper. Look at the scratchy marks, how they build up the image. The artist isn’t trying to hide his process. You can see how he built the figures, the equipment, everything, using lots of little lines. I bet he was working quickly, trying to capture a scene as it unfolded. I wonder what it was like for Sallenbach to be there, drawing, while all of this was happening. It seems as though he was interested in the quiet moments between the action. The soldier on the left is leaning on his arm, listening intently to something coming from the radio. The materiality of the artwork — the black ink, the white paper — speaks to the process. The image comes alive through the artist's hand. It's as if he is saying to us: look closely, the way the world is rendered has meaning.