Tarmac

Edward Alexander Wadsworth

1919 · Woodcut · Drawings and Prints

In this nearly abstract image of the Black Country, Wadsworth depicted a dramatic and brutal man-made landscape composed of industrial waste from the region’s factories and coal mines. Slag heaps and other refuse from coal and steel production are rendered as mountainous forms, while furnaces fill the sky with flames and smoke that, along with soot and other pollution, turn the sky dark. Jagged strips cut through the image, indicating areas designed for the passage of materials and people. The title likely refers to developments in road surfacing that involved tarmac, the recently patented material developed by Edgar Purnell Hooley. Wadsworth skillfully utilized the directness of the woodblock to create a nearly expressionist work that can be read as a commentary on the devastation brought by the war.

Artist

Edward Alexander Wadsworth

Date

1919

Medium

Woodcut

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gift, Lila Acheson Wallace, Charles and Jessie Price, and David T Schiff Gifts, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Dolores Valvidia Hurlburt Bequest, Peco Foundation and Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2019