Tugs

Edward Alexander Wadsworth

1918 · Woodcut · Drawings and Prints

Unlike Wadsworth’s depictions of dazzle ships, in which he stressed the bold optical patterns of their contrasting black-and-white designs, Tugs consists of solid black forms interrupted by jagged white zigzags. Shapes are compressed and tightly cropped, producing a sense of disorientation. This compression, when combined with the sawtooth patterns found throughout the composition and the vertical stacks, among other related elements, recalls Wadsworth’s earlier work Newcastle and his evocation of mechanical parts made large to show the superhuman power of industrial machinery. Here, he applied the same precision and sense of force to wartime vessels.

Artist

Edward Alexander Wadsworth

Date

1918

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