The Cut Toward Culebra
Joseph Pennell American
Not on view
Pennell, a Philadelphia-born Quaker, spent the first two decades of his career abroad, living primarily in London, where he became a close associate of Whistler. This lithograph was made after the artist toured Panama and looked at the engineering works in progress for the Panama Canal. Of this subject, he wrote, "This is the most pictorial as well as the most profound part of the cut. Cubebra, the town, is high above--some of it has fallen in--on the edge in the distance--on the left. The white tower is an observatory...The drawing is looking toward the Atlantic. The engineer of the dirt train--the smoke is so black because the engines burn oil--climbed up to see what I was at." Fifty proofs were printed.
