The Prison

The art of Joseph Webb is indebted to F. L. M. Griggs. Both artists favored densely etched pastoral settings and haunted architectural spaces, but Webb infused his buildings (often ecclesiastical ones) with a sense of peace and spiritual affirmation. The Prison is unusual in his oeuvre in that it presents a startlingly bleak and threatening structure surrounded by a lifeless landscape. The etching takes us beyond the pastoral to a setting characterized instead by a strong sense of modern alienation.