Subway

Eichenberg's wood engraving Subway portrays a motley group of passengers seated on a Broadway-7th Avenue express train car. At left, a stylishly dressed and coiffed woman leans her head on her companion's shoulder as they both doze beneath an alluring poster "inviting romance." Next to them, an African American woman clad in a white dress, gloves, and a fancy hat radiating like an aureole sings to her captive audience. Between her and a little girl napping on the lap of her buxom mother as the child's balloon floats overhead, a weary workman, his sleeves rolled up and wearing a soft cap, rests his head on his forearm propped on one knee. Seated opposite are more riders, rendered as white-outlined dark silhouettes anchoring the left foreground. One of two old-fashioned bonnets reveals the profile pointed nose and chin of an old woman reading a book; beside her, a black man is hunched over in repose.

Shortly after immigrating to New York City from his native Germany, Eichenberg made four wood engravings, including this print and City Lights (TF 1996.17), that capture his first impressions of the dynamic metropolis. Public transport offered him fascinating people-watching opportunities, as it still does today's subway riders. Subway also displays Eichenberg's skill in translating tonal areas of black and white into witty yet compassionate characterizations of humanity. Inspired by the European tradition of satirical graphic art, Eichenberg infused his prints with social commentary informed by his scrutiny of individual appearance and behavior. His wood engravings rank with those by his contemporaries Rockwell Kent, Paul Landacre, and Clare Leighton.