Abstract Piece – Louis Lozowick, Construction. Lithograph. c. 1930

Lozowick’s pieces all seem to be characterized by incredibly geometric cityscapes. Nothing drawn in this piece is geometrically inaccurate, as opposed to many other abstract artists. However, there seems to be a pretty rapid shift in perspective from the scene with the truck and the scene with the staked pieces of wood. From my analysis, there seems to be two distinct scenes, however I’m not entirely sure that this is the case. The way he uses shading to divide the most space-taking objects make it seem that there are two distinct scenes. On the top scene, Lozowick uses mostly dark greys/blacks, with highlights only on the truck, and behind the truck on the building. The inconsistency and softness in the shading make it appear to be at night in this scene. Softness, meaning that the outlines of the shapes aren’t as clear, especially when compares to the bottom scene shading. That, of which, is very harsh, and very crisp. The highlights in this scene are significantly brighter, and the shadows are a lot darker. The difference in contrast of both scenes seems to create a better sense of separation. Because of the title of the piece, I can infer that these are two difference scenes of the process in construction. In the top of the two, I can see a construction worker loading something on the back of a truck. In the second scene, it looks like a factory or plant. The unnaturally harsh lighting makes me infer that this is in a building with non-natural light. The placement of the ladder and the scattering of a few workers to the left makes it appear to be in a large indoor space. Also, it almost looks like the man within the white chunk to the left of the stacked wood is a photographer. (It looks like he is holding a camera, standing next to a tripod). He could possibly be there to take progress pictures of the building to be constructed – he could possibly be outside, in a completely different scene. What drew me to this piece is its apparent realism – based on the accuracy of the objects, it seems like this is a real scene. However, as you continue to view the piece, you can eventually depict multiple scenes in this one print.