The Dump, Charleroi
1911
Medium
lithograph
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.6985
Art Historical Context
In the stark lithograph *The Dump, Charler* (1911), American artist Joseph Pennell captures gritty underbelly of early 20th-century industrial Europe. Pennell, master printmaker renowned for his dramatic urban and architectural scenes, visited Belgium's Charleroi region—a hub of coal mining and heavy industry—during a period of rapid modernization. This work depicts a sprawling dump, likely piled with mining waste, evoking the environmental toll of the Industrial Revolution amid smoky factories and belching chimneys. As a lithograph, the piece showcases Pennell's virtuoso technique: he drew d...
About the Artist
Joseph Pennell · 1857–1926
Joseph Pennell (1857–1926) was born in Philadelphia to Quaker parents and displayed an early aptitude for drawing, finding solace in sketching amid a challenging childhood. He received initial drawing instruction from James R. Lambdin and his first etching lessons from Stephen Ferris in 1879. Pennell attended night classes at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art before studying at ...