(City Street with Pedestrians)

John H. Hunter

In John H. Hunter’s untitled urban scene, a strange and lively collection of pedestrians passes one another on a street, angled as if the viewer is looking at them through a fish-eye lens or the peephole of a front door, while in the background rows of houses tilt toward the distance. Everything is illuminated by a single streetlamp, the only thing that is not warped in the composition.

Hunter works quickly on the stone to create a tension in the pull of the figures and the push of the structures; some facial expressions suggest the determination of fast-paced city lives while others are mysteriously inscrutable. What appears at first to be a sketch study of everyday people becomes a world of secrets, allowing the viewer to ponder over the circumstances of each individual as they hurry through a topsy-turvy world.