John Wilson was a master in figure drawing at an early age. Throughout his nearly seven-decade-long career, he has successfully married bold figuration with a sophisticated take on abstraction. But what stands out about the 88-year-old artist’s work is the humanity.

“John Wilson: Prints & Drawings’’ at Martha Richardson Fine Art in Boston showcases his powerful works on paper spanning the years from 1943 to 2004.

Among the highlights, which include many delightful pairings of preparatory sketches and lithographs, is the Mexican mural-influenced “Trabajador’’ (1951) depicting a bricklayer, appearing solid and content in his work, whose huge hands firmly grasp a trowel.

The highly stylized, Fernand Léger-inspired “Boulevard de Strasbourg,’’ a 1950 lithograph of Parisian pedestrians, is juxtaposed with a host of works infused with the artist's social conscience---including a portrait of Martin Luther King.