Etching

A doubleheader, Brooklyn Bridge Week, Day 7 (Friday)

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Closing out Brooklyn Bridge Week, I had two prints left by different artists (as well as a bunch of others that were rejected early on), and I just couldn’t make up my mind. So you get a bonus image today. As we started it with Stow Wengenroth, his last Brooklyn Bridge print will be one of the two. (Don’t worry, I’ll take a break from Wengenroth for a while now, after posting 4 of his prints in the past week!) The other is a second print of the bridge by John Taylor Arms (Remember “Cobwebs”?)

Compare today’s “Gates of the City” by Arms to Wengenroth’s “Brooklyn Bridge” Very much the same view, same angle, both beautiful textured pictures, yet quite different. Arms zooms in on the cables as seen through the arches close up, and his brick texture is detailed yet different from Wengenroth’s.

Wengenroth’s today is a night view called “Manhattan Gateway”. The fog and the time of day give the picture such a different feel. Look at the diffuse aura of the gas streetlamps, and the lights of the city in the background–even as reflected on the water of the East River. The texture of the wrought iron fence is highlighted here.

And thus we say farewell to Brooklyn Bridge Week! Back to a more varied “diet” starting on Saturday.

“Gates of the City” (Etching, 1922) and “Manhattan Gateway” (Lithograph, 1948)

“Cobwebs”, Brooklyn Bridge Week, Day 4 (Tuesday)

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John Taylor Arms was recognized in his own time as a master etcher. Here’s one of his two prints of the Brooklyn Bridge–this one is quite different from those we’ve already looked at, but also beautiful. The two Wengenroth prints we’ve looked at of the bridge are both looking along the bridge from on it, whereas the Bosman and this are from the side; the Bosman was a night view, and this is a day view.

Cobwebs (Etching, 1921)

A little Manhattan nostalgia: Monday

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I dug into the oeuvre of a new-to-me etcher this weekend. Susan Pyzow is a native New Yorker, and many of her prints are set in NYC. She does a level of detail similar to Wengenroth, but with a very different texture, which is pleasing by virtue of it’s difference and intrinsically. I selected today’s print because the subject is a place somewhat familiar to me–the Jefferson Market area, around 6th Av and W 10th Street. My grandmother lived on W. 11th Street between 5th and 6th Av, and she did much of her shopping at the Jefferson Market, a somewhat “gourmet” grocery store which was a neighborhood landmark for decades. The immediate area took on the Jefferson Market name, and a branch of the NY Public Library at 6th and 10th was called the Jefferson Market branch of the library. It was itself a historic building–a former courthouse with a very distinctive and beautiful appearance. Pyzow has a nice print of the north end of the library as seen (I think) from W 10th St. It evokes that area and that era for me–visiting my grandmother and being given luscious desserts, and walking around that portion of Greenwich Village.

Jefferson Market (Etching, 2017)

Yes, it’s a real medieval castle…..Week 12, Day 5 (Wednesday)

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Stokesay Castle is one of the best preserved examples of a fortified manor house in all of England. It is located in Shropshire, between the Welsh border and Birmingham. It was built in the 13th century and the basic structure has remained largely unchanged since then. The site was originally part of the estate of various Norman nobles, but was sold to a wool merchant in the early 1300s. Ownership passed back and forth between noble and common families. During the 19th century, owners recognized the historic significance and attempted to conserve/restore, which was a considerable financial burden. In 1986, the family that owned Stokesay gave it to the English Heritage Trust, which manages numerous historic sites throughout England.

John Taylor Arms, well-known American etcher whom we’ve looked at before,. did this gorgeous print of it on one of his numerous European tours. Again, the level of detail is astounding and beautiful. Enjoy!

Stokesay Castle (Shropshire, etching, 1942)

Arch of the Conca in Perugia–John Taylor Arms: week 10, day 1 (Saturday) of share-a-print-a-day

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I’ve shown new artists’ work for the past two days, so I thought that today I’d bring us back to familiar territory. John Taylor Arms was a renowned etcher. with a very detailed style similar to Martin Lewis or Wengenroth, but with pictures that are less photorealistic–less likely to be mistaken for photographs. Here’s a beautiful etching of an arch in Perugia, Italy.

Arch of the Conca, Perugia: Italian Series (etching, 1926)

It’s snowing! A contemporary printmaker’s falling snow print: week 9, day 7 (Wednesday)

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I had a beautiful springy print picked out, and then it started to snow, and I decided I needed a snow print. Turns out there are tons of prints of fallen snow, on the ground and other surfaces, but very few of snow actually falling. It’s an interesting counterpoint to paintings, of which there are many excellent falling snow examples.

Helene Bautista is from Toulouse, France, and became a print artist around 2012. As a lesser known contemporary printmaker, I was unable to find a whole lot of information about her. No Wikipedia entry! She is fairly prolific, and employs a variety of different techniques, often together in the same print. In addition to this print, she has several other falling snow prints that I may share in the future, as the occasion and mood suit.

Check out her other prints:

https://www.instagram.com/bautistahelene/?hl=en

https://helenebautista.weebly.com/

Do you have any favorite pictures of falling snow? I won’t insist on prints from you, but I’d love to see examples of snow pix you love, whatever the medium.

Hiver (Winter, 2017, etching/drypoint/aquatint)

Martin Lewis and Shadows: week 7, Monday

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Martin Lewis, the printmaker who got me started on this enthusiasm, did a lot of interesting things with shadows. I think his many nocturnal scenes set in NYC are really his best work. Today’s print is focused on shadows as the sun is going down in midtown Manhattan. (This scene is apparently set at 34th St and Park Avenue, looking west.)

Lewis employs an interesting combination technique in this print: he creates background texture via an etching (acid) technique called sandpaper ground, but the picture is created by an engraving (sharp stylus) technique called drypoint. I’ll share more of Lewis’ shadow prints in the future.

Shadow Dance (1930)

Gargoyles! John Taylor Arms: Week 6, day 2 (Sunday)

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Gargoyles are carved stone grotesque figures (fantastic or mythical creatures) common in Gothic architecture, used for decoration but especially as decorative parts of a waterspout to direct rainwater away from the building. They are a common feature of Gothic cathedrals, and the tradition has continued in some more modern churches and universities as well. My alma mater is festooned with gargoyles–my attention was drawn to them when I was an undergrad and an RA who was an avid photographer was systematically documenting all the many gargoyles just on the Quad alone (the oldest dorm). Here’s one example:

John Taylor Arms, a well known American etcher from the early 20th century whose work I have show twice before, was fascinated by Gothic architecture, and did etchings of many European cathedrals, including some 10-15 of their gargoyles.

“I call it the ‘Gargoyle Series’ and it is devoted to those queer, grim grotesques, often humorous, sometimes tragic, and always entirely fascinating, which constitute such telling decorative accents on all the great Gothic buildings of France.”

His wife added “. . . they possess a strange harsh beauty of their own and are peculiarly characteristic of one aspect of the age from which they sprang. The builders of that day, spurred on by the consecrated ecstacy of religious fervor to create miracles of loveliness, were human also, and into these imaginative chimeras went such normal emotions as hate and humour, sadness and satire.”

The gargoyle and his quarry (1920, etching, Notre Dame de Paris cathedral)

The detail is exquisite; you can see how the centuries old stone of the gargoyle is pitted with age.

An unusual subject, Richard Bosman: week 6, day 1 (Saturday)

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I like landscapes, and choose a lot of them. Portrayals of bodies of water are especially pleasing to me, and seem be disproportionally represented as subjects of 2-D art vs other landscape subjects. Richard Bosman is an Australian-American artist whose work I have featured twice before (https://www.artblog.me/2021/10/09/sharing-a-print-a-day/, https://www.artblog.me/2021/10/31/waterfall-richard-bosman-again-week-4/), both of which were landscapes, of which one was a waterfall. Bosman did a lot of seascapes and other bodies of water, and did them beautifully. Today, I’ve chosen another beautiful print which is NOT a water scene. It’s a colorful print done by etching–a less common technique for multicolored prints. Love to hear opinions.

Embers (2012, etching)

Week 3 of share-a-print-a-day (Monday): John Taylor Arms again

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John Taylor Arms, as you may remember, was a prolific etcher from the first half of the 20th century who was widely recognized for his talent in his time. Most of his prints are of places, which happens to be the category I like best. Here’s an absolutely lovely one, which is not profound but just plain beautiful. You have to look twice to realize it’s not a photo.

Venetian Mirror