A Look at the Relative Popularity of Etchers in the 1930’s

The “Golden Era” in etching in America went from about 1915 to 1935.  During this stretch some of the finest art produced in America was created using this method.  Names at the top of everyone’s list of great etchers from the period would include George Bellows, Childe Hassam, John Taylor Arms, John Marin, and John Sloan.  But were these artists considered to be the “best” in their day?  As it turns out, a book published in 1930 might help us answer that question.

The book is Contemporary American Etching published by the American Art Dealers Association (AADA) in 1930.  The purpose of the book was to highlight the finest etchers of the era and show the plates “which would most worthily represent them.”  The method of selection is very interesting.  Twenty members of the AADA were polled to make the list.  To start they sent out a list of fifty etchers.  The dealers were requested to vote on which artists should be included.  Once the core list was created, a second poll was sent out to determine which illustrations for each artist would be used in the book.  As the number of illustrations was limited to one hundred, a maximum of four pieces per artist was established.

The Original Frank Benson Frontispiece Etching in the book

To make it in the book at all was an accomplishment and recognition of the reputation and perceived stature of the artist.  But the number of pieces represented per artist gives an idea of how these dealers ranked the etchers.  John Taylor Arms, Frank Benson, Kerr Eby, Childe Hassam, Arthur Heintzelman, Martin Lewis and Levon West were listed on almost every ballot and each had four pieces in the book.  The second tier with 3 etchings included George Bellows, Marguerite Kirmse and John Sloan.

The full “rankings” of etchers is listed below.  The number after each artist represents the number of prints reproduced in the book.

John Taylor Arms – 4

Frank W. Benson – 4

Kerr Eby – 4

Childe Hassam – 4

Arthur William Heintzelman – 4

Martin Lewis – 4

Levon West – 4

 

Edward Hopper – 3

Marguerite Kirmse – 3

John Sloan – 3

 

Gifford Beal – 2

George Elbert Burr – 2

F. A. Du Peyron – 2

Thomas Handforth – 2

George “Pop” Hart – 2

Troy Kinney – 2

William Auerbach Levy – 2

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan – 2

Ernest Roth – 2

Andre Smith – 2

Albert Sterner – 2

Walter Tittle – 2

Cadwallader Washburn – 2

Charles H. Woodburry – 2
Andrew Butler – 1
Samuel Chamberlain – 1
Roland Clark – 1
Sears Gallagher – 1
Emil Ganso – 1
Gerald K. Geerlings – 1
Albert Groll – 1
Armin Carl Hansen – 1
Clement Haupers – 1
Eugene Higgins – 1
Alfred Hutty – 1
Philip Kappel – 1
Armin Landeck – 1
Margaret Lowengrund – 1
Luigi Lucioni – 1
William Charles McNulty – 1
William Meyrowitz – 1
Kenneth Hayes Miller – 1
Arthur Miller – 1
Frank Nankivell – 1
B.J.O. Nordfeldt – 1
Power O’Malley – 1
Abbo Ostrowsky – 1
Salvatore Pinto – 1
Grant Reynard – 1
Louis C Rosenberg – 1
Chauncey F. Ryder – 1
Margery Ryerson – 1
Herman Webster – 1
Harry Wickey – 1
John W. Winkler – 1
Louis Wolchonok – 1
Franklin T. Wood – 1
George Wright – 1
Mahonri M. Young – 1

The galleries making the selections were the following:
The F. H. Bresler Company – Milwaukee, Wis

The Casson Galleries – Boston, Mass

The Ferargil Galleries – New York

J.J. Gillespie Company – Pittsburgh, Pa

S & G Gump – San Francisco, Cal

Harlow, McDonald and Company – New York

Kennedy and Company – New York

Frederick Keppel and Co. – New York

Kleemann-Thorman Galleries – New York

M. Knoedler and Company – New York, Chicago, London, Paris

G. W. Kraushaar Art Galleries – New York

John Levy Galleries – New York

Macbeth Gallery – New York

The Milch Galleries – New York

Newhouse Galleries – Saint Louis, Mo

The Noonan-Koclan Co – Saint Louis, Mo

M. O’Brien and Son – Chicago, Ill

Albert Roullier Art Galleries – Chicago, Ill

Schwartz Galleries – New York

Tilden-Thurber Corporation – Providence, R.I.

Walter Grant, Secretary – New York

Of the 20 galleries in the survey, ten were based in New York City, two were in Chicago, two were in Saint Louis, one was in each of Boston, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Providence and San Francisco and one had galleries in New York, Chicago, London and Paris.

In all probability this was not an attempt to rank the artists by the quality of their work but rather by their popularity based on sales of prints in the galleries and the prices that the prints were able to sell at in the marketplace.  Nonetheless it does give us some insight into how the etchers were regarded during their most productive years.   Some of the reputations of the top artists have remained the same with John Taylor Arms and Childe Hassam being good examples.  Others such as Sloan and Bellows have moved up in stature.  While those like Levon West, Arthur W. Heintzelman and Kerr Eby have gone down.  All three of these artists remain very popular but their reputations have not remained at the same level they had in the 1930’s.

It would be interesting to do the same poll today with twenty dealers selling early twentieth-century etchings. A comparison of the two lists would be well worth the exercise.