By Jim Rosenthal John Taylor Arms was a masterful etcher. His detailed works covered a wide range of subjects from French Gothic cathedrals to Northern Italian Renaissance buildings to US fighting ships. But he was much more than that. He had a profound influence on prints, printmaking and the associations that supported and promoted printmakers. […]
John W. Winkler and Elizabeth Ginno Winkler – Master Etchers – A Christmas Card Story
By Jim Rosenthal Success as an etcher came quickly for John W. “Winks” Winkler. He made his first etching as a student at the San Francisco Institute of Art in 1913. He was 19. By the time he was 28, he had won 3 Logan Awards from the Chicago Society of Etchers, had one of […]
Ralph Fletcher Seymour – Artist, Book Publisher, Teacher, Etcher, Active Club Participant – An Early 20th Century Chicago “Renaissance Man”
By Jim Rosenthal The “Renaissance Man” is defined as someone who is knowledgeable, educated and proficient in a wide array of fields. The best example is Leonardo da Vinci. The best example in Chicago for the first half of the 20th Century was Ralph Fletcher Seymour. Seymour was a man of many talents. He was […]
Chicago 1933-34 World’s Fair – A Century of Progress Seen Through the Etchings of Leon Rene Pescheret and Morris Henry Hobbs
By Jim Rosenthal Dateline – 1934 – Chicago – Century of Progress Exhibition (Chicago World’s Fair) Leon Rene Pescheret had a good year in 1933. Despite the economic Depression, he had sold many of his etchings of the Fair and was looking forward to the expanded and improved version of the “Century of Progress” Exhibition […]
Charles Capps, James Swann and the Prairie Print Makers
By Jim Rosenthal In 1946 Charles Merrick “Chili” Capps knew as much about the running of a print association as anyone. He was one of the founders of the Prairie Print Makers. He served as Secretary-Treasurer of that organization from 1940 to 1942 and was serving at that time as President. He also was a […]
James Swann – Life in Chicago – “Swann Acres”
By Jim Rosenthal James Swann was born on a ranch near Merkel, Texas on July 31, 1905. He attended Sul Ross College in Alpine, Texas and graduated in 1927. After graduation, he worked for an engraving company in Amarillo and Fort Worth. By 1931 he had completed his first etching and had moved to Dallas. […]
Levon West and Ivan Dmitri – Famous Etcher and Famous Photographer – The Same Person
One night in May of 1927, a young artist by the name of Levon West was at dinner with friends when he heard the news about an aviator named Charles Lindbergh who had taken off in his “Spirit of St. Louis” airplane to be the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic. West remembered […]
The Life, Times and Prints of Cyrus Leroy Baldridge (1889-1977)
One of the most interesting artists of the first half of the Twentieth Century was Cyrus Leroy Baldridge. His life story rivals that of any adventurer of any era. It is ironic, but fitting, that one of his most popular books was the illustrated “Adventures of Marco Polo.” He was a “Marco Polo” of his […]
Morris Henry Hobbs Catalogue Raisonne – A Fitting Tribute
The Morris Henry Hobbs – A Catalogue Raisonne of Etchings, Engravings and Lithographs by Reed W. Isbell is now available. The artistic story of this well-known Chicago and New Orleans print maker makes for a fascinating read and a valuable resource material. Even though Hobbs also produced oils and watercolors, the book focuses on the prints that […]
Agnes Miller Parker, Alfred Fowler and the Woodcut Society in 1941
One of the joys of collecting are the unexpected – but fascinating – historical and artistic surprises that sometimes accompany a purchase. A case in point is a wood-engraving I purchased several months ago by Agnes Miller Parker. The piece, “Fox”, was the 1941 Presentation Print of an organization by the name of The Woodcut […]
Printing an Etching of Charles Rosenthal With David Conn
By Jim Rosenthal A few months ago I had the good fortune to be able to “audit” a workshop on making a lithograph. The workshop was given by David Conn for the Docents of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. It was held at the The Shaw Street Studio Fine Art Press. David is […]
Ralph M. Pearson – Etcher, Businessman, Adventurer, Modernist, Farmer, Author – (1883-1958)
In August of 1909 Ralph Pearson was at the home of Bertha Jaques. Pearson, Jaques, Otto J. Schneider and Earl H. Reed had a long, pleasant conversation which culminated in the idea to form the “Needle Club” to promote the art, artists and appreciation of etching. This idea quickly morphed into the Chicago Society of […]
Gerald Geerlings and The Rise, Fall and Rise of Print Sales in the United States
Things were going well in the art world of Gerald Geerlings in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. After serving in the US Army during World War I, he had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture but decided that he would like to follow his love of creating art. Despite the coming […]
The Prairie Print Makers Presentation Prints – Over Three Decades of Print Making Excellence
The Prairie Print Makers was organized in Wichita, Kansas in 1930 with ten charter members: Lloyd Foltz, Arthur W. Hall, Norma Bassett Hall, C. A. Seward, Birger Sandzen, Charles M. Capps, Edmund Kopietz, Herschel Logan, Clarence A. Hotvedt and Leo Courtney William Dickerson was invited to join and was elected as the first Artist Member […]
The Fine Arts Building in Chicago – Over a Century of Art and Artists
The Fine Arts Building in Chicago (410 North Michigan Avenue) was originally built in 1884-85 as the Studebaker wagon and carriage sales and service building. According to Ralph Fletcher Seymour in his autobiography Some Went This Way – “Farmers were accustomed to buy their farm wagons on Wabash Avenue and not on Michigan. They refused to […]
A Collector’s Must Read – “Small Victories” by Dave H. Williams
“Small Victories: One Couple’s Surprising Adventures Building an Unrivaled Collection of American Prints” by Dave Williams (Boston: David R. Godine, 2015) is a great read for any collector. The book chronicles the “small victories” of Dave and Reba Williams in collecting over six thousand prints. It is not a book about art although there […]
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 […]
James Swann’s Views of Chicago – Then and Now
James Swann was born on a ranch near Merkel, Texas in 1905. While attending Sul Ross College in Alpine, Texas in 1923 he realized that he had artistic talent and began a career that would span for almost 60 years. While at Sul Ross he was influenced by Anna Keener and Elizabeth Keefer – both […]
A Brief History of the Chicago Society of Etchers As Viewed Through Their Presentation Prints – 1912-1956
The idea for the Chicago Society of Etchers began with a rooftop meeting at the home of Bertha Jaques in 1909. Jaques laid out the plan for what she called “the Needle Club” to her friends and fellow etchers – Ralph Pearson, Earl Reed and Otto Schneider. Although the “Needle Club” was supposed to be […]
Christmas Card Etchings From Members of the Chicago Society of Etchers – Fine Art for the Holidays
What better way for an artist to share the Holidays with friends than to send them original art as a Christmas card? The ability to reproduce multiple copies make etchings an ideal medium for this purpose. Many members of the Chicago Society of Etchers found this to be true. We have organized ten Christmas cards […]
L. O. Griffith – A Century of Progress – Chicago World’s Fair – Italian Building
In an effort to stimulate interest in the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933 and 1934 and to further the art of etching, a prize of $500 was offered for the best etching with a Fair theme. This astoundingly large prize during the Depression created a great deal of interest and many members of the Chicago […]