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John Taylor ArmsLa Bella Venezia1930
1930
About the Item
(New York: John Taylor Arms, 1930)
Etching on antique cream laid paper with a fancy "G" watermark, 7 1/8 x 16 1/2 inches (182 x 442 mm), full margins. Signed, dated and inscribed "Ed. 70" in pencil, lower margin. From a total edirion of 81 plus 5 trial proofs. Printed by Henry E. Carling. Number 18 from the Italian Series. A superb impression of this scarce print, with all of the subtleties and details of the reflections in the water printing clearly. [Fletcher 232]
[Illustrated: Page 192, Arms, Dorothy Noyes, "Hilltowns and Cities of Northern Italy"].
Along with his constant companion and wife, Dorothy Noyes, Arms spent decades exploring and documenting gothic structures throughout Europe. Noyes, an accomplished travel writer, had gifted Arms an etching set for Christmas in 1913, during the time that the couple called New York home. Arms, having been trained in architecture, was sparked and fascinated by the potential for exceptional precision that etching provided as a media. His immediate projects focused on the architectural wonderland that Manhattan presented, but he quickly realized that it was no love affair for him. Jane Glaubinger, PhD., Curator of Prints, Cleveland Museum of Art, quotes a manuscript owned by the Museum in which Arms confides, “I can admire the skyscrapers of New York, that unbelievable city which is a very gold mine for the architectural etcher, but I do not love them and I cannot etch what I do not love.” Glaubinger explains in her 2012 essay, Images of Inspiration, that Arms opined that the creation of art furthered the spiritual and moral improvement of mankind, and he believed that Gothic cathedrals represented “the most significant expression of man’s aspirations.” Arms, a dedicated and industrious devotee to detail, saw printmaking as a vehicle for inspiring joy and uplift in contemporary society. Glaubinger continues, "Over several decades Arms traveled throughout France, Italy, England, and Spain drawing Gothic structures. These studies were the basis for the etchings he produced back in his Connecticut studio. Arms admired the craftsmanship of medieval art and, aided by magnifying glasses, used fine-gauge sewing needles set into wooden handles to draw the elaborate churches on copper plates. Extremely dedicated and industrious, Arms rendered each building with exceptional precision, spending 1,000 hours or more on a single plate. He was a gifted draftsman and technical virtuoso who created compositions full of keenly observed details and nuanced light."
[Glaubinger, Jane, "Modern Gothic: The Etchings of John Taylor Arms," Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.].
- Creator:John Taylor Arms (1887 - 1953, American)
- Creation Year:1930
- Dimensions:Height: 7.125 in (18.1 cm)Width: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Middletown, NY
- Reference Number:
John Taylor Arms
John Taylor Arms was born in Washington, D.C., in 1887. Arms studied architecture at Princeton and MIT and later became the country’s finest etcher of his age. His renderings of European and American architectural subjects are not only beautiful, but they are unrivaled in their technical virtuosity and nuanced light. In a recent exhibit, the Cleveland Museum noted, Arms believed that art could be a tool for the spiritual and moral improvement of mankind and that Gothic cathedrals represented the most significant expression of man’s aspirations. He viewed printmaking as a vehicle for disseminating images of subjects that would uplift and inspire contemporary society. He served as President of the Society of American Etchers and as an ambassador for American printmakers and printmaking throughout the world.
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- Palazzo dell'AngeloBy John Taylor ArmsLocated in Middletown, NYPalazzo dell'Angelo 1931 Etching and drypoint on cream-colored, handmade laid paper with deckle edges, 7 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches (185 x 171 mm), edition of 100, full margins. Signed, dated and numbered "Ed. 100" in pencil, lower margin, second state (of three). Printed by Henry Carling, New York. Extremely minor mat tone and some inky residue in the top right corner, all unobtrusive and well outside of image area. An exquisite impression of this intricate image, with astonishing detail, and all the fine lines printing clearly. The image represents the first print which Arms printed on his own handmade paper. Framed handsomely with archival materials and museum grade glass in a wood gilt frame with a flower and garland motif. Illustrated: Dorothy Noyes Arms, Hill Towns and Cities of Northern Italy, p. 180; Anderson, American Etchers Abroad 1880-1930; Eric Denker, Reflections & Undercurrents: Ernest Roth and Printmaking in Venice, 1900-1940, p. 116. [Fletcher 233] Born in 1887 in Washington DC, John Taylor Arms studied at Princeton University, and ultimately earned a degree in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1912. With the outbreak of W.W.I, Arms served as an officer in the United States Navy, and it was during this time that he turned his focus to printmaking, having published his first etching in 1919. His first subjects were the Brooklyn Bridge, near the Navy Yard, and it was during his wartime travel that Arms created a series of extraordinarily detailed etchings based on Gothic cathedrals and churches he visited in France and Italy. He used what was available to him, namely sewing needles and a magnifying glass, to create the incredibly rich and fine detail that his etchings are known for. Upon his return to New York after the war, Arms enjoyed a successful career as a graphic artist, created a series of etchings of American cities, and published Handbook of Print Making and Print Makers (Macmillan, 1934). He served as President of the Society of American Graphic Artists, and in 1933, was made a full member of the National Academy of Design. In its most modern incarnation, Palazzo dell'Angelo was constructed in or around 1570. The building, which has a rich and storied history, was erected upon the ruins of an earlier structure which predates the Gothic period. Some remnants of the earliest features of the residence were most certainly still visible when Arms visited, as they are today. Having a background in architecture, there's no question that Arms was moved by the beauty, history and ingenuity represented in the physical structure. One thing specifically gives away Arms's passion for the architecture, and that is the fact that he focused on the building's Moorish entranceway, balustrade, and two mullioned windows, and not on the curious Gothic era bas-relief of an angel nestled into the facade of the building, after which the structure is named. The sculpture itself doesn't appear in Arms's composition at all, despite the fact that it is the feature of the building that is most famous in its folklore. Arms instead focuses on the oldest portion of the architecture, even documenting some of the remnants of a fresco, and a funerary stele for the freedman Tito Mestrio Logismo, and his wife Mestria Sperata (visible above the water level, to the left of the door, behind the gondola), which was first described in 1436. Among the many notable bits of history regarding the Palazzo, it has been documented that Tintoretto painted frescos of battle scenes on the facade of the building. The paintings have been lost to time and the elements, but not entirely to history. The empty frame...Category
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