John Taylor Arms Art
American, 1887-1953
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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Artist: John Taylor Arms
Dealer: Rob Zanger Rare Books LLC
Sunlight on Stone; Caudebec-en-Caux
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
An extremely scarce impression from the artist's own collection.
Etching on watermarked antique laid J Whatman Japon paper, 14 1/2 x 7 5/8 inches ( 368 x 195 mm), full margins. Signe...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Guardians of the Spire; Amiens Cathedral Number 2
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Guardians of the Spire; Amiens Cathedral Number 2
New York: 1937. Etching and drypoint on watermarked F.J. Head cream-colored, antique laid paper, 6 3/4 ...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Drypoint
Shadows of Venice
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching and aquatint on antique laid paper, wide margins. Signed, dated and inscribed "Edition of 100" in pencil, lower margin. Second state (of 2)....
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Aquatint, Laid Paper, Etching
Palazzo dell'Angelo
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Palazzo 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
1930s American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Drypoint
La Bella Venezia
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
(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...
Category
1930s American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching
Cathedral of Saint Cyr and Saint Julitta, Nevers
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper, 12 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches (328 x 140 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil, lower margin. Laid down to non-archival board, general age tone and some ma...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Lescure, Une Tour Des Remparts
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique laid paper, 6 9/16 x 3 15/16 inches (167 x 100 mm), signed and dated in pencil, lower margin. Potentially a trial proof impression aside from the unsigned edition of 1459. Non-archival tape residue along the top and bottom sheet edges, recto, well outside of image area. Scattered handling creases and general scattered soiling in the margins, minor and unobtrusive.
[Fletcher 217].
This work was commissioned by The Architectural Forum...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Handmade Paper, Etching
La Tour D'Horloge, Dinan
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
tching on green-hued antique laid Japon paper, 9 7/16 x 4 1/16 (240 x 104 mm), full margins. Signed, dated and inscribed "Ed. 100 II." One of a total edition on 124 impressions, prin...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Somewhere in France
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper with a partial watermark (likely Arches), 12 1/8 x 6 1/8 inches (308 x 156 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil in the lower right margin...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Plumed Serpent, Chichén Itzá
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
A masterful rendering of Kukulkan at the base of the west face of the northern stairway of El Castillo, Chichen Itza.
Eching on antique cream laid paper with a partial herladic wate...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Handmade Paper, Etching
Rodez; The Tower of Notre Dame
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique wove Catalunya-Spain watermarked paper, 12 x 5 inches (305 x 127 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil, lower margin. In excellent condition with light ton...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Handmade Paper
Saint Catherine's Belfry, Honfleur
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on elaborately watermarked, antique, cream laid Dard Hunter paper, 13 5/8 x 7 1/78 inches (347 x 181 mm), full margins. Signed, titled, dated and inscribed "Ed. 100 II." From...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Handmade Paper, Etching
Gloria, Saint Riquier; The Church of Saint Riquier; Gloria Ecclesiae Antiquae
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper with an "England" watermark; 13 7/8 x 8 5/8 inches (353 x 221 mm), full margins. Signed, dated, titled, numbered "III," and inscribed in pencil. O...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching, Laid Paper
The Church of St. Francis and the Natizone; Cividale
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
1931. Etching on antique laid Japon paper, 10 x 14 13/16 inches (254 x 377 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil and inscribed "Ed. 100" (from a total edition of 128). Third state (of ...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Handmade Paper, Etching
Abbeville; St. Vulfran
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream wove Japon paper, 7 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches (188 x 197 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil, lower margin. In excellent condition with some minor surface soiling...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Handmade Paper
Precious Stones; Église Notre Dame - Les Andelys
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
A signed impression from the artist's own collection.
Kansas City: Miniature Print Society, 1946.
Etching on antique cream laid paper, 3 5/15 x 1 7/8 inches (84 x 49 mm), full margi...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Street in Porto Maurizio
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper with a partial watermark, 9 5/8 x 4 1/4 inches (246 x 109 mm); full margins. Signed and dated "1928" in pencil, lower margin. Inscribed "Street in Porto Maurizio...
Category
1920s American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Corbel on Gate House, Stokesay Castle, Shropshire Corbel
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream wove paper, 3 3/16 x 1 9/16 inches (81 x 41 mm), full margins. Signed, dated, and inscribed "II" in pencil, lower margin, and with an inscription and dedication in t...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
The Grolier Club Library (Sketch)
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream laid paper, 3 7/8 x 5 7/8 inches (99 x 150 mm), full margins. Signed, dated, and inscribed "Sketch Grolier Club Library Demonstration Print," and numbered "I" in pen...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Fiesole: An Ancient Tower
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper, 7 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches (201 x 130 mm), full margins. Edition of 150. Printed by Federick Reynolds. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right. Arms wa...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Handmade Paper, Etching
Notre Dame du Val, Provins / Thibaut
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on bluish-grey wove paper, 8 5/8 x 5 1/8 inches (221 x 130 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil. In good condition with light mat tone on the recto and various frame...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Corbel on Gate House, Stokesay Castle, Shropshire
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream laid paper, 3 3/16 x 1 9 1/6 inches (81 x 41 mm), full margins. Signed, dated, and inscribed "II" in pencil, lower margin. From the second state (of 2) before the re...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Cavendish Church
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on bluish-grey, thin laid paper, 9 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches (242 x 140 mm), full margins. Signed, dated and numbered "II." In very good condition with three pin-point sized dots of...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
Precious Stones – South Transeptal Portal, Church of Notre Dame des Andelys
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream wove paper 3 5/16 x 1 7/8 inches (84 x 49 mm), full margins. Signed, dated and inscribed "II" in pencil, lower margin. Likely one of eight trial proof impressions f...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Handmade Paper
Portait of a Romanesque Capital
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on light cream wove paper, 2 5/8 x 2 11/16 inches (68 x 69 mm), full margins. Signed, titled, and inscribed "IV" in pencil, lower margin. Likely a proof impression of the t...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
Old Corner, Rouen
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream wove paper, 6 x 4 inches (153 x 102 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil, lower margin. From the edition of 150, printed by Frederick Reynolds.
[Fletcher 163]
This ...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
Street in Porto Maurizio
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique handmade laid paper, 9 5/8 x 4 1/4 inches (246 x 109 mm), full margins. Signed and dated (1928) in pencil, lower margin. Printed by Frederick Reynolds. In very goo...
Category
1920s American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
Stokesay Castle
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
The Minature Print Society of Kansas City, Mo. , 1942.
Etching on cream colored Japon wove paper, 2 1/4 x 2 15/16 inches (58 x 75 mm), full margins. Signed, dated and inscribed "II"...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
La Rue de Change, Tours
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper, 5 x 2 inches (127 x 52 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil lower margin. From the editoin of 156, printed by Frederick Reynolds. In s...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
Shadows in Mexico
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on bluish-grey, antique laid paper, 5 x 3 5/8 inches (127 x 93 mm), signed, dated, and inscribed "III" in pencil, lower margin. A proof impression from the third state (of 3)...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Etching
Eglise Notre Dame, Les Andelys
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching and drypoint on greenish cream wove paper, 3 1/4 x 1 15/16 inches (81 x 48 mm), full margins. Signed, dated, and inscribed "III" in pencil. Number 46 from the French Churche...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
Stranger in England, St. Lawrence, West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream wove paper, 5 9/16 x 2 3/4 inches (142 x 70 mm), full margins. Signed, titled, numbered "III," and inscribed in pencil by the artist in the lower margin, recto. In v...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
Dorothy and John Taylor Arms M.D. MCMXXV
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream wove paper 5 7/8 x 3 3/8 inches (150 x 86 mm). Signed and dated in pencil in the lower margin. First state (of 2), before the removal of the inscription in the lowe...
Category
1920s John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching
From the Ponte Vecchio, Florence
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching and aquatint on hand made F.J. Head & Co watermarked cream laid paper, full margins. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right margin. From the edition of 160 (from a total of ...
Category
1920s American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching, Aquatint
Fiesole, an Ancient Tower
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper, 7 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches (201 x 130 mm), full margins. Edition of 150. Printed by Federick Reynolds. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right. Arms wa...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
San Marino (Sketch)
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Ecthing in black ink on cream laid paper with a partial watermark, full margins. In excellent condition. A very scarce work from an edition of less than 20 impressions. Signed, date...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Etching
Rouen; The Cathedral of Notre Dame from the South
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on F.J. Head & Co. watermarked cream laid paper, 8 1/8 x 7 5/8 (205 x 184 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil, lower margin. Illustrated in Dorothy Noyes Arms, Chur...
Category
1920s American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Etching
The Grolier Club Library (Sketch), Demonstration Print
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on light yellow cream laid paper with deckle edges, full margins. Inscribed in the image "Library of the Grolier Club, Demonstration Plate, Drawn, Etched and Printed in a Li...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Etching
Chartres, The Magnificent
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on handmade cream laid paper, 3 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches (890 x 108 mm), full margins. Signed, dated and inscribed "III" in pencil, lower margin. Edition of 150, third state (of th...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Laid Paper
Porta del Paradiso, Venezia
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on cream laid paper, 1930. 7 1/2 x 3 7/8 inches (190 x 970 mm), full margins. Signed and inscribed "Edition 100" in pencil, lower margin. In very good condition with minor s...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Laid Paper
Coutances
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on thin, bluish-green cream laid paper, 9 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches (233 x 120 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil, lower margin. First and only state. Printed by Frederi...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Laid Paper
The Church of St. Francis and the Natizone – Cividale
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching on antique cream laid paper, 10 x 14 13/16 inches (254 x 377 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil and inscribed "Ed. 100" (from a total edition of 128). Third state (of three...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern John Taylor Arms Art
Materials
Etching, Laid Paper
John Taylor Arms art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic John Taylor Arms art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by John Taylor Arms in etching, paper, handmade paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large John Taylor Arms art, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of David Klein, Will Barnet, and Joseph Pennell. John Taylor Arms art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $146 and tops out at $6,500, while the average work can sell for $850.