Earl Horter

Junk Shop (Philadelphia)

1925

The Biggest of All; Telephone and Telegraph Building. 1925. Etching. Wuerth 853. 9 7/8 x 11 7/8 (sheet 11 1/2 x 17 1/8). Edition probably 35. An atmospheric impression with plate tone, printed on antique laid paper...

Paff catalog 19 state .iii. Image: 7 3/4 x 10 7/8 (sheet 10 3/8 x 14 3/8). Edition 150. A rich impression with subtle plate done printed on Japanese mulberry paper on the full sheet with deckle edges. Provenance: the artist's family. Signed in pencil. Housed in a 16 x 20-inch archival mat. Frank W. Benson was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts. He spent a great deal of time in the salt marshes that surrounded this costal town studying, as well as hunting, various waterfowl. He painted his first oil of shorebirds at the age of twelve. At nineteen he attended the School of Drawing and Painting of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. While attending the school he produced his first etching, "Salem Harbor." In 1883 he traveled to Paris to study at the Academie Julie and for the next thirty years devoted his artistic talent to painting and watercolor. In 1912 at the age of fifty, he again began to produce prints. At first, these prints were portraits, then of waterfowl and nature-oriented subjects, totaling over 355 various prints before his death in 1951. Today, Benson is considered the founder of the school of American sporting art...

The Whales Back. 1925. Etching. Giardina catalog 95 stateiii. Image: 6 1/2 x 12 (sheet 10 x 16). Trial proof, prior to the edition of 90. Illustrated in Fine Prints of the Year, 1927. A rich impression with plate tone printed on cream laid paper. Signed and annotated 'imp' (imprimit) in pencil, indicating a proof printed Eby. The scene is probably Westport or Cos Cob, Connecticut. The scene is probably Westport or Cos Cob, Connecticut. Kerr Eby...

Samuel Chamberlain, N.A. The Hospital, Santa Cruz, Toledo. 1938. Etching. Kingslund/Chamberlain 271. 9 3/16 x 7 5/8 (sheet 13 1/8 x 10 1/8). Edition 100 for The Print Club of Albany...

Wake on the Ferry. 1949. Etching. Morse catalog 313. state v. 5 x 7 (sheet 8 3/4 x 11 7/8). Edition of 350: 200 for the Art Students League and 150 for the artist. A fine impression ...

Burns Brothers, Sutton Place. 1922. Etching. Giardina catalog 90 state iv. 12 1/4 x 8 3/4 (sheet 16 x 12). Edition 50. A rich, tonal impression printed on...

There's so often a mysterious or evocative atmosphere that permeates Sander's work. Signed in pencil; titled in lower margin in pencil.

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan's small, even 'miniaturist' etching, 'A Tuscan Farm,' features an idyllic view of a scene he would have encountered on his European travels. MacLaughlan was a...

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 ...

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...

(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...

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...