Tag: Prints & Drawings

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Daily Art Moment: Private Lives

Image descriptions: 1. Pierre Bonnard, Child with Lamp. Lithograph on cream paper of a young child playing with toys on a small red table with a lamp. The background consists of of a rose pink color with dark brownish green hatched lines. The light-skinned child with rose pink hair is wearing a white shirt with blue dots. The child grasps the edge of the table with their left hand and rests their right arm on top of the table. The child’s head is tilted to the right and faint, loose brown lines make up the child’s facial features. The child holds red and blue toy stagecoaches. The lamp in front of the child has a dark green cylindrical base and a large dark blue shade that has a cream strip on top with a repeated pattern of dark blue x’s. A round dark green fixture holds the shade at the top and a white pole extends up out of the shade. Red and blue organic lines radiate from the white pole layered over the rose background.
Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947), Child with Lamp, ca. 1897. Color lithograph on China paper; image: 33 x 44.9 cm. Museum Purchase: Ella M. Hirsch Fund, 41.11.6

After resetting the clocks and settling in for a dark winter, I am reminded of the many scenes of lamplight in the exhibition Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, 1889–1900. Families gathered around oil lamps, candles, or the hearth in tenebrous Parisian apartments. Each artist in the exhibition brought a…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Francisco de Goya

1. Mucho hay que chupar (There is plenty to suck), plate 45 from the series Los Caprichos, 1799, etching, plate: 8 1/16 in x 5 7/8 in; sheet: 11 5/8 in x 7 11/16 in. Three ghouls or goblins huddle together over a basket of infants. The ghouls have grotesque faces with exaggerated gaping mouths, sunken eyes, and gnarled hands. They are draped in light colored fabric while gesturing to a small box or open book in their hand. At their feet is a handled basket filled with what appears to be small babies. Two bats appear over their shoulders at right. Wings are outstretched in flight. Shadows at left balance the scene. “Mucho hay que chupar” appears along the bottom.

When it comes to bats, gremlins, witches, and bogeymen, it is hard to beat the graphic work of Francesco de Goya. In honor of #Halloween, I offer you four prints from our collection acquired in 2019. All four hail from Los Caprichos (Caprices), a series of 80 enigmatic, satirical, and frequently bizarre etchings published in…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: M.E. Norton

The Bookman: March, M.E. Norton, sheet: 16 ¼ x 11 5/8 inches, lithograph. A portrait-oriented print depicting a large lion and a small lamb with name of the publication, “The Bookman.” and date, “March 5” in prominent lettering. At right, the words “The Bookman.” appear in orange lettering surrounded in cream on black background. The word “The” is positioned just to the right of center of center and the word “Bookman.” runs vertically along the right side. Along the bottom the date “March 5” appears in elaborate black Old English, calligraphic font outlined in cream, on an orange ground. The left two thirds of the upper portion of the print is taken up by a depiction of a lion pictured head on. It is black with white line delineating facial features and limbs. Surrounding the lion are undulating white lines on black ground that mimic wood grain and knots. The lion's tail wraps around its feet and intrudes on the date printed below. At the lion’s feet at right is a small white lamb with black detailing, viewed from the side with its mouth open. A small capital letter “N.” is located at the extreme lower right corner. A narrow black outline surrounds the images.

As the old adage reminds us, March roars in like a lion and out like lamb. This poster advertising the March 1895 edition of The Bookman makes witty reference to this saying with bold graphic style. The undulating lines around the lion seem to amplify its might roar, while the small lamb at its feet…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Claude Monet

Honfleur, voiliers et phare (Honfleur, Sailboats and Lighthouse), Claude Monet, 18 ¼ x 12 ½ inches, pastel on blue paper. A vertical rectangular sketch of different sailing vessels and a seascape. The top half of the sketch shows five sailboats, sketched independently and oriented in two directions. At left, two boats can be seen on their sides as if drawn when the paper was turned horizontally. The one at top is gray and has broad sails. Below is a brown boat with two of its three sails lowered. At center is a larger boat with full white sails. At right top is a vessel in outlined gray and white. Below it is another boat in gray and pink. The lower half of the sketch shows a scene with a gray sailboat at left and a jetty and lighthouse across a body of water with a white cloud filled sky at right. Bottom right holds a brown boat again on its side. The individual sketches reveal the artist’s hand with loose, quick strokes of pastel. The artist’s signature is seen at bottom left.

Impressionist Claude Monet was a gifted painter as well as a talented and attentive draughtsman. This pastel—a recent gift to the Museum—is an informal study of various elements of a harbor, replete with a variety of sailing vessels and the distinctive jetty and lighthouse in the port city of Honfleur. Born in Paris, Monet grew…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Beth Van Hoesen

A vertical rectangular print in black on cream depicting two figures in a bar setting having cocktails. At right, a female figure is seen in three quarter view, looking at the viewer holding up a stemmed glass in her hand while her arm rests on her elbow. Her pale hair is swept back from her narrow face and up into a bun. She has thin highly arched eyebrows and a small, dark mouth. She wears a short-sleeved top showing thin arms with bracelets on the wrist. Her hand and fingers are also long and thin. Her companion sits to the right and faces the viewer. He has a round broad face with sparse hair on top. He looks out from hooded eyes and has a cigar stuck in the corner of his mouth. He wears a dark suit on his broad body and rest one arm along the bar. A long necked bottled is seen at lower left. Behind the couple is the suggestion of hanging lights. The print has the appearance of a sketch with line drawing, shading and cross hatching.

Beth Van Hoesen’s cocktail drinkers, though created in 1946, seem to show the same world-weariness that has gripped many of us throughout the tumultuous year. They are prepared, I imagine, to toast out the year, but they aren’t going to pretend it was fun! The woman’s raised eyebrow suggests her skepticism about the state of…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Edward Penfield

1. Edward Penfield, Harper's Christmas, 1895, color lithograph, 25 1/2 in × 20 1/4 inches. A vertical horizontal print showing an old-fashioned Santa Claus and a woman in a full skirted, dark dress with the words “Harper’s Christmas” in yellow. The light skinned woman wears a yellow hat and is positioned at right. She rests an outstretched hand on the Santa’s hand who stands slightly behind her at center. Santa wears a red hood and long cloak, has light skin and white beard and raises a glass in a toast. At top behind the pair are three green wreaths. Magazine copy appears at center left of the figures. 2. Harper's Christmas, 1896, color lithograph, 17 5/16 in × 12 15/16 inches. A vertical rectangular print showing a light skinned blonde woman in old- fashioned dress near a store window. The figure is positioned at right and wears a red dress with flounced sleeves and a black fur collar and muff. At right is a store window with a green wreath and a small white dog is on the sidewalk. The words “Harper’s Christmas” appears across the top in green lettering. 3. Harper's Christmas, 1897, color lithograph, 18 7/8 x 13 1/16 inches. A vertical rectangular print featuring a man in an old-fashioned brown suit reading a book while seated on a settle. The light-skinned man sits on the right end of the bench leaning against an armrest while a green wreath hangs at the left end. The words Harper’s Christmas appear across the top of the print in orange letters.

In the 1890s, color posters advertising books, magazines, and newspapers exploded onto the scene. Initially inspired by French designs, American artists soon created their own unique style. Edward Penfield led the field with his charming posters advertising Harper’s Magazine beginning in 1893. These designs, generally about 19 by 14 inches, were displayed in book stores…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Paul Elie Ranson

Vibrant yellow background with playful black lines depicting a tiger amidst flora ready to pounce.

“As a curator, I carry around a huge mental image bank of art. This professional hazard means that just about everything reminds me of a print, drawing, or painting. So when my family joined the millions of others watching the controversial and bizarre miniseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness on Netflix, my thoughts turned…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Grant Wood

Close-up view of a physician’s hands gently holding a folded stethoscope in his left and a thermometer in his right above a wooden table. Below, a metal stopwatch lies on the table, facing the viewer, showing the time is just before 3 o’clock.

This week we’re sharing works from the collection every day that our curators have selected as a personal response to these unprecedented times. First is our Curator of Prints and Drawings, Mary Weaver Chapin: “In this lithograph, Grant Wood paid homage to the healing arts, using his personal physician, Andrew William Bennett, MD, as his…  Read more