Shadows in Mexico
1944. 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), after the reduction of the plate, and before the regular edition of 72. Printed by David Strang. In very good condition with some minor reddish toning around the extreme sheet edges, and in a stripe occurring diagonally across the top sheet area, all well outside of image area.
[Fletcher 340B].
Demonstration Series No. 93
Mexican Series No. 1, 3rd state
Note: Fletcher states that there is confusion regarding the third state in its edition. On prints in the Arms family collection the size is 3 proofs plus an edition of 36, however, Fletcher reports that in 1949 Arms told him there were only two proofs and an edition of 72. Fletcher states to own an impression of this work which is annotated "III Ed. 72."
Paper: Arms was typical of the artists of this period - he was obsessed with paper, a mania for collecting paper that could/would improve an edition. The quantity he left after his death, distributed by his wife to fellow artists, witnesses his love for finely made paper -paper interesting because of texture, color, distinctive weave.
The earliest paper known to have been used by Arms came from a Baptismal Register Kirchen Ordnung, The Reformed Church, Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1708, bought in a bookshop in Philadelphia.
His early prints, 1915-1919, evidence paper taken from old books with gilded edges. Some prints appear on stationary from the Cisalpine Napoleonic Italy, still bearing the estampe of the office or department; others carry penned ink page numbers, taken from old ledgers of the Eighteenth Century-all beautiful shades of grey, blue and green, handmade, ribbed and otherwise. Some of his color aquatints were printed on full sheets of heavy chine or Japanese vellum, giving a sense of luxury in the richness of the stock and the width of the margins. There was a myriad of modern papers gleaned in England, France, Italy and the United States. -William Dolan Fletcher, A Man For All Times, p. 15.
Item number: 1015
Price: $600.00
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