The Boat Builders Yard, San Trovaso
1926. Etching on watermarked antique handmade FJ Head paper, 9 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches (240 x 373 mm); sheet 14 x 18 1/4 inches (355 x 463 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil, lower margin. Edition of 97. A magnificent, silvery impression with extremely minor (almost invisible) mat tone.
[Fletcher 177]
[Illustrated: Page 160, Arms, Dorothy Noyes, "Hilltowns and Cities of Northern Italy"].
The Boat Builders Yard in San Trovaso is a historic 17th-century gondola repair and building yard in Venice, Italy. It's one of the few remaining such workshops in Venice, where skilled artisans traditionally craft and maintain the iconic black gondolas used on the city's canals. The yard is a significant landmark, located next to the Church of San Trovaso.
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 (the plate for Guardians of the Spire was created in 1921). 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. Arms died in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1953.
Item number: 499
Price: $750.00
Share: