Etchings | Redtree Times

Posts Tagged ‘Etchings’

The Devil and the Messenger Redux

Posted in Favorite Things, tagged Etchings, Grant Silverstein on November 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

It’s a busy morning. Unfortunately, the busy part comes in clearing the 12+ inches of snow from my driveway that feel overnight. Thankfully, I did a preemptive plow last night on our quarter mile drive or my poor garden tractor would have been overmatched this morning. Oddly enough I came in this morning and stopped in front of a print that hangs on a studio wall. I hadn’t really looked at it closely for a while and it struck a chord this morning. I wrote about it back in 2010 and thought it might be good to run that post again. Hey, I have snow to move.

+++++++++++++++

This etching hangs on my studio wall, near my painting table. It’s titled The Devil and the Messenger and it’s from Grant Silverstein, an artist from rural northern Pennsylvania, not far from where I live. He is self-taught and has worked for many years now in intaglio etching, which is engraving the image on a copper plate with a sharp needle.

I’ve always liked the look and feel of etchings and have great admiration for those who can translate their vision through this medium. I don’t know if I would have the patience. Grant has his own look and feel, often dealing in the allegorical. Whenever I come across his work I have to stop and look with great pleasure.

My eye often drifts up to this piece and fills me with a lot of different questions and feelings, outside of the satisfaction of the viewing the composition itself. I am curious as to what the messenger is carrying and to who is he taking it. Is the Devil is taking the message or replacing it as the messenger sleeps. Is the messenger merely sleeping normally or is it the result of the Devil’s work?

I see it as a reminder that one is always vulnerable in some way, that there is always the possibility of some Devil tinkering with you while you least suspect it. A little vigilance is required. I don’t mean that to sound paranoid. What I mean to say is that it’s best to view strangers you encounter in a dark wood a bit warily, particularly if they just happen to have horns.

And to be careful where you sleep.

To see more of the etchings of Grant Silverstein click here to go to his website.

Read Full Post »

Martin Lewis’ Etchings

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged Australia, Edward Hopper, Etchings, James MacNeil Whistler, Japan, Martin Lewis, New York City on February 28, 2014| 9 Comments »

I saw a Martin Lewis etching years ago and was transfixed by the crisp contrast of its darks and lights and the easy moodiness it gave off. I knew nothing of the artist but it was obvious that he was masterful in his etching and in his artistic eye. I had largely forgotten this artist until I came across a group of his etchings that are coming up for auction. Seeing them rekindled that same feeling I felt years ago. Mainly images from New York in the 20’s and 30’s, they often capture a feeling of urban anonymity and isolation, mining the same vein of emotion in which Edward Hopper worked in his paintings. This is probably not a coincidence since Lewis and Hopper were friends, Lewis having taught Hopper the art of etching around 1915.

Martin Lewis was born in Australia in 1881 and ran away from home at age 15, working rough jobs for a few years as he travelled and sketched his way through Australia and New Zealand. He ended up in Sydney where he studied and did illustrations for a local newspaper. He migrated to the US around 1900, arriving in San Francisco where he painted backdrops for the presidential campaign of William McKinley before finding his way to New York City.

Inspired by the dynamism of the city at that time, Lewis worked as an illustrator and painter. It was a 1910 trip to England, where he was introduced to the printwork of English artists such as James MacNeil Whistler, that inspired him to take up etching. However, it was an 18 month stay in Japan in 1920 that set the groundwork for his signature work which captures light and air and mood so well. He was active and increasingly successful from 1925 until about 1935. However, the Great Depression brought a downturn to his popularity and by the 1940’s his work was out of favor. His work never really took hold after that and he died in 1961, largely unknown. In fact, just finding some of the details on his life for this short blog post took some doing.

I think his work is wonderful and evocative and find it amazing that his work ever fell out of favor. But such is the nature of art. But the etchings of Martin Lewis will persevere through the fickle cycles because they capture something elemental and personal. And that is what real art does.