Cypress Trees
1918
Medium
Graphic Arts-Print
Classification
Graphic Arts-Print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Hyde Gillette in memory of Mabel Hyde Gillette and Edwin Fraser Gillette
Accession Number
1992.13.104
Tags
Art Historical Context
Helen Hyde’s “Cypress Trees,” created in 1918, presents a tranquil nighttime scene featuring tall cypress trees silhouetted against a glowing moon and reflected in still water. The composition captures the quiet beauty of the natural world, emphasizing the graceful shapes of the trees and the soft interplay of light and shadow. As a graphic arts print, the work reflects the early twentieth-century interest in printmaking as a means of exploring atmospheric effects and simplified forms. Prints like this one allowed artists to reach broader audiences while experimenting with line, tone, and tex...
About the Artist
Helen Hyde · 1868–1919
Helen Hyde (1868–1919) was born in Lima, New York, and spent much of her childhood in California, where her family had relocated. She began her formal artistic training at the San Francisco School of Design and continued at the Art Students League in New York from 1888 to 1889. In 1890 she traveled to Europe, spending time in Berlin and subsequently in Paris from 1891 to 1894, where she became cap...