Leon
1923
Medium
etching in brown on blue laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 18.1 x 29.21 cm (7 1/8 x 11 1/2 in.) sheet: 26.35 x 40.64 cm (10 3/8 x 16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.1440
Art Historical Context
Created in 1923, “Leon” showcases John Taylor Arms’s mastery of etching, a printmaking technique in which an artist incises lines into a metal plate that is then inked and onto paper. Here, chose warm brown ink on cool blue laid paper, a deliberate pairing that heightens contrast and lends the image a subtle atmospheric depth. The plate’s modest size—just over seven by eleven inches—invites close viewing, rewarding the eye with the fine, precise lines characteristic of the medium. Etchings such as this one reflect the early-twentieth-century revival of printmaking in America, when artists exp...
About the Artist
John Taylor Arms
John Taylor Arms (1887–1953) was one of America's foremost etchers of the twentieth century, renowned for his meticulous renderings of Gothic architecture. Born in Washington, D.C., he initially pursued law at Princeton University before transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a master's degree in architecture in 1912. He apprenticed as a draftsman and worked for...