Entitled "Abbeville" also called "St. Vulfran",this1925 drypoint etching is by the celebrated American printmaker John Taylor Arms (1887-1953) , one of the most famous printmakers of the first half of the 20th Century who was noted for his etchings of medieval architecture  The unfinished15th Century Collegiate Church of St Vulfran is considered a masterpiece of flamboyant Gothic architecture, The frontage has a rose window, a gallery, Renaissance statues and two symmetrical towers topped by lookout turrets.  Arms chose a side view for this etching to contrast the massive looming silhouette with the modest wood and stone buildings of the commercial district. Measuring 7 7/16" x 7 5/8" image, 19" x 15" matted it is signed and dated in pencil lower right, from an edition of 150.  French Church Series #5, Catalogue Raisonne Fletcher #165. It is in excellent condition with no holes, tears, stains or toning and matted in archival materials.   An example of this print is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Toledo Museum of Art, and others below

 

     The New York Public Library is the major repository of Arms’ work, but he is also represented in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Massachusetts; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas; the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Los Angeles County Museum, California; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California; the Seattle Art Museum, Washington; the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Washington, D.C.; and the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts.

     Arms’ exhibition history was lengthy beginning in 1927 and continuing to 1952. He was given an honorary M.A. degree from Wesleyan University in 1939, and he was a member of the National Academy of Design; the Canadian Painters, Etchers and Engravings; the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers; the Society of American Graphic Artists (served as the society's president); the National Institute of Arts and Letters; the American Federation of Arts; the American Artists Professional League; the Architectural League of New York; the Southern States Art League; the Southern Print Makers; the American Color Print Society; the North Shore Art Association; the Washington Water Color Club; the Chicago Society of Etchers; and the Cleveland Print Club.