Listed American Etcher and Graphic Artist John Taylor Arms* Pencil Signed and Dated, beneath the image, this Amazingly Detailed Nautical image. It is an Original, unnumbered Third (III) State Etching on paper, dated 1943. The ultimate precisionist, Arms' mastery of etching is on full display in this depiction of three destroyers resting on the glassy surface of the Hackensack River. Not one minute detail was overlooked, down to the pristinely mirrored reflections. The unforgiving angles of the steel structures are offset with great effectiveness by soft banners of clouds and gentle ripples on the water. The destroyer was named for Rear Admiral William Radford and was built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Kearny, New Jersey and launched on May 3, 1942 during World War II. The ship also saw action during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The paper is unmounted but has a thin backboard and is protected by a plastic sleeve (see last image). The piece is also stamped, on lower left, "Collection C John Taylor Arms 111 or III". Despite the tones in the images, the image is more shades of grey on white paper.
Image measures 10 X 17 1/2 and is in Very Good Antique/Vintage condition.
Paper measures 14 1/2 X 21 1/2.
Please carefully examine all images for condition.
*John Taylor Arms (1887-1953) was born in Washington, DC. He studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, graduating in 1912. After World War I, he devoted himself full-time to etching, the printing process that relies on acid to "bite" out an image drawn on a metal plate. From his early interest in sketching, Arms developed a successful career as a graphic artist in the 1920s and 1930s. He specialized in etchings of medieval churches and cathedrals, hoping to convey the glory of earlier ages that endured in Europe's architecture. Arms made several trips to France, Spain, and Italy to draw such buildings. Beginning with studies of architectural details, he later rendered entire facades and finally a great number of buildings and their reflections in water, as in The Grand Canal. In addition to his medieval subjects, Arms made a series of prints of American cities.
Arms was a member of the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Print society of England, the Canadian Painter Etchers, the Associe de la Society des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and served as the president of the Society of American Etchers (now known as SAGA) two times once in the 1920 and again in the 1940’s. It is also important to point out that he was highly regarded by his fellow artists.
John Taylor Arms work can be found in most museums across the United States and Europe, including the Metropolitan Museum, The New York Public Library, The Library of Congress, the British Museum and the Bibiotheque Nationale, Paris.
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