Mabel Dwight: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Lithographs - Hardcover

Susan Barnes Robinson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1560986468 ISBN 13: 9781560986461

Publisher: Smithsonian, 1996

Synopsis

Smithsonian [Published date: 1997]. Hard cover, 181 pp. [From front jacket flap] Characterized as a keen observer of the comedie humaine, Mabel Dwight (1875-1955) emerged as a lithographer at the age of fifty-two and became one of the most noted American printmakers of the 1920s and 1930s. Although best known for her benignly satirical depictions of New York City life, she also produced portraits, evocative mood pieces, architectural scenes, and deeply felt responses to the urgent political and social concerns of the day: the Depression, the rise of fascism, and the imminence of war. Assembling for the first time all 111 of Dwight's editioned Lithographs, this book traces the changes in popular taste and personal vision that enabled her work to fill a growing demand for realistic art based on the experiences of ordinary Americans. Considered a rising star from her first year as a printmaker, Dwight found a context within the American Scene movement, and her friendship with curator Carl Zigrosser brought her into a milieu that included Rockwell Kent and Wanda Gag. Although the Depression curtailed the art market, and bouts of severe asthma slowed Dwight's output, support from the New Deal Federal Art Project facilitated her most productive years. Works such as Ferry Boat, Queer Fish, and Montauk Lighthouse solidified her reputation. Bringing together Dwight's descriptions of the genesis of many of her works, her essays on lithography and satire, and complete documentation of each print, this comprehensive study illuminates the career of an original voice in printmaking and a humorous, technically assured interpreter of the early twentieth-century urban scene.

About this edition

• Publisher: Smithsonian
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1560986468
• ISBN 13: 9781560986461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 181