Philadelphia 1920 Printmaking By Jerry Di Falco

Year:

Medium:

Etching Print

Size - (USA):

16 W x 13 H x 1 D (inches)

Size - (metric):

40.6 W x 33.0 H x 2.5 D (centimeters)

Theme:

Political

Edition:

Original

Artwork ID:

637256

PDF Copy:

Artwork Info Sheet (PDF)

Artwork Description:

This intaglio and aquatint etching was inspired by several of the artist’s original drawings, all of which were based on an archived photograph from the Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Di Falco used French, oil base inkCharbonnel Brand, Parisand printed on Stonehenge brand etching paperColor Cream. He etched his zinc plate in five separate baths of Nitric acidmoreover, the plate he employed measured six inches high by nine inches wide, 15.240 cm x 22.860 cm. The print size is eleven inches high by fifteen inches wide, or 27.940 cm x 38.100 cm. The frame in which it ships measures about twelve inches high by sixteen inches wide30.480 cm x 40.640 cm. Printed on a press by Charles Brand manufactured in New York City. This work will have FIVE editions, each limited to only FOUR etchings. The editions will be printed in different colors of ink and types of paper. This work was printed by the artist at Fleisher Art’s OPEN STUDIO IN PRINTMAKING, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. The scene depicts the outdoor area behind a home at 1009 Montrose Street in the Italian Immigrant area, circa 1910. In the description from Temple’s website, it states “Woman inside stands at open window of house with broken shutter. Two girls, one holding a young child, stand outsidetrash and various metal and wood buckets on the ground around them. Tattered clothing hangs in upper corner and from stool in lower corner. Trash and debris on awning over doorway.” The notes in this file state,1009 Montrose Street, Tony Tutendaris s family City Mission Lantern Slide Fund, Archibald A. Hodge. The photographer is listed as unknown. The artist, who lived in this neighborhood for over twenty years, uses his lines in an expressionistic manner and conveys the scene’s sociological darkness with tonal manipulation. The Italian immigrants of that era, especially the women, had no social services and worked their way out of poverty with no expectations of governmental aid. Other nearby neighborhoods of immigrants included people from Germany, Ireland, Cuba, and Spainas well as freed African-American slaves from the South. SECOND EDITION. PRINT NUMBER TWO OF FOUR.

Artwork Keywords:   Poverty, Italian, Immigrants, Intaglio, Archive, History, Original Printmaking

Materials:   Etching Prints