Year:

Medium:

Printmaking Etching

Size - (USA):

11 W x 15 H x 0 D (inches)

Size - (metric):

27.9 W x 38.1 H x 0.0 D (centimeters)

Theme:

Visionary

Edition:

Original

Artwork ID:

617823

PDF Copy:

Artwork Info Sheet (PDF)

Artwork Description:   This original hand-printed etching was adapted from an 1890 photograph by British physician, Dr. John JohnstonDr. Johnson’s photograph is currently located in The Charles E. Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress, Washington D. C. Call Number Physical Location, LOT 12017, box 11item Prints Pictures. The scene shows US poet, Walt Whitman, with his nurse, WarrenWarryFritzinger, sitting on the Delaware River wharfs in the city of Camden, New Jersey. Di Falco’s etching was executed on a zinc plate and manually printed on a Charles Brand flatbed press at The Center for Works on Paper, located on the Fleisher Art campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The artist incorporated the etching techniques of Intaglio, Aquatint, Drypoint and Chine collé. Media includes oil-based etching inks on Rives BFK white paper, which were both manufactured in France. Mulberry bark paper from Thailand, which was infused with Japanese Kozo fibers and hand-treated with homemade methylcellulose, was employed in the Chine collé process. Three nitric acid baths were required to obtain the final design. This is the best print of five prints in the LAST of FOUR Editionsnoted on the etching as 2 5IV IV. The detail images are the other four etchings in this edition. The image size corresponds to the etching plate’s size of six inches wide by nine inches high or 15.240cm by 22.860 cm. The RivesBFK white printmaking paper was hand torn to a size of about eleven inches by fifteen inches or 27.940cm by 38.100cm. Di Falco created the work’s color by blending five inks. STORYLINE--The controversial and Universalist poet, Walt Whitman, lived his final years in declining health in Camden, New Jersey on Mickel Streethis small house, which is now a museum, is located a few blocks from the Delaware River docks. His housekeeper and cook, Mary Davis, arranged for Whitman to hire her adopted-son, Warrenor WarryFritzinger, to act as the poet’s last caregiver and personal nurse. Warren became Whitman’s closest friend and stayed with him over two years until his death in 1892. The poet was quoted as saying,Warry is faithful, true, and loyal”. Speculations over their sexual relationship and Whitman’s bisexuality remain. Dr. John Johnston, an admirer of Whitman’s poetry, took the photo on which Di Falco based his etching. Johnson, who traveled across the Atlantic specifically to meet the poet on July 15, 1890, would later writeAs we approached the wharf heWhitmanexclaimedHow delicious the air isOn the wharf he allowed me to photograph himself and Warryit was almost dusk and the light unfavourable , after which I sat down on a log of wood beside him, and he talked in the most free and friendly manner for a full hour, facing the golden sunset, in the cool evening breeze, with the summer lightning playing around us, and the ferry-boats crossing and re-crossing the Delaware. The artist poet, Jerry Di Falco, was born and raised in Camden, New Jersey, just blocks from Whitman’s house. Whitman holds a special place in the artist’s heart, and he has frequently visited in grave in Camden. In 1974, Di Falco took poet Allen Ginsberg to Whitman’s house and arranged for a public reading by Ginsberg at Rutgers University’s nearby campus. Di Falco won the 1974 Rutgers University Award in Creative Writing. Chine Collé, which translates from the French as Chinese pasting, is a process in which colored and treated paper is attached to the etching plate before the printing press is activated. Di Falco mixes Methylcellulose powder with spring water and then paints the resulting clear viscous substance onto hand-dyed mulberry-bark paper from ThailandBrand- UnryuIn Japan, Unryu translates as CLOUD DRAGON paper because it has long swirling threads of kozo fibers integrated in it, thereby giving the texture and visual effect of clouds. Kozo fibers come the branches of the kozo bush, specifically the innermost of three layers of bark, which must be removed, cooked, and beaten before the sheets are formed. Kozo is harvested annually. The treated Thai paper is then allowed to dry overnight and I cut it to fit the plate areas where I want color to exist in the print. These stenciled mulberry-bark papers are first dampened or misted with water and placed upon the already inked and wiped etching plate. The printing process continues, and a multi colored image on paper resulting. PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE A FRAME OR MAT, SHIPS BETWEEN ARCHIVAL BOARDS IN A CARDBOARD BOX WITH BUBBLE WRAP. All shipment costs are extra.