Walt Whitman And Purple Sky Printmaking By Jerry Di Falco

Year:

Medium:

Etching Print

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:

PRICE INCLUDES A FRAME and archival MAT. WORK SHIPS IN A CARDBOARD BOX WITH BUBBLE WRAP. This original hand-printed etching was adapted from an 1890 photograph by British physician, Dr. John Johnston. Dr. Johnson’s photograph is currently located in The Charles E. Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress, Washington D. C. The scene shows US poet, Walt Whitman, with his nurse, Warren--Warry--Fritzinger, sitting on the Delaware River wharf in Camden, New Jersey. DiFalco executed this etching on a zinc plate and manually printed it 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 colle. Media includes oil base etching inks on RivesBFK white paper, which were both manufactured in France. Mulberry bark paper from Thailand, which was infused with Japanese Kozo fibers and treated with homemade methyl cellulose, was employed in the Chine colle 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 Editions, as noted on the etching as 2 over 5, IV over IV. The detail images are the other four etchings in this edition. The image size corresponds to the etching plate 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. DiFalco created the work’s color by blending five inks. STORYLINE -- Walt Whitman lived his final years in Camden, New Jersey, on Mickel Street. His 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, Warren, to act as the poet’s last caregiver and personal nurse. Warren became Whitmans 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, took the photo on which DiFalco based his etching. Johnson traveled across the Atlantic specifically to meet the poet on July 15, 1890. He would later write--As we approached the wharf Whitman exclaimed How delicious the air is. On the wharf he allowed me to photograph himself and Warry, and it was almost dusk. The light was unfavourable, and after I sat on a log of wood beside him. Walt 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 recrossing 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 his Camden grave. In 1974, DiFalco escourted the poet Allen Ginsberg to Whitman’s house and arranged for a public reading by Ginsberg at nearby Rutgers University.

Artwork Keywords:   Original Printmaking

Materials:   Etching Prints