Glow of the City
Martin Lewis (1881-1962), Glow of the City– – 1929, Drypoint
McCarron 77. Edition 110, including 4 trial proofs. Signed in pencil. Annotated Trial Proof No 2 in pencil and numbered 2 at the bottom right sheet edge.Signed in the plate, lower right.
Image size 13 3/4 x 9 7/8 inches (350 x 251 mm); sheet size 17 5/8 x 12 7/8 inches (448 x 327 mm).
A superb, richly inked, luminous impression, in dark brown ink, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 3/4 to 1 7/8 inches).
Lewis, here at the height of his technical virtuosity, has created a beautifully nuanced image, at once dramatic and intimate. Awarded the Print Club of Philadelphia’s Charles M. Lea Prize in 1930, many consider this to be the artist’s most important work.
“The dark steeple beyond the tenements rose from a church that once stood at the Manahattan entrance of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The Art Deco skyscraper in the distance with illuminated upper floors, is the 1929 Chanin Building, designed by Slaon and Robertson, which stands at the corner of Forty-second Street and Lexington Avenue…The Chanin building had a very dramatic impact on the New York City skyline because it did not yet compete with taller neighbors like the Chrysler Building, completed in 1930.” –McCarron
Collections: ACM, AIC, AMP, BMNY, BPL, CAM, CU, DIA, LC, MAC, MMA, MOMA, NAM, NGA, NMAA, OC, PMA, SU, YU.