Rainy Day, Queens
Martin Lewis – Rainy Day, Queens
Martin Lewis (1881-1962), Rainy Day, Queens, drypoint, 1931, signed in pencil lower right [also signed in the plate lower right]. Reference: McCarron 94, only state, from the edition of about 70. In very good condition (the slightest toning upper margin edge), the full sheet, 10 5/8 x 11 7/8, the sheet 14 1/4 x 15 1/2 inches.
Provenance:
ex Collection: Delores D. DiPaola
Kennedy Galleries (with their stock data in pencil, recto and verso)
A fine rich impression of this iconic image, printed in black ink on an ivory wove paper.
Lewis described this location as “Skillman Ave. Queens”; it is probably at the intersection of Skillman Avenue and 49th Street.
Martin Lewis was interested in Japanese art early in his career, and in 1920 visited Japan, where he stayed for nearly two years. Rainy Day, Queens owes much to this influence: the careful placement of compositional elements, for example, and the atmospheric effects of rain, frequently found in Japanese prints and in Lewis’s Japan-based prints (e.g., Fishing Boats in the Rain, M. 41, and Showers on the Bay, M. 46).