Spring Night, Greenwich Village
Spring Night, Greenwich Village––1930, Drypoint and Sand Ground.
McCarron 85, only state. Edition 92. Signed in pencil. Signed in the plate, lower right. Titled in pencil on the bottom left sheet edge.
Image size 9 7/8 x 12 3/8 inches (248 x 315 mm); sheet size 13 3/8 x 15 7/8 inches (340 x 403 mm).
An exceptionally fine, richly inked, atmospheric impression, in warm black ink, on cream laid paper; the full sheet with wide margins (1 3/4 to 1 7/8 inches), in excellent condition.
Ex-collection Patricia Lewis, the artists daughter-in-law, with her collection stamp in the bottom right sheet corner, verso..
The scene depicted is on Bedford Street, New York (now a landmark street in the West Village), near Lewis home at the time he created this evocative nocturne. The soft atmospheric light was achieved with drypoint over a finely textured ground created by pressing sandpaper on the copper plate matrix.
Lewis won the 1931 Charles M. Lea Prize from the Philadelphia Print Club for this work, the second year in a row he was the recipient of the prestigious award.
Collections: ACM, BM, BMNY, CU, DIA, FAMSF, MFA, NMAA, NYPL, PMA, TBG, WMAA, WMU.