Up and Going
G e r a l d – K .– G e e r l i n g s – –1 8 9 7 – 1 9 9 8
Up and Going– 1931, Etching and Aquatint.
Czestochowski 22. Edition 40. Signed and titled in pencil.
Image size 11 15/16 x 7 3/8 inches (303 x 187 mm); sheet size 16 7/8 x 11 1/8 inches (429 x 283 mm).
A superb, atmospheric impression, in dark sepia ink, on pale green laid paper, with full margins ( 1 13/16 to 2 3/8 inches), in excellent condition.
Over half of the edition of this iconic print is known to be in major public institutions; impressions are thus rarely found on the print market. Collections include: AIA, AIC, BM, BPL, CH, GC, GKG, IMA, LACM, MHC, MM, MMA, MPL, NYPL, PMA, PRIN, UI, UPAA, UW, UWM, VA.
Up and Going contrasts straightforward precisionist structures – the buildings at the right – with ominous symbolist-like imagery – the rising clouds of smoke; it thus seems to depict both the optimism of early 20th Century America and the concerns and forebodings of the Great Depression era.
Gerald Geerlings studied architecture after service in WWI, and became an architect in New York, working with several firms including York and Sawyer, and then on his own. He also studied printmaking in his early years as an architect, at the Royal College of Art in London. He made prints during two periods: from 1926-33, and again after 1975. His later work, in lithography typically with hand colored pastel, is quite beautiful, but his earlier striking citiscapes, now rare, are perhaps most highly sought after by today’s collectors.