Lighthouse Pines No. 2 by Ernest Haskell

This is a drypoint etching by noted American etcher Ernest Haskell. One of his favorite subjects was pine trees, especially those swept by winds along the dunes. He frequently uses the drypoint to accentuate the needles and cones adding intensity to the image. He uses negative space similar to Asian painters. This is a crisp printing with deeply inked drypoint and good use of plate toning through hand wiping. It is signed in the plate lower left and pencil signed centered below the image. According to the catalogue, it is from an edition of 20. A wonderful small example of his work.
Ernest Haskell (1876-1925) Haskell was born in Connecticut and received his first training at the Woodstock Academy. While recovering from an attack of Typhoid Fever, he began to make sketches. Seen by an editor of a New York newspaper many were published.
He began formal art study in Boston, but left after a few weeks to take a position at the New York American as an illustrator. In 1897, he went to Paris to ostensibly study at the Academie Julian. Rebelling against the formal academic tradition, he spent 2 years haunting the museums and galleries and working by himself. He returned to New York, worked as an illustrator and began doing some portraiture and caricature. He did two famous caricatures of Whistler which lead to a meeting with the great master. Whistler exposed Haskell to etching, a medium he enthusiastically embraced. He became a master etcher exploring a variety of techniques including flick engraving, and dry point. In particular, he was fond of trees doing oaks in Maine, pines on the beach, cypress from Florida and California and the giant sequoias and redwoods of the west coast. His work spans the range of tone from light and atmospheric to extremely dark and brooding. Haskell was tragically killed in an automobile accident depriving us of one of our great artists at the height of his powers.
His work is held by most major American museums, including the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, the National Gallery of Art, the New York Public Library, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Size: 1920s
Price: $275
Size: 9.75 x 6.5 inches
Plate Size: 8 x 5 inches
Condition: Pristine
Medium: Drypoint Etching
Subject: Landscape

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