Kennebunkport Boat Builders by Howard Norton Cook

This is a dramatic woodblock print by noted American artist Howard Norton Cook. It is titled Kennebunkport Boat Builders and dates from 1926. The view is unusual in that the artist has positioned himself at the bottom of the frame looking up at the hull of the boat. The keel defines a curved center line that draws the eyes upward, an effect that is enhanced by the narrow perspective. The ground slopes down to the left giving a somewhat rickety off kilter effect to the image. A man with a pipe (the boss?) is at the top left of the image looking over the prow, while two shipwrights are laboring beneath the hull--a somewhat perilous location given the balance of the image. The artist effectively uses light and shadow to frame the hull again drawing the eye to the center of the image. A masterful image by a superb woodcut master. This is a well-known image. A presentation copy is held by the Philadelphia Art Museum. The image is printed on thin tissue paper. It is pencil signed Howard N. Cook and dated 1926 lower right. The title is given in pencil lower center. The artist's name, Cook, is also in the block lower right. There is a stamp on the paper SPB lower right. The piece is in very good condition given the fragility of the tissue paper. Pencil registration marks are visible at the corners. Remnants of hinge tape are present at the top margin. There is some brownish discoloration at the margins and a thin line of this extends into the image at the extreme upper right. Otherwise it is a good impression without tears, paper loss, foxing, or other staining. The image is 8.5 x 19.75 inches. The sheet is 9.5 x 19 inches. It is unframed. A great example of Cook's early work.

Howard Norton Cook (1901-1980) Howard Norton Cook was one of America’s pre-eminent printmakers. Born in Massachusetts, his formal art education began with a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York. He studied with several noted artists, but Max Weber and Joseph Pennell stand out given they were both accomplished printmakers. As was the case with many art students of the time, he generated income through illustrating magazines and billboards. He honed his printmaking skills creating woodcuts for national magazines such as Harpers Weekly and Atlantic Monthly among others. It was one of these assignments, creating illustrations for Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop that led him to visit Taos, New Mexico, an experience that changed his life in many ways. Most notably he met and subsequently married artist Barbara Latham. He also was immersed in the culture of New Mexico and created a series of prints depicting native American ceremonies, the architecture of the adobe buildings and pueblos, and the New Mexican landscapes. This culminated in a series of woodcuts of the Grand Canyon created in 1927 that were very popular and contributed to his rise as a noted artist. By 1935 his prints were chosen for 50 prints of the year 4 times!! He was a member of the Prairie Printmakers, one of the most influential artistic groups in the United States in the mid-20th century. In 1929 Cook and Latham traveled to Paris, and subsequently returned to New York City. He won two Guggenheim Fellowships. He ultimately focused more on painting, initially watercolors and ultimately oils. He and Latham moved back to New Mexico in 1935. He worked as part of the New Deal art project to paint several murals and in 1937 won the Gold Medal for mural painting by the Architectural League of New York. He served in the South Pacific in WWII as an artist/correspondent and led an art unit in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. His team accompanied the U.S. Army's 43rd Infantry Division throughout the region, depicting that unit’s activity. After the war, he continued working and exploring new media (collage and pastel) and reinventing his style until he contracted multiple sclerosis. He received many accolades for his work including the SFB Morse Gold Medal in 1976 from the National Academy of Design, and several visiting professorships and artist in residence positions. His print work won many awards, including prizes from the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, the Society of American Etchers (twice), the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Philadelphia Print Club. His lifetime achievement in printmaking was recognized in 1949 by election to membership in the National Academy as a graphic artist. Four years after his death, a major retrospective of his work was exhibited at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. His work is held in most major collections, most notably the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the British Museum, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. His work is actively sought by collectors.