Three Sisters by Levon West

This is an etching titled Three Sisters by South Dakota artist Levon West. It is a scene from the West featuring three mountain peaks standing above a flat expanse of desert. There are several geological formations around the world that have been given the name Three Sisters. The most famous in the United States is in the Cascade range in Oregon where three volcanic peaks are grouped together. This doesn't appear to be an Oregon scene, so the location is ambiguous. It is also not the Three Sisters from Monument Valley. It is still a powerful etching with effective use of intense shadow and plate toning to create the mood. As dominating as the peaks are, about two-thirds of the image is negative space, which conveys the immensity of the Western desert. His approach to composition is reminiscent of his teacher Joseph Pennell's scenes from the west. The etching dates from 1928 and is catalogued as Torrington #111. It is from an edition of 100. The edition 3/100 is given in pencil lower left along with the title of the piece. The artist has signed in pencil lower right Levon West imp. There is a pencil collection index number at the lower margin of the piece. The etching is in pristine condition. Hard to believe it is nearly 100 years old. It is a crisp well-inked impression. There are no condition issues including no paper loss, tears, stains, soiling, foxing, or toning. A really fine piece.

Levon West (1900-1968) was born in South Dakota as Levon Assadoorian. He studied business administration at the University of Minnesota but then changed his career direction and and studied art at the Art Students League with Joseph Pennell. He shot to notoriety based on a serendipitous encounter with Charles Lindberg prior to Lindy's famous flight. He had done some sketches of Lindberg when they met. When he heard about the flight, he created an etching and sent it to the New York Times who published it. According to the biography provided on the Old Print Shop website, when asked how much he wanted for the etching, he replied, "I don’t care how much I get for it, but put my name on it good and big at the bottom.” And so are careers launched. West was a superb artist and was well recognized by the artistic community. He was awarded a prize in 1928 in an exhibition in Philadelphia. He had exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Printmakers Society of California, the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, the Society of American Etchers, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He loaned a selection of etchings to the University of Minnesota for the opening exhibit of their fine art gallery in 1934-35. He was a member of many print societies, and, as a member of the Prairie Print Makers, one of his etchings was chosen as a gift print issued by the society. His work is held in many collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Library of Congress, the Spencer Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art among many others. What's especially fascinating about West was that he was a pioneer in a second artistic field, photography under the name Ivan Dmitri. A pioneer in color photography, he established one of the first photography exhibits at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and founded Photography in the Fine Arts.