Label Text:
Haskell enjoyed trips to the west for artistic inspiration. Baby Sequoia is the result of a trip to California made in 1914, during which he visited the giant trees in Sequoia National Park, the nation’s second-oldest park, established in 1890 on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. This plate incorporates both engraved and etched lines.
Haskell conveyed the majesty and monumentality of giant trees in Sequoia National Park. Haskell transferred the meticulous forms of his pen-and-ink drawings to large-scale plates, prompting the critic Willard Huntington Wright to classify these images as “needle photography.”
Haskell used a variety of intaglio techniques to capture the visceral experience of beholding towering trees. Here, Haskell focused on a trio of interrelated forms. The skeletal structures of the trees on either side lend grace and rhythm to the central tree. Technically, the plate is equally complex. Etched lines give the composition its impressive tonal depth and linear variety. Engraving reinforces the initial drawing. And a technique usually considered a mistake during the etching process creates foreground texture. There, Haskell intentionally thinned the resistant etching ground so that acid would eat away at the underlying metal in a random pattern.
KG, How He Was to His Talents exhibition, March 24, 2011-August 7, 2011
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1951.1217 |
