The Big Sky, or Marshes

ca. 1912

Not on view

These woodcuts communicate Dow’s advanced ideas about expressive color. In 1889 the artist returned to Boston after five years in France, and became fascinated by Japanese ukiyo-e prints at the Museum of Fine Arts. Pursuing a new artistic path, he mastered a multiblock technique and then created forty woodcuts between 1891 and 1921, often printing multiple color variations with experimental inking techniques. Big Sky, or Marshes followed his 1912 trip to Arizona and California; some of the tiny, expansive landscapes set beneath dramatic skies evoke the desert hues of the American West and others suggest the salt marshes of Dow’s native Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Artwork Details

Title: The Big Sky, or Marshes
Artist: Arthur Wesley Dow (American, Ipswich, Massachusetts 1857–1922 New York State)
Date: ca. 1912
Medium: Color woodcut
Dimensions: Image: 2 3/16 × 3 7/8 in. (5.5 × 9.9 cm)
Sheet: 2 15/16 × 4 5/8 in. (7.5 × 11.8 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of the Dowd-Gallogly Family and Allan E. Dowd, 2016
Object Number: 2016.422
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Arthur Wesley Dow

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Modern Art

Multiple artists/makers

1895

Little Venice, Arthur Wesley Dow American, Color woodcut; early state, with key block and single color — Little Venice
Arthur Wesley Dow
ca. 1893

Little Venice, Arthur Wesley Dow American, Color woodcut — Little Venice
Arthur Wesley Dow
ca. 1893

Marsh Creek, Arthur Wesley Dow American, Color woodcut — Marsh Creek
Arthur Wesley Dow
ca. 1907

"The Derelict" or "The Lost Boat", Arthur Wesley Dow American, Color woodcut; trial proof of single color block, American — "The Derelict" or "The Lost Boat"
Arthur Wesley Dow
1916

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