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

Object Information
  • 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

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