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There Will Come Soft Rains

Printer Christopher Creyts American
2015–16
Not on view
Jackson drew from numerous sources, including John James Audubon’s seminal Birds of America (first printed between 1827 and 1838), Disney movies, documentary photographs, and art historical imagery to create scenes that refer to both preservation and apocalyptic destruction. He reworked copper plates from the 1930s etched with Audubon’s birds, adding acidic colors and layers of found images. The portfolio title derives from Sara Teasdale’s 1918 poem "There Will Come Soft Rains," which describes nature reclaiming the world after war has destroyed the land and civilization; Jackson hand-stamped one stanza into each plate. As the artist discovered, several of the birds featured in the portfolio—the carrier pigeon, the Carolina parakeet, and the ivory-billed woodpecker—are now extinct or critically endangered due to slaughter and loss of habitat.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: There Will Come Soft Rains
  • Artist: Matthew Day Jackson (American, born Los Angeles, California, 1974)
  • Printer: Christopher Creyts (American, born 1970)
  • Publisher: Collaborative Art Editions
  • Date: 2015–16
  • Medium: Four-color, four-plate etchings
  • Dimensions: Each sheet: 27 in. × 20 1/2 in. (68.6 × 52.1 cm)
  • Classifications: Portfolios, Prints
  • Credit Line: John B. Turner Fund, 2016
  • Object Number: 2016.356a–m
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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