Marsh Creek

ca. 1907

Not on view

A leader of the American Arts and Crafts movement, Dow’s advanced ideas concerning color and design are beautifully conveyed by his woodcuts. Born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the artist studied tonalist painting in France for five years then returned to Boston in 1889. Fascinated by Ukiyo-e prints, Dow examined examples at the Museum of Fine Arts, together with Japanese printing equipment at the Smithsonian Institution. After mastering a multi-block process, he created forty compositions between 1891 and 1921, many printed in multiple variations with experimental inking. These works explore the expressive potential of color and, in 2016, the Museum acquired a significant group, including Marsh Creek. Exemplifying Dow's mature technique, no key-block was used in this print, and the landscape is formed from adjacent color zones. Printing the layers required great skill, and overlapping forms have been used to great effect. Thinly applied golden ink veils underlying blues and purples, with ripples scored into the wet ink -- a technique more common to watercolor than woodblock printing. Other variants of this subject use dark tones to suggest a moonlit scene, but the present example evokes bright twilight.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Marsh Creek
Artist: Arthur Wesley Dow (American, Ipswich, Massachusetts 1857–1922 New York State)
Date: ca. 1907
Medium: Color woodcut
Dimensions: Image: 4 1/8 × 6 13/16 in. (10.5 × 17.3 cm)
Sheet: 5 7/8 × 9 3/16 in. (15 × 23.4 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, 2016
Object Number: 2016.212
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Arthur Wesley Dow

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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

"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

Nabby's Point, Arthur Wesley Dow American, Color woodcut on cream paper, American — Nabby's Point
Arthur Wesley Dow
ca. 1913

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