Joseph Pennell

Union Square and Bank of Metropolis

Joseph Pennell's Union Square and Bank of Metropolis is an original etchng depicting one of New York's many architectural buildings. This original impression was etched by the American printmaker and painter, Joseph Pennell in 1904. It is printed upon fine Japon paper and with full margins as published in New York in the sole edition of seventy-five signed impressions. It is signed in pencil by Joseph Pennell along the lower middle margin.

This work of art depicts the west side of the square. Occupying the block between 15th and 16th Streets the three major buildings are the Hartford Building, the Decker Building and the Bank of the Metropolis. Forming the union of Park Avenue South and Broadway, Union Square was at this time within the major retail shopping section. The Century Magazine, for which Pennell did many illustrations, had its offices on the northeast edge of the square.

Union Square and Bank of Metropolis

View other original works of art by the British artist, Joseph Pennell.

Joseph Pennell (Philadelphia, 1857 - Brooklyn, New York, 1926)
#	Image	Title & Artist	Medium	Date	Info	-
01.-		Gateway, Canterbury Cathedral by Joseph Pennell	Original Etching	1884 (1885 P. G. Hamerton Ed.)	Published by Seeley & Co., 46, 47 & 48 Essex Street, Strand, London for P. G. Hamerton's Journal, "The Portfolio: An Artistic Periodical". Signed and dated by Joseph Pennell in the plate.	Sold
02.-		Porch Gate, St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford by Joseph Pennell	Original Etching	1884 (1885 P. G. Hamerton Ed.)	Published by Seeley & Co., 46, 47 & 48 Essex Street, Strand, London for P. G. Hamerton's Journal, & "The Portfolio: An Artistic Periodica". Signed and dated by Joseph Pennell in the plate.	Sold
03.-		St. John's College, Oxford by Joseph Pennell	Original Etching	1886 (P. G. Hamerton Ed.)	Published by Seeley & Co. Essex Street, London for P. G. Hamerton's Journal, "The Portfolio: An Artistic Periodical". Signed by Joseph Pennell in the plate.	Sold
04.-		St. Paul's from the Adelphi by Joseph Pennell	Original Lithograph	1905	Louis Wuerth, Catalogue of the Lithographs of Joseph Pennell, Boston, 1931. Catalogue # 164, First and only State, as published in the signed limited edition of fifteen impressions. Signed in Pencil by Joseph Pennell, edition of fifteen impressions.	Sold
05.-		The Canal at Blanzy by Joseph Pennell	Original Lithograph	1911	Louis Wuerth, Catalogue of the Lithographs of Joseph Pennell, Boston, 1931. Catalogue # 214, First and only State, as published in the signed limited edition of fifteen impressions. Signed in Pencil by Joseph Pennell, edition of fifteen impressions.	Sold
06.-		The Modern American City (Untitled Drawing) by Joseph Pennell	Original Pen and Ink and Wash Drawing	c. 1920	Signed by Joseph Pennell and bound into the Accompanying Book entitled, "Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen"	Available
07.-		Union Square and Bank of Metropolis by Joseph Pennell	Original Etching	1904	Louis Wuerth, Catalogue of the Etchings of Joseph Pennell, Boston, 1928.Catalogue # 327, First and only State, as published in New York in the limited edition of seventy-five signed impressions. Signed in Pencil by Joseph Pennell, edition of Seventy Five impressions.	Sold

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Title:	Union Square and Bank of Metropolis
Artist:	Pennell, Joseph (Philadelphia, 1857 - Brooklyn, New York, 1926)
Date:	1904
Medium:	Original Etching
Note:	Joseph Pennell: Commonly referred to as the 'Dean of American Printmakers' no individual artist had as much influence upon the shaping of early twentieth century American art as Joseph Pennell. His critical and opinionated books such as Lithography and Lithographers (1900) and Etching and Etchers drew the ire of many artists and collectors in Britain, France and the United States. Yet throughout his career his striking architectural etchings and lithographs were admired internationally. Even his great mentor and close friend, Whistler, exclaimed that Pennell had a most unique gift for creating a composition.
	Shortly after graduating from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Joseph Pennell departed for London (1884) where he lived for the most part until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. Frequent artistic trips to Germany, France, Italy and, later, America, made him an international figure. Forever inventive, Pennell's etchings, lithographs and drawings won major awards in Paris, Dresden, Milan, Barcelona, Florence, Amsterdam and in London. Upon his return to the United States, Joseph Pennell was the first artist to seriously depict the modern urban environment. His etchings and lithographs of the growing skyscrapers of Manhattan and the massive industrial sites of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia changed the course of American art. Joseph Pennell was elected a full Academician of the prestigious National Academy in 1909. Examples of his original prints and drawings are included in most of the world's major museums, including the Cabinet des Estampes, Paris, the British Museum, London, the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, and the Library of Congress, Washington.
	Union Square and Bank of Metropolis is an original etchng depicting one of New York's many architectural buildings. This original impression was etched by the American printmaker and painter, Joseph Pennell in 1904. Union Square and Bank of Metropolis depicts the west side of the square. Occupying the block between 15th and 16th Streets the three major buildings are (from left to right) the Hartford Building, the Decker Building and the Bank of the Metropolis. Forming the union of Park Avenue South and Broadway, Union Square was at this time within the major retail shopping section. The Century Magazine, for which Pennell did many illustrations, had its offices on the northeast edge of the square.
	Joseph Pennell's New York etchings of 1904 mark an important cornerstone in the formation of modern American art. Arriving from London in the third week of August, he was immediately struck by the cosmopolis that had mushroomed during his years abroad. The skyscraper, that most profound of architectural inventions, had found its most potent expression in New York where it was shaping and reshaping the landscape on an almost daily basis. This was a thoroughly new city, a new world, and Pennell was the first to chronicle its growth. At this crucial time, he hurriedly wrote his wife, "It is so beautiful I must go out and make more immortal works."
	Pennell created many more etchings and lithographs of New York, first in 1908 and then after 1914, when he permanently moved there. Yet none I think quite capture the sense of awe and grandeur we see in his initial 1904 etchings, such as this original example. Here his buildings actually seem to breathe with life. In the history of superb architectural art they deserve to stand beside those of Meryon's Paris and those of Piranesi's Rome.
	In total Joseph Pennell created more than 28 etchings of New York during the Autumn of 1904. All were published in editions of between 25 and 90 impressions. One author writes, "In these prints there is a sparkling freshness and an inspired intensity. Awed by the skyscrapers, the artist drew most of them from street level looking up, with the reduced scale of hastily suggested people giving even greater monumentality and substance to the tall buildings. A master of selection and suggestion, Pennell depicts acutely observed details with amazing formal flexibility, massing them into a unified composition that insists on an internal artistic integrity and at the same time is convincingly veracious in its topographical documentation." * * Edward Bryant, Pennell's New York Etchings, New York, Dover Books, 1980, pp. 11 - 15. (Note: Union Square and Bank of Metropolis is illustrated in this book on plate 12.)
Raisonne:	Louis Wuerth, Catalogue of the Etchings of Joseph Pennell, Boston, 1928.
	Catalogue # 327, First and only State, as published in New York in the limited edition of seventy-five signed impressions.
Reference:	* Edward Bryant, Pennell's New York Etchings, New York, Dover Books, 1980, pp. 11 - 15.
Size:	11 5/8 X 8 3/8 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials
	View larger Framed Image

Condition:	Printed upon fine Japon paper and with full margins as published in New York in the sole edition of seventy-five signed impressions. Signed in pencil by Pennell along the lower middle margin. Union Square and Bank of Metropolis is a finely printed, tonal impression and in good condition throughout. This original etching represents a most important example of the influential architectural art of Joseph Pennell.
Price:	Sold - The price is no longer available.
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