Sliding Down the Bannister

Artist / Maker Jay Norwood Darling (American, 1876 - 1962)

Date1940

MediumPhotoetching on paper

Dimensions6 15/16 x 8 13/16 in. (17.6 x 22.4 cm) 11.25 x 14.25 inches framed

ClassificationsPrints and Printing Plates

Credit LineGift of the J. N. "Ding" Darling Foundation. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM82.182

Status

Not on view

Collections

Label TextDarling must have printed a goodly number of impressions from this plate, for many copies are known. The photoetching was, again, etched a little too deeply and broadly, for except with a very careful printing, the lines tend to “pull” or not be fully inked. Darling’s home on Terrace Road looked out over Water Works Park, where the Raccoon River meanders through acres of grasslands, meadows, and stands of trees, among which are set the evaporation and treatment ponds for the Des Moines water system. Containing horse trails and an arboretum, the park is a favorite retreat for hikers. The etching is notable for its very fully developed landscape, in which many of Darling’s habitual motifs – the bent foreground grasses, the grid-like reflections in the water, the layered space – are supplemented by very attentive drawing, especially of the trees. The entire landscape, not just the ducks, is set in motion. The nickel-chromed copper plate is extant. This impressions was printed on a full sheet of fine paper with a J. Whatman watermark.

SignedJ.N. Darling in pencil, lower right

Object Titles[com.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.ObjectTitle@9f66]

Locations