Up From the Old Creek Bend

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

Date1940

MediumPhotoetching and drypoint on paper

Dimensions8 7/8 x 11 3/4 in. (22.5 x 29.8 cm)

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 numberUM82.135

Status

Not on view

Collections

Label Text"Up from the Old Creek Bend" is on of Darling's most completely and beautifully drawn prints. It was preceded by at least six graphite and pen studies of mallards rising, all of which were preparatory for this work of art, but none of which was the actual drawing from which the photoengraving was made. In this group of drawings the ducks, the pool of water, the splash, and the trees are all carefully worked out, and this care is reflected in the final product, which is a showpeice of planned spontaneity. This image comes as close to stop-action photography as anything in Darling's body of work, and the book he owned by Gordon Aymar on "Bird Flight", had a section on mallards rising. The three ducks in Darling's etchings are far more graceful than those shown in the book. For more refer to "The Prints of J. N. Darling" by Amy Worthen, 1984.

SignedJ.N. Darling '40 in pencil, lower right

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