First Impressions Nineteenth-Century American Master Prints
Alicia G. Longwell
Published by GILES in association with the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y.
Publish Date — September 2010 (UK and USA)
Dimensions — 96 pages, 250 x 210 mm (8¼ x 10 in.), portrait
Illustrations — 75 colour and 11 b & w illustrations
Hardback price — UK£24.95 / US$39.95
ISBN — 1-904832-75-X
ISBN — 978-1-904832-75-1
Trade Orders — Please visit our Trade Orders section
Press Release — Nineteenth-Century American Prints
News — First Impressions nominated for prestigious award
Sales Points
“It’s one of those books you spend time with. The book is filled with gorgeous images, printed on paper that does justice to the images, and every page is beautiful and informative.” Rebecca Ronstadt, Publisher, Journal of the Print World
“This volume ... is a lesson in connoisseurship.” “A pleasant armchair exhibition and a good introduction to the medium.” Maine Antique Digest
Nominated for a prestigious award by the American Historic Print Collectors Society
About the Book
First Impressions features over 70 works by some of the leading “painter-etchers” of the 1880s including Thomas Moran and Mary Nimmo Moran, William Merritt Chase, Henry Farrer, Stephen Parrish, James D. and George H. Smillie, John Henry Twachtman, and Thomas Waterman Wood. These artists sought to imbue the traditionally rigid line of engraving with the freedom and spontaneity they expressed in their painting. The book includes some of the etching revival’s most beautiful images, notably the atmospheric landscapes of Long Island’s East End. Many of the prints in the Parrish’s collection are bon à tirer, that is, the first impression that was fully acceptable to the artist and the printer. The quality of these works evokes the moment of complete artistic collaboration shared by artist and printer, when the ‘master’ print was pulled from the press.
