About the Artwork
A majority of Martin Lewis’s prints deal with the nuances of vision. Typically, Lewis concentrated on translating a split second of activity. His prints are like snapshots that capture people in poses and scenes that rarely remain stationary. Often, Lewis organized his compositions from an unusual perspective or point of view and included bad weather or interesting sources of light. Dealing with these latter conditions allowed the artist to experiment with the depiction of fleeting forms such as shadows, silhouettes, reflections, the wind, rain, snow, intense light, or the night. Stoops in the Snow is among many of Lewis’s masterful achievements. To suggest accumulating snow on the streets of New York, Lewis created a density of dots by pressing sandpaper into a soft-ground coating on the plate. In other areas, he selectively scraped the plate clean to produce wispy, inkless “white” lines that represent gusting wind and swirling snow.
Stoops in Snow
1930
Martin Lewis
1881-1962
American
Unknown
Drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on wove paper
Plate: 10 × 15 inches (25.4 × 38.1 cm) Sheet: 13 5/8 × 18 3/8 inches (34.6 × 46.7 cm)
Prints
Prints, Drawings & Photographs
Bequest of Hal H. Smith
45.299
© Ruth Lewis, granddaughter of the artist Martin Lewis
Markings
Signed, in plate, lower left: MARTIN LEWIS Signed, in pencil, lower right: Martin Lewis-
Inscribed, in pencil, lower left edge: STOOPS IN THE SNOW
Provenance
Hal H. Smith
1945-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Credit Line for Reproduction
© Ruth Lewis, granddaughter of the artist Martin Lewis
Martin Lewis, Stoops in Snow, 1930, drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on wove paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Hal H. Smith, 45.299.
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