Auntie Susie Reading

Art Historical Context

Francis Dodd’s 1910 drypoint *Auntie Susie Reading* captures a quiet moment of domestic life with remarkable sensitivity. The print shows a woman absorbed in her book, her figure gently modeled through the soft, velvety lines that drypoint naturally produces. Created just before the First World War, the work reflects the Edwardian interest in intimate, everyday subjects rendered with technical precision. Drypoint, an intaglio technique in which the artist scratches directly into a metal plate, allows the burr raised by the needle to hold ink and create rich, atmospheric tones. Dodd exploits this quality to lend warmth and depth to the scene, transforming a simple reading figure into a study of light, texture, and quiet concentration. The modest sheet size further enhances the sense of personal encounter, inviting viewers to lean in as if sharing the room with Auntie Susie. Now part of the National Gallery of Art’s Rosenwald Collection, the print exemplifies the early-twentieth-century revival of original printmaking, when artists explored the medium’s expressive possibilities for subjects drawn from ordinary life.