Birthplace of Jesse James
1930-1935
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
wood engraving in black on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 19.53 × 26.83 cm (7 11/16 × 10 9/16 in.) sheet: 28.58 × 40.32 cm (11 1/4 × 15 7/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Bequest of Frank B. Bristow)
Accession Number
2015.19.1187
Art Historical Context
**Birthplace of Jesse James**1930–1935) is a striking wood engraving by American printmaker Fred Geary, capturing the humble origins of one of the Wild West's most notorious figures. Created during the Great Depression, the image depicts the modest farmhouse in Kearney, Missouri, where Jesse James was born in 1847. Geary's precise lines evoke the rugged American landscape and folklore, blending historical reverence with the era's fascination for frontier legends amid economic hardship. Wood engraving, Geary's chosen medium, involves incising fine details into the end-grain of wood blocks, all...