Dark Houses
c. 1935-1943
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
wood engraving in black on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 21.8 × 28 cm (8 9/16 × 11 in.) sheet: 28.7 × 39 cm (11 5/16 × 15 3/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams
Accession Number
2008.115.1986
Art Historical Context
**Dark Houses** by Michael Joseph Gallagher, created circa 1935–1943, invites viewers into a stark, atmospheric print from the heart of the Great Depression and early World War II era. This wood engraving in black ink on smooth wove paper measures 21.8 × 28 cm for the image, with a larger sheet of 28.7 × 39 cm. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Reba and Dave Williams Collection—generously gifted by the collectors—it exemplifies the intimate scale and bold contrasts typical of 20th-century American printmaking. Wood engraving, a meticulous relief technique carved into the end grain of wo...