Early American
1947
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
drypoint in black on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 30.48 × 22.7 cm (12 × 8 15/16 in.) sheet: 41.12 × 26.83 cm (16 3/16 × 10 9/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Bequest of Frank B. Bristow)
Accession Number
2015.19.1434
Art Historical Context
Walter Tittle's *Early American* (194) is a striking drypoint print that captures the artist's mastery of intimate, textured line work. Created in black ink on laid paper, this intaglio technique involves scratching directly into a metal plate with a sharp needle, raising a soft burr that produces velvety, tonal depths when inked and printed. The modest plate size (30.48 × 22.7 cm) invites close viewing, emphasizing the tactile richness unique to drypoints, which often yield editions of just a few impressions before the burr wears down. Produced in the post-World War II era, Tittle's work ref...
About the Artist
Walter Tittle
Walter Tittle was an American illustrator, portraitist, and printmaker who built a distinguished career in the early decades of the twentieth century, working across the overlapping worlds of magazine illustration, literary portraiture, and fine art printmaking. Born in Springfield, Ohio, he studied at the Art Students League of New York, an institution that provided rigorous training in drawing a...