Master of the Pequod
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph in green-gray [separation proof]
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1968.24.134
Art Historical Context
Behold the evocative *Master of the Pequod* (1967), a lithograph in green-gray separation by Benton Murdoch Spruance an innovative American printmaker (1904–1967). The title nods to Captain Ahab, the obsessive "master" of the whaling ship Pequod from Herman Melville's epic *Moby-Dick* (1851), suggesting a thematic exploration of human ambition, fate, and the sea's mysteries. Created at the close of Spruance's career, this work captures his mastery of color lithography, where separation proofs like this one isolate a single ink layer—here, a moody green-gray—to reveal the intricate building blo...
About the Artist
Benton Murdoch Spruance
Benton Murdoch Spruance (1904–1967) was a Philadelphia native whose artistic journey began amid the city's architectural landscape. Born on June 25, 1904, he initially worked as a clerk in an architect's office while studying architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught himself graphic sketching. A scholarship brought him to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), foll...