Midsummer Night Dream
c. 1935
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph in black on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 33.5 × 45.5 cm (13 3/16 × 17 15/16 in.) sheet: 40.3 × 58.4 cm (15 7/8 × 23 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
2008.115.4399
Art Historical Context
**Midsummer Night Dream**, a captivating lithograph created around 1935 by American artist Francis B. Shields draws inspiration from William Shakespeare's enchanting play *A Midsummer Night's*. This monochrome print on wove paper, measuring 33.5 × 45.5 cm, evokes the play's whimsical world of fairies, lovers, and woodland mischief through bold lines and shadowy forms. Shields, active in the early 20th century, the dreamlike essence in a single, evocative image that invites viewers into a nocturnal fantasy. Lithography, the medium here, was a revolutionary printmaking technique by the 1930s, a...