Palm Canyon (no.1)
c. 1920
Medium
drypoint in black on wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 17.2 x 12.5 cm (6 3/4 x 4 15/16 in.) sheet: 25.2 x 20.2 cm (9 15/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. John Farr Simmons
Accession Number
1986.60.5
Art Historical Context
**Palm Canyon (No.1)**, created around 1920 by American printmaker George Elbert Burr, the stark beauty of the American Southwest a masterful drypoint etching. Burr (1859–1939), renowned for his luminous landscapes of deserts and canyons, drew inspiration from his time in California and Arizona, where he settled to portray the region's dramatic natural forms. This intimate plate (17.2 x 12.5 cm) on wove paper evokes the depths and sunlit palms of a canyon, likely referencing iconic sites like those in Palm Springs or Arizona's rugged terrain. Drypoint, Burr's favored technique, involves scrat...
About the Artist
George Elbert Burr
George Elbert Burr was an American printmaker and watercolorist whose career spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, earning him a reputation as one of the foremost etchers of the American West. Born in 1859 in Monroe Falls, Ohio, Burr trained as a commercial illustrator before turning his full attention to fine art. He honed his craft through diligent self-study and close obser...