Untitled (transfer drawing for print)
ca. 1920s
Medium
Drawing
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Carolann Smurthwaite in memory of her mother, Caroline Atherton Connell Smurthwaite
Accession Number
1983.83.78
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Untitled (transfer drawing for print by George Elbert Burr ca. 1920s, offers a glimpse into the meticulous preparatory process of one of America's foremost etchers. Burr (1859–1939), celebrated for his atmospheric landscapes capturing the American West's deserts and mountains, created this drawing as a transfer medium—inked on thin paper to reverse and imprint onto a printing plate. Featuring a simple house and tree, it evokes quiet domestic scenes amid nature, a departure from his grander vistas yet true to his impressionistic touch. This technique was pivotal in the early 20th-century Etc...
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...