Pencil signed etching 10 x 8 in. (plate), 15 1/2 x 13 1/2 in. (framed). From askart.com: Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Joseph Pennell became best known for his illustrations and etchings, a process he began in the late 1870s. He completed over 1800 etchings and lithographs, executed mostly in Europe before 1917. His style was strongly influenced by James Whistler, and his technique was influenced by drawings of Charles Reinhardt. He also wrote and illustrated nearly a hundred books including a biography of Whistler.Pennell was the son of Philadelphia Quaker parents and briefly attended the School of Industrial Design, now the Philadelphia College of Art. Between 1878 and 1880, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia where his instructor, James Claghorn recognized and encouraged Pennell's etching talent.In 1881, he went to Europe to meet with William Dean Howells, American writer, about illustrating some of Howells' Italian writings. On this trip, he also made other connections that led to commissions in London and resulted in over 1800 etchings and lithographs. He destroyed most of these plates as well as those from future trips dating to 1917 to prevent their being copied and publicly distributed.From January 1882, he was in New Orleans for four months doing illustrations of Louisiana for Century Magazine and for a book by George Washington Cable, The Creoles of Louisiana (1885). From 1884 to 1917, Pennell lived primarily in Europe. There he made scenery prints in many parts of the Continent, working in a variety of graphic media. He also returned to America long enough to travel in the American West, and in 1912 and 1915, did scenes of San Francisco, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, which along with twenty-three lithographs he did of the Panama Canal were purchased by the Italian government are in the Uffizi Gallery.Among Pennell's recognitions are the First Class Gold Medal in the Paris Expo in 1900; Grand Prize in 1904 at the St. Louis Expo in 1904; Milan Grand Prize in 1906; the Diplome d'Honneur in Amsterdam in 1912; and the French Commemorative Medal in 1915."Pennell was elected an Associate of the National Academy in 1907 and an Academician in 1909, and was a member of the New York Etching Club Sources:Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American ArtEdan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940John Mahe, Encyclopedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918International Fine Print Dealers Association, http://www.ifpda.org/artist_template.cfm?id=1185Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American ArtCompiled by Lonnie Pierson Dunbier

Good condition