DOI issue:
No. 183 (February 1925)
DOI article:Salaman, Malcolm C.: The etchings of Arthur W. Heintzelman
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21402#0084
THE ETCHINGS OF ARTHUR W. HEINTZELMAN
" UNE PROPRIETAIRE DE CAYEUX." ETCH-
ING BY ARTHUR W. HEINTZELMAN
(Published by Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.)
etched plate in 1915, The Rabbi—Rem-
brandt has been his master and his
inspiration. Being interested above all in
human character and its expression, he
has wisely gone to the master for guidance
in the linear suggestion of the essentials
and particularities of physiognomy. Nat-
urally, then, the furrowed face. of age
attracts him with the defined expression
that the features take from experience.
How sensitively the artist's visual record
responds to his intuitions we see in two
of the plates reproduced here, La Grand'
Mere Forain and Une Proprietaire de
Cayeux. Could the contrast in the life-
circumstance of these two old women be
more convincingly suggested than by the
aspect of each as the etcher presents it i
With what benign and comfortable dignity
this gracious well-robed dame sits on her
chair, with a stool to rest her feet! Age
has marked her noble forehead, given
flabbiness to her cheeks, weakened her
fine hand, but it has been an easeful age,
78
with a good table, a well-ordered house, a
pleasant salon ; and the artist's dry-point
tells us all this with the unfailing line that
carries the expressive accent. Now, look
at the toil-worn, bent old woman trudging
along the rough road in broken boots,
awkwardly carrying her burden and sup-
porting herself with the staff that her poor
bony hand can scarcely clutch, quite
lonely but for the yelping dog at her side.
Time has drawn the skin tight over the
bones of her face with its masculine look,
yet nothing ugly is here, for this delicately
observant etcher with his needle and acid
has taken charmingly the suggestions of
sunshine over the waterside landscape, and
one may imagine that even to this haggard
old woman all seems " right with the
world," or, at least, right enough for the
time o' year. 4 a a a a
In Mr. Heintzelman's studies of wrinkled
age there is never a hint that he feels
towards it anything but a tender
reverence. One of his most beautifully
" UNE PROPRIETAIRE DE CAYEUX." ETCH-
ING BY ARTHUR W. HEINTZELMAN
(Published by Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.)
etched plate in 1915, The Rabbi—Rem-
brandt has been his master and his
inspiration. Being interested above all in
human character and its expression, he
has wisely gone to the master for guidance
in the linear suggestion of the essentials
and particularities of physiognomy. Nat-
urally, then, the furrowed face. of age
attracts him with the defined expression
that the features take from experience.
How sensitively the artist's visual record
responds to his intuitions we see in two
of the plates reproduced here, La Grand'
Mere Forain and Une Proprietaire de
Cayeux. Could the contrast in the life-
circumstance of these two old women be
more convincingly suggested than by the
aspect of each as the etcher presents it i
With what benign and comfortable dignity
this gracious well-robed dame sits on her
chair, with a stool to rest her feet! Age
has marked her noble forehead, given
flabbiness to her cheeks, weakened her
fine hand, but it has been an easeful age,
78
with a good table, a well-ordered house, a
pleasant salon ; and the artist's dry-point
tells us all this with the unfailing line that
carries the expressive accent. Now, look
at the toil-worn, bent old woman trudging
along the rough road in broken boots,
awkwardly carrying her burden and sup-
porting herself with the staff that her poor
bony hand can scarcely clutch, quite
lonely but for the yelping dog at her side.
Time has drawn the skin tight over the
bones of her face with its masculine look,
yet nothing ugly is here, for this delicately
observant etcher with his needle and acid
has taken charmingly the suggestions of
sunshine over the waterside landscape, and
one may imagine that even to this haggard
old woman all seems " right with the
world," or, at least, right enough for the
time o' year. 4 a a a a
In Mr. Heintzelman's studies of wrinkled
age there is never a hint that he feels
towards it anything but a tender
reverence. One of his most beautifully