Edition 200. Signed, titled Lights, and annotated No 2/200 for Howard M. Chapin in pencil. Initialed in the block, lower right.
Image size 6 1/8 x 4 3/4 inches (156 x 121 mm), sheet size 9 3/8 x 7 1/4 inches (238 x 184 mm).
A fine, richly-inked black impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 1/4 to 1 7/8 inches); a small loss (5/8 inch) in the upper right sheet corner, well away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition. Printed by Ernest Roth.
One of four early, self-published wood engravings representing Fritz Eichenberg's first impressions of New York City as an immigrant in 1933, at the height of the depression. He recalls the period ..."exciting safaris into downtown Manhattan, my first ride on the infernal Seventh Avenue Subway, observations of life on the stoops and fire escapes of Little Italy, in the streets of Harlem and Williamsburg, visits to the Aquarium and the speakeasies, and the sight of the ominous breadlines of the Bowery...".
Literature: Representing America: The Ken Trevey Collection of American Realist Prints, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1995.
Collections: Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Binghampton University Art Museum, David Owsley Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Terra Foundation for American Art.
