Walt Whitman with Nurse at Docks, Camden, New Jersey - Limited Edition 1 of 4 Print

Price includes all shipment & handling costs. Price also includes framed art in a white archival mat. Work arrives ready to hand. This imagery in this etching originated with an 1890 photograph by British physician, Dr. John Johnston, currently located in The Charles E. Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. (Call Number/Physical Location, LOT 12017, box 11 [item] [Prints & Pictures]). The scene shows US poet, Walt Whitman, with his nurse, Warren (Warry) Fritzinger, sitting on the Delaware River wharf in the city of Camden, New Jersey. The original etching was executed on a zinc plate by Jerry Gerard DiFalco and manually printed on a Charles Brand flatbed press at The Center for Works on Paper, located on the Fleisher Art campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The artist incorporated the etching techniques of Intaglio, Aquatint, Drypoint and Chine collé. Media includes Oil-based etching inks on Rives BFK white paper, which were both manufactured in France. Mulberry bark paper from Thailand, which was infused with Kozo fibers and hand-treated with homemade methyl cellulose, was employed in the Chine collé process. Three nitric acid baths were required to obtain the final design. This is the best print of five prints in the FIRST Edition of FOUR Editions (noted on the etching as 1/5; I/IV) The image size corresponds to the etching plate’s size of six inches wide by nine inches high or 15.240cm by 22.860 cm. DiFalco created the work’s color by blending five inks. STORYLINE: The poet lived his final years in declining health in Camden, New Jersey on Mickel Street, a few blocks from the Delaware River docks. His housekeeper and cook, Mary Davis, arranged for Whitman to hire her adopted-son, Warren (or Warry) Fritzinger, to act as the poet’s caregiver and personal nurse. Warren became Whitman’s closest friend and stayed with him until his death in 1892. The poet was quoted as saying, "Warry is faithful, true, and loyal”. Dr. John Johnston, an admirer of Whitman’s poetry, took the photo on which Di Falco based his etching. Johnson, who traveled across the Atlantic specifically to meet the poet on July 15, 1890, would later write: "As we approached the wharf he (Whitman) exclaimed: 'How delicious the air is!' On the wharf he allowed me to photograph himself and Warry (it was almost dusk and the light unfavourable), after which I sat down on a log of wood beside him, and he talked in the most free and friendly manner for a full hour, facing the golden sunset, in the cool evening breeze, with the summer lightning playing around us, and the ferry-boats crossing and re-crossing the Delaware." Notes on the Chine Collé Process: Chine Collé, which translates from the French as Chinese pasting, is a process in which colored and treated paper is attached to the etching plate before the printing press is activated. DiFalco mixes Methyl cellulose powder with spring water and then paints the resulting clear viscous substance onto hand-dyed mulberry-bark paper from Thailand (Brand-Unryu); In Japan, Unryu translates as CLOUD DRAGON paper because it has long swirling threads of kozo fibers integrated in it, thereby giving the texture and visual effect of clouds. Kozo fibers come the branches of the kozo bush, specifically the innermost of three layers of bark, which must be removed, cooked, and beaten before the sheets are formed. Kozo is harvested annually. The treated Thai paper is then allowed to dry overnight and I cut it to fit the plate areas where I want color to exist in the print. These stenciled mulberry-bark papers are first dampened or misted with water and placed upon the already inked and wiped etching plate. The printing process continues, and a multi colored image on paper resulting. This hand done process is a difficult and laborious one.

Printmaking:Etching on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:5

Size:12 W x 16 H x 1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.