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151 FRANK W. BENSON
Old Tom
.
Etching, 1926. 375x250 mm; 14
3
/
4
x9
3
/
4
inches, full margins. Edition of 150. Signed in
pencil, lower left. A brilliant, richly-inked impression of this large, scarce etching, with
warm plate tone, crisp, inky plate edges and exceptionally stong contrasts.
A portrait of Thomas Nickerson, who was the primary caretaker of the Eastham,
Massachusetts, hunting lodge that Benson and his companions frequented. Nickerson died
in 1923 and was memorialized by Benson in a watercolor portrait from the same year, on
which he based this etched portrait three years later. The hunting guide is shown as an
heroic figure, dramatically shadowed, holding a shotgun in one hand and a dead bird in
the other. Paff 246.
[5,000/8,000]
152 FRANK W. BENSON
Running the Rapids
.
Etching, 1927. 150x197 mm; 5
7
/
8
x7
3
/
4
inches, full margins. Edition of 150. Signed in pencil,
lower left. A superb, dark impression of this very scarce etching.
We have found only 3 other impressions at auction in the past 30 years. Paff 269.
[1,500/2,500]
151