Print of the Day!! Fri, June 28, 2024 is by John Taylor Arms (1887-1953): "Sentinels;" etching, 1922, edition 100.

Print of the Day!! Friday, June 28, 2024. By American master printmaker John Taylor Arms (1887-1953). ?

"Sentinels" (also titled: 'Sentinels in the Night') is an intaglio, an etching, done in 1922. The platemark measures 4-5/16 x 7-7/16 inches. This impression is pencil signed and dated by the artist in the lower margin. It was printed in a two states by the artist and Master Printer Frederick Reynolds in an edition of 100, plus an additional 35 impressions printed in 1937-8. This proof was printed on a sheet of gray-green wove paper that measures 7 x 9 inches. This image is #9 in Arms' Gargoyle Series. References include: Fletcher 123; Arms 125; Library of Congress 314. The gallery inventory number for this work is 24557.

This etching by John Taylor Arms is available from the gallery for purchase.

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These two "sentinels" overlooking the city of Paris are chimères added to the fa?ade of the Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral in the 19th century. They were created under the supervision of the architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc during a major renovation. These statues don't function as water spouts so they are not categorized as gargoyles. They are perched on the balustrade of the cathedral's Galerie des Chimères, a balcony that connects the two bell towers. The chimères are grotesque, frightening, and fanciful statues that were thought to ward off evil spirits. Arms depicted the chimèra of a bearded man with a cap whose neighbor, a canine-like creature, appears ready to pounce from the railing. Fifty-six chimères were added to the fa?ade of the cathedral in the 19th century.

John Taylor Arms was a trained architect who felt very deeply that man's greatest achievements in architecture are evidenced in the cathedrals and churches from the Gothic era. Chimèras are grotesque, frightening, and fanciful statues that are perched on mounts and were created by artisans that were given free rein. They are often located above gargoyles, as is the case with this image. Beneath the beast projects a 'gargoyle,' an elongated, horizontal creature that was designed as a conduit to drain water from the roof and project the falling water away from the sides of the building.

John Taylor Arms was fascinated by what he termed the Gothic Spirit in early Gothic architecture. One of his focuses was on the elaborate waterspouts on the cathedrals, carved in the shapes of "gargoyles". In 1920 he began a series of 41 prints featuring various gargoyles and grotesques of the French cathedrals. It is reported that he would climb out to the facade to a building in order to get what he felt was the best angle for an etching.

John Taylor Arms, printmaker, lecturer, illustrator, and administrator, was born in Washington, D.C. on 19 April 1887. He first studied law at Princeton University but transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study architecture, earning a Master's Degree in 1912. He studied with Ross Turner, David A. Gregg, and Felton Brown. For five years after his graduation Arms worked for the architectural firm Carrere and Hastings, before establishing his own architectural firm of which he was a partner.

A gift of an etching kit from his wife, Dorothy, changed the course of his life. He produced his first etching in 1915 and he eventually produced 441 prints, mostly etchings. Arms became one of the most famous printmakers of the first half of the twentieth century. He is mostly noted for his etchings of medieval architecture but early subjects also included ships, sailboats, airplanes, rural landscapes, and the streets, buildings, and bridges of New York.

Arms was an activist for printmaking and assisted in assembling exhibitions of American graphic art that were shown in Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Rome; he was editor of the Print Department of Print, A Quarterly Journal of the Graphic Arts, and he lectured on the techniques, history, and value of original prints. Arms also served as the president of the Tiffany Foundation in 1940. John Taylor Arms died in New York City on 15 October 1953.

Arms' exhibition history was lengthy beginning in 1927 and continuing to 1952. He authored 'Hand-Book of Print Making and Print Makers' in 1934 and illustrated 'Churches of France' and 'Hill Towns and Cities of Northern Italy' by his wife, Dorothy Noyes Arms. His work can be found in most major collections of American prints.

To purchase this work, see other works, or read a biography for John Taylor Arms use this link to our website: https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/artist/80/Arms/John