William James Bennett ~ Master of the Aquatint View on exhibit at The New York Public Library

Saturday, 25 October 2008 21:00

 

NEW YORK, NY - Niagara Falls’ stunning force of nature, the beauty within the devastation of New York’s Great Fire of 1835, and the bustling waterfront activity of South Street’s thriving port, are among the scenes captured in a series of evocative prints on view in William James Bennett: Master of the Aquatint View, an exhibition opening November 7 at The New York Public Library. The exhibition provides a window into the United States’ burgeoning past through the eyes of William James Bennett (ca. 1784 – 1844), a British émigré who documented America’s new urban centers and rapidly developing frontiers in the first half of the 19th century.

William James Bennett: Master of the Aquatint View showcases a selection of works by the English-born artist, who captured the changing American landscape in aquatint, a style of etching that uniquely simulates the delicate fluidity and transparency of watercolor. The exhibit will be on display in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, from November 7, 2008 until January 25, 2009. Admission is free.

The 40 prints and watercolors in the exhibition are drawn entirely from the Library’s Print Collection, many from The Phelps Stokes Collection of American Historical Prints, donated to the Library by I. N. Phelps Stokes in 1930. Bennett’s golden vision of 19th-century America is especially evident in this series of urban ‘portraits’, widely regarded as the finest folio views of American cities created during that time period.

“Bennett has provided us with fascinating documents of 19th Century America’s growing cities and bustling maritime activity, and in the process, he also created remarkable and captivating works of art that expressed the optimism of the new nation,” said the exhibit’s curator Roberta Waddell, who recently retired as curator of the Library’s Prints Division. William James Bennett: Master of the Aquatint View marked Waddell’s final project before her retirement and also marks a return of Bennett’s work to the Print Gallery. A previous version of the exhibition was on view at the Library in 1988.

William James Bennett was born in England, and received his artistic training at the celebrated Royal Academy, where he soon gained a reputation as an accomplished watercolorist at a time when the medium had gained popularity with professional and amateur artists alike. Before coming to America, Bennett displayed an exceptional talent for aquatint and during his career produced many prints for some of the most lavish English plate books. However, he is best known for his views of American cities and helped to establish a compositional formula for topographical art in the United States.

Bennett’s celebration of the American cityscape includes such growing urban centers as Baltimore, Boston, Mobile, Richmond, Charleston, Detroit, Troy, Washington, West Point, and New Orleans, with a special focus on New York.

In what is regarded as his greatest print, New York, From Brooklyn Heights , Bennett created an aquatint after a painting by John William Hill. In this piece, Bennett’s aquatint bathes in a golden glow Hill’s 1836 rooftop view that encompasses the Heights, Manhattan and the distant shores of New Jersey.

Showcasing his mastery of aquatint, a tonal printmaking process invented in the 1760’s, William James Bennett: Master of the Aquatint focuses on the artist’s work from 1826, when he left Britain and settled in New York, until his death in 1844. Examples of his work in Europe can be found at The New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery at :  www.nypl.org.

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