Skyriders
Skyriders
Artist
James Edmund Allen
(1894 - 1964)
Date1935
MediumEtching
DimensionsPlate: 12 × 9 in. (30.5 × 22.9 cm)
Framed: 19 1/2 × 16 1/8 × 1 1/8 in.
Framed: 19 1/2 × 16 1/8 × 1 1/8 in.
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2012.39
Signedl.r., in pencil: James B. Allen
Accession number
2012.39
On View
Not on viewLabel TextA crane lifts the two iron workers and a steel beam into the air. These "skyriders" were men who risked their lives to construct skyscrapers, often bolting steel in place while dangling hundreds of feet above the ground.
Look closer at the fine lines in this etching. In the etching process, a metal plate is first covered in a waxy coating called a “ground.” The artist uses a sharp, pointed tool to scratch through the ground, exposing the metal plate. The plate is then covered in acid, which bites into the exposed areas to produce incised lines. In printing, the plate is inked and the surface is wiped, leaving ink in the lines that have been cut by acid. When the plate is pressed with a sheet of slightly damp paper, the paper picks up the ink from the grooves.
