Forwarding proofs (not present) of some recent etchings by his wife, describing each, in an autograph letter in pencil on foolscap, signed by Moran, 14 July 1881, from New York City to S.R. Koehler, editor of the American Art Review in Boston.
4to. 1 page, approximately 150 words; docketed, probably by Koehler, on verso. Accompanied by a postcard from Moran to Koehler, written the same day, with a short note in ink, signed by Moran. The letter is somewhat chipped and frayed along the edges and is separated at one horizontal fold; the postcard is very good. For the pair. Item #46186
In the letter, Moran describes each of three proofs, two of scenes Mrs. Moran composed from the window of their 55th Street apartment, the other entitled "A Summer Day Near Newark," and offers prices for the finished etching. The postcard notes that Mrs. Moran would like Koehler to keep the proofs "in any case." Moran is best known for his painting "The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone," made while accompanying the U.S. Geological Expedition under F.V. Hayden, and other pictures of the American west. "If he was among the ablest painters of the great mountains, canyons, waterfalls, and other spectacles of nature in America, it was in large measure because he had assimilated the grand style of his exemplar, Turner, with its daring color, its visible atmosphere, and its spectacular splendor of effect, and knew how to adapt it to his own subject-matter" (DAB).
Price: $750.00