Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-15

N ~ ITO appreciate a mans work at the
full" wrote Plutareh, 1t is well to know the
man himself his circumstances and the Incl
dents of his career"
Herman A. Webster, whose etchings are now
on view in the Smithsonian Institution, has
had a varied and unusual life Born In New
York City in April, 1878, educated at st. PauIs
School, Concord N H., and at Yale University,
he was first reporter on the stan OF the Chi
caRo Record-Herald and then for a time con-
cerned, from a business standpoint, with coal
mining in Indiana Strange preparation Tor
the career of an artist. But in 1904 Mr. Web
ster went to Paris to study art and became
pupil of Jean Paul Laurens at the Academic
Julian The same year he began etching and
year later he exhibited at the Salon. In 1910
one of our leading American collectors and
connoiS eurs came across one OF Mr.. Websters
etchipgs in the house of friend and mistook
it for a Meryon. The next day, having thus
made Websters acquaintance, he sought out
New York print seller, examined all the Web
ster prints that he had and possessed himself
of several. Even then Webster was not new
man. As the collector said he had slipped
into fame" while he had his back turned, for
already articles on Webster had appeared in
the leading foreign publications and astute Eu-
ropean collectors were buying his works and
were eagerly watching his progress In 1912
he was made an associate of the Royal Society
Of Painter Etchers and Engravsrs, and two
years later fellow of that well known organi-
cation. He also, in 1912, was made member Of
the SOciete Rationale deS Beaux Arts. He has
for years now been a member both Of the Chel-
sea Arts Club and of the Brooklyn Society Of
Etchers.
Eat then came the
From 1914 to 1917 Herman Webster a
volunteer with the French army; from 1917 TO
1919 he was with the A e F. In 1916 he won
the Croix de Guerre before Verdun When, in
1919 he was discharged from the A. E. F. it
was with the rank Of major
But for six years he did etching Owing
70 an injury to his eyes in 1918, he was not able
to return to his chosen work until 1925. Even
during these years of apparent inactivity how
ever. mis- education was going on, his expert
ence being enriched and strengthened. Nor was
he forgotten. Almost no exhibition OF etching
of importance has been held since 1912 in which
he has not been represented by invitation At
The San Francisco Exposition in 1915 he received
a gold medal award. At the Brooklyn Society
of Etchers 1880 Annual Exhibition he received
the Noyes prize. Articles about his work have
appeared in the Print Collectors Quarterly
prints and Their Makers" THE Golden Age
of Engraving" the "Keppel Booklets" etc.-in
almost every instance articles written by his COL
leagues. France has made him a chevalier OF
the Legion of Honor.
That his works should remind one of Meryons
is not strange for undoubtedly Mr. Webster was
strongly Influenced by Meryon when he first
took up etching. He has, furthermore Mer-
yon's understanding of the significance of line
and his keen sense of realization of the beauty
Of architectural themes. 1t is not too much
to say that some of his etchings of Paris such
as lie Pont Neuf," lie Quai Montebello," An
cienne Faculte de Medicine" La rue du Gre
nier- sur-leau, Paris" are comparable with Mer-
yon's best works.
1t is strange thing that so often talent
seems TO burst full-fedged into existence; but
obviously the looker-on has no dge what
soever Of the struggle that has preceded birth
In 1911 Frank Jewett Mather, jr, writing on
the etchings of Herman A. Webster in Art and
Progress" (later the American Magazine Of
ATD said: webster has been etching a matter
Of four years and in that time he has mastered
the technAc Of the needle, the acid bath and the
press There is, in fact, except for the begin