The Red Shawl
date: label: Date made
content: [1920]
name: label: graphic artist
content: Gearhart, May
notes: label: Description
content: "The Red Shawl" is a soft ground color etching and aquatint by May Gearhart (1872&#8211;1951). Although she created landscape prints like her sister Frances, May Gearhart also made prints of figure subjects. "The Red Shawl" is an image inspired by one of her trips to Mexico.
label: Description
content: In the print, a woman shown in profile holds a small bouquet of flowers while walking along a cobblestone sidewalk next to a white building. Her layered clothing, Gearhart's skillful use of color, and the deep shadows give the impression of a cold, but sunny morning. The woman is wearing a full, plaid, violet skirt and a red shawl. Her slightly bowed head is covered by a yellow kerchief and her face is shadowed.
label: Description
content: Gearhart achieved a watercolor effect by thinning oil-based inks. This tiny print is very loosely rendered, a characteristic of the soft ground technique. Although the process of printmaking usually involves creating a set of identical images, Gearhart often printed in small editions, using different shades of ink for each print to produce unique impressions.
label: Description
content: The Gearhart sisters both taught school, and they worked closely with two brothers, Benjamin and Howell Brown, to establish and support printmaking organizations in California. The Gearharts and the Browns exhibited their prints at the Smithsonian in the 1920s, and they all made generous donations of their work.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Pasadena
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Communications
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content: Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: GA.13357
label: catalog number
content: 13357
label: accession number
content: 70154
objectType: label: Object Name
content: print
label: Object Name
content: etching
label: Object Name
content: Print
label: Object Type
content: Etching
label: Other Terms
content: Print; Intaglio; Etching
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 10.3 cm x 7.5 cm; 4 1/16 in x 2 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: sheet: 23.3 cm x 15.3 cm; 9 3/16 in x 6 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23.6 cm x 23 cm; 9 5/16 in x 9 1/16 in