Philadelphia Streetscape
date: label: date made
content: nineteenth century
name: label: graphic artist
content: Pennell, Joseph
notes: label: Description
content: Joseph Pennell’s etching of the Water Street Stairs is one of several prints showing old Philadelphia streets and buildings that he made in 1881. Some of these appeared in the <i>Century Magazine</i> in 1882 with an article written by Elizabeth Robins, who would become Pennell’s wife.
label: Description
content: In his autobiography Pennell noted with pride that as a child of about five he could write text backwards and forwards in a drawing. He demonstrates that skill here. He painstakingly etched the text of the many posters and signs backwards so it would read correctly in the print. But at center left he etched the name of the theater to read backward, perhaps from a quirky sense of humor.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
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content: Ferris Collection
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content: Communications
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content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: GA.14230
label: accession number
content: 94830
label: catalog number
content: 14230
objectType: label: Object Name
content: print
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 25 cm x 19 cm; 9 13/16 in x 7 1/2 in
label: Measurements
content: sheet: 35 cm x 25.5 cm; 13 3/4 in x 10 1/16 in