FR118 - Park Avenue c. 1929 colored etching, 17 5/8” x 10.7/8”

Luigi Kasimir was born in Pettau (now Ptuj, Slovenia), Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both his father and grandfather were artists. He attended the Vienna Academy of Art and studied under Wilhelm Unger who introduced him to the technique of colored etching and also Kasimir’s future wife, the artist Tanna Hoernes. Kasimir was among the first to develop the technique of colored etching. Before his technique was developed, prints were hand colored. Kasimir’s technique was a meticulous printing method. It required creating multiple imprints of the same image layered on top one another with careful hand application of colored paints to as many as six separate plates to create one original work of art. He would first create a sketch - usually in pastel. Then transfer the design onto as many as six plates depending on the amount of color to be transferred to the etching, printing one after the other plates. Luigi Kasimir was mainly famous for his etchings but he also produced some oil paintings (as his father and grandfather) and pastels. One of his favorite genres was landscape demonstrating a predisposition to monuments, street scenes and tourist landmarks, depicting places from all over Europe and the United States. He toured the United States to do a series of etchings of famous sights of urban landmarks. He became world renowned during his lifetime. First throughout Europe where Sigmund Freud collected his work, later in the United States where he created iconic images of the New York skyscrapers, famous bridges, and natural wonders like Yosemite. In 1926, The New York Times distinguished Kasimir from most etchers as a “colorist” deeming his aquatints of New York of the 1920s as bringing New York alive. Kasimir was a prolific artist producing hundreds of works including scenes of Princeton and Yale universities, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Vienna, London and Paris. Many well-known museums (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and galleries collect his art and his art is frequently available at auction (www.mutualart.com; www.eidenbergeretchings.com). Lehigh University’s Special Collections acquired two etchings – one an original print signed; another print has a copyright symbol in lower right corner in plate and signed in plate (Park Avenue). Both etchings are matted and framed in gold leaf wood frames each measuring 25 ¼” x 18 ½”.

Transferred from Facilities & Services (Karen Williamson) September 29, 2017