George Pop Hart Nude Bathers Original Pencil Signed Drypoint Etching in Mat 1925

Bathers by American artist George Overbury "Pop" Hart - (1868-1933) is an excellent pencil signed Drypoint Etching printed and published by the artist in a Limited Edition in 1925.

Title: Bathers
Artist: George Overbury "Pop" Hart - (1868-1933) - American artist
Technique: Drypoint Etching
Signature: Signed and titled in pencil by the artist, and signed in the plate.
Date Published: 1925
Edition: Limited Edition
Dimensions: Sheet size -10-3/4 x 14-1/4 inches, Image size - 7-3/4 x 9-7/8 inches, Mat size - 13 x 15-1/2inches.
Condition: Very Good condition with some minimal age toning.
References: George Overbury "Pop" Hart (1933), Memorial Exhibition catalog published by the Newark Museum. It is listed as No. 163 in the catalog.
Printing: A strong impression printed by the artist in black ink on handmade cream paper.
Presentation: Placed in a cream mat/folder.
Description: Although "Pop" Hart did not begin printmaking until he was in the fifties, he produced some very fine unique and innovative works using a variety of techniques and tools to create tones and textures. He had been primarily a watercolor painter, and he tried to bring to printmaking all of the tones and nuances that he was able to achieve through painting.

In Bathers Hart used drypoint and etching to create a simple idyllic image of a group of nude women bathing in a mountain stream. A few small animals, possibly baby llamas, are also in the scene. Hart traveled extensively in Mexico and other southern regions, producing works that show ordinary working people and their simple lives. Bathers is a very fine and appealing etching that is well composed and effectively uses contrast to create movement and interest throughout.

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George Overbury "Pop" Hart was born in Cairo, Illinois. Little is documented about him before he began formal studies at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). He remained at the AIC for three years from 1894-1897 and studied briefly at the Academie Julian in Paris in 1907. During the first two decades of the twentieth century Hart was also a central figure in the Fort Lee, New Jersey artists' colony and counted among his close friends such important artists as Jules Pascin, Walt Kuhn, Edward Hopper. and Arthur B. Davies.

During this time Hart also associated with different members of the New York Social Realist group of artists including Henri and Sloan. Hart traveled often to exotic destinations such as North Africa, Tahiti, the West Indies and Mexico. Hart's favorite choice of medium, watercolor, suited his proclivity to paint en plein air in a spontaneous, free-flowing style. While Hart experimented with impressionism, Post Impressionism, Modernism, Social Realism and other aesthetics his stylistic approach was both innovative and progressive.

In 1921, he began printmaking, working in drypoint, lithographs, and etching. He prized spontaneity in his work and while few may associate graphic work such as printmaking as being spontaneous, Hart was able to capture the moment within these works by his bold contrast of lights and darks and his simplified use of lines. Of all the styles and mediums Hart chose to employ none were more innovative and fresher than his work in watercolor. Hart used a fairly radical method of layering paint in loose, watery strokes, allowing his passages to drip and blend together in an accidental manner. During his own day, Hart, along with John Marin and Charles Burchfield was regarded as a leading figure in American Watercolor."

He was a member of the American Watercolor Society; New York Watercolor Club; Brooklyn Society of Etchers; Salons of America; Society of Independent Artists and others. He won various awards including Etching prize, Brooklyn Society of Etchers, 1923-1924; first prize, watercolor, Palisade Art Association, Englewood, NJ, 1924; bronze medal, Sesquicentennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1926 and others. His work can also be found in major museums in the United States and abroad. A bust of him by Reuben Nakian is in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City donated as a gift compliments of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. He died in New York City in 1933. (Artist biography by Blake Benton Fine Art)