Handy Pump by George Joseph Mess

Handy Pump by George Joseph Mess

Handy Pump

George Joseph Mess

Please call us at 707-546-7352 or email artannex@aol.com to purchase this item.
Title

Handy Pump

 
Artist

George Joseph Mess

  1898 - 1962
Year
1954  
Technique
color aquatint and etching 
Image Size
6 15/16 x 4 7/8" platemark 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
not stated 
Annotations
pencil titled, lower left 
Reference
DuBois, page 125 
Paper
heavy, ivory wove 
State
 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
16402 
Price
$400.00 
Description

Printmakers George Jo and Evelynne Mess were an integral part of the Brown County, Indiana art community and, in 1942, they bought the forty acre John Followell farm, east of Nashville, Indiana. It was quite likely the source for this aquatint.

The farm had a barn and out-buildings, and a house that they described as "three rooms and a path". There was no electricity, plumbing or running water. Water would have to be pumped up from a well with a hand pump, such as this, and carried to the house. A real chore in the winter.

Mess originally addressed this subject eleven years earlier, in 1943, as a black and white aquatint, also titled "Handy Pump." This composition is one of only four color aquatints he attempted.

 

Please call us at 707-546-7352 or email artannex@aol.com to purchase this item.