Riverside Church, N.Y. City

 

Ernest David Roth

  1879 - 1964 (biography)

1930  

etching 

14 3/4 x 9 9/16" platemark 

pencil signed, lower center 

unnumbered, from an edition of 90 

pencil dated below signtaure; signed and dated in plate, lower left; titled in unknown hand, along bottom left margin 

plate 72, Fine Prints of the Year, 1931 

ivory wove with partial unidentified watermark 

published 

artist 

21687 

$350.00 

Riverside Church at 120th and Riverside Drive was opened October 5, 1930, indicating perhaps that Roth created this image in honor of the event. The church was conceived by John D. Rockefeller and minister Harry Emerson Fosdick to host an interdenominational congregation, and is known for its outreach and progressivism. It is the tallest church in the United States, designed with the Gothic styles of Spain and France in mind, and the carillion holds 74 bronze bells, including the 20-ton bourdon, the largest tuned bell in the world. Its history of speakers includes Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Jesse Jackson, Cesar Chavez, Desmond Tutu, Fidel Castro, and Nelson Mandela, among others.