The Giant Stride by John Edgar Platt

The Giant Stride by John Edgar Platt

The Giant Stride

John Edgar Platt

Title

The Giant Stride

 
Artist
Year
1918  
Technique
color woodcut, printed in 8 colors 
Image Size
6 5/8 x 16 3/16" image 
Signature
pencil, lower right; block monogram in upper center image. 
Edition Size
pencil inscribed xxi from a proposed edition of 150 (120 recorded) 
Annotations
titled in pencil in lower left, monogrammed with date in upper center 
Reference
Chapman 4; also illustrated as plate IX on page 41 in "Colour Woodcuts by John Platt"; illustrated as figure 4/6 in Nancy E. Green's chapter "Frank Morely Fletcher and The Japanese Print", as published in "Second Impressions: Modern Prints and Printmakers 
Paper
ivory laid Japanese 
State
published 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
23200 
Price
SOLD
Description

Perhaps Platt's most famous print "The Giant Stride" was exhibited in 1922 at the 3rd International Exposition in Los Angeles organized by the Printmakers Society of California. This print was awarded the Gold Medal for best print in any medium. The drawing for this woodcut is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, #E.1630-2000.

According to Hilary Chapman, Platt noted in his printing records that "each impression took eight printings from four blocks cut on both sides. He used sketches of his family to compose this subject. They include (on the swings): second and third from left are Platt's two sisters; baby in the center is his son Michael; fifth figure from the left is his daughter Anthea, sixth from the left (the boy in the blazer) is his brother Sidney; and eighth from the left is his wife Phyllis. The figure on the beach with the parasol is his mother."

The giant stride is a long-since-removed playground apparatus that dates from early 1900s. Simply put, it was a tall pole with ropes/ladders attached to it. Children could grab hold of the handles and run in circles, so fast that their feet would leave the ground. For safety reasons, it was mostly removed from playgrounds by the 1960s, though some still remain.