New York: From the Hoboken Ferry

 

Max Pollak

  1886 - 1970 (biography)

1929  

color etching & aquatint 

12 1/4 x 17 5/8" platemark 

pencil, lower right 

74 of 150  

titled, lower left; bears the red stamp F.P.C. for Friedl Pollak Collection; stamped verso "Made in Austria"; bears the copyright for Corp. Rud. Lesch N.Y. 

Triton cat. 57 (illustrated); Dreiser, My City, first illustration, over two pages 

ivory wove 

published 

Rudolph Lesch, NY 

PAKU107 

SOLD

In this extraordinary muted-color aquatint, Pollak captured the essence of Manhattan enshrouded in clouds. The city's massive stone skyscrapers seem ethereal compared to the massive steel components of the Hoboken Pier and the thick chain-links visually dividing the image.

While in New York, a chance meeting led to Pollak's being commissioned by author Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) to do a series of eight etchings of New York to illustrate his book, 'My City', published in 1929.'Hoboken Ferry' was the first illustration, covering 2 full pages.

"New York: From the Hoboken Ferry" is illustrated in black and white in the Triton Museum catalog on Pollak, number 57.