Manhattan Backwash

Close up of Manhattan Backwash

Tiny print of a foreboding, dilapidated Victorian house on a hill. Between two water-stained retaining walls, a long series of uneven steps leads up to the house, which is flanked by barren trees and broken picket fencing.
Tiny print of a foreboding, dilapidated Victorian house on a hill. Between two water-stained retaining walls, a long series of uneven steps leads up to the house, which is flanked by barren trees and broken picket fencing.
Grace Arnold Albee, Manhattan Backwash, 1938; Gift of P. Frederick Albee

The wood engraving Manhattan Backwash illustrates two of Grace Arnold Albee’s favorite themes: the effects of human habitation on the natural landscape and the passage of time.

A dilapidated Victorian house with blank windows and disintegrating fence appears abandoned. A long series of steps, barren trees, and fences create a barrier between the house and the viewer. The term “backwash” suggests that the condition of the house is the result of some unknown, previous detrimental event.

Albee created small images because she worked with the end-grain of the wood block to create her engravings. Their size required precision to form the intricate shapes and rich, varied textures that characterize her prints.

Albee’s method involved sketching her subjects in pencil on site, then taping her drawing to the end of a block of Chinese boxwood, and tracing its outlines onto the wood. Cutting away the areas she wanted to retain the white of the paper, the artist inked sections that remained in relief.

Artwork Details

  • Artist

    Grace Arnold Albee

  • Title

    Manhattan Backwash

  • Date

    1938

  • Medium

    Wood engraving on paper

  • Dimensions

    3 1/2 x 5 3/4 in.

  • Donor Credit

    Gift of P. Frederick Albee

  • On Display

    No

The Artist, Grace Arnold Albee

As a child, Grace Thurston Arnold had become fascinated with the engraved illustrations in her grandfather’s books; as an adult, she made this medium her specialty.
A black-and-white photograph of a woman seated at a table by a window. Her face, in profile, is in shadow. She looks down at a wood engraving. One hand steadies her woodblock while the other carves. Engraving and printing tools are scattered on the table, along with a small print.