Life on the waterfront: Snapshots in vintage etchings
Dock Workers Under the Brooklyn Bridge, between 1916 and 1918
Etching and aquatint
Martine Lewis (Australian-born American, 1881–1962)
Courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts
The waterfront has an atmosphere like no other. The coming and going of ships, the movement of machines on the wharves, the sounds of seagulls and salt water—all evoke a feeling of energy. But above all it is the grit and brawn of stevedores (pictured above) that give the place a certain character, a human dimension that is more interesting than machines.
The following are a few more etchings that capture the rhythm of life on the waterfront:
Dockman, Pier at La Gare (Le debardeur, quai de La Gare), 1894
Etching with aquatint and drypoint
Auguste Lepère (French, 1849–1918)
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, USA
Venice (The Waterfront), no date
Etching
Frank Duveneck (American, 1848–1919)
Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts Boston (shared under Fair Use principle)
Marseille, at the Pier, 1923
Etching and aquatint
Werner Drewes (German, 1899–1985)
Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (shared under the Fair Use principle)
The Pool, early 20th century
Etching
William Lionel Wyllie (English, 1851–1931)
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Longshoremen, 1859
Etching and drypoint
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
Courtesy of the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art (LACMA)
~ Barista Uno
