Winter on White Street

Drypoint on laid paper.

Reference: McCarron 110.

Edition of 41.

Martin Lewis loved depicting snow, both in the countryside and in the city. This composition, which has become quite scarce, is compositionally very reminiscent of his "Snow on the El", which is one of his most famous and sought-after. One suspects that, given the success of the aforementioned composition, Lewis decided to revisit a similar vertical composition with a woman walking toward the viewer. "Winter on White Street" depicts not only the actual snow drifting from right to left, it evokes the strength of the wind, which has completely clad the right side of the tree with snow, and is clearly pushing the woman towards us and to the left. The high contrast light of wintery conditions is beautifully evoked by the snow-white rooftops in which only the lightest drypoint touches (or is it a grain of aquatint?), shades the otherwise blank expanses.

Signed in pencil.