Pennell, Joseph “Table and Chair, Signers’ Room, Independence Hall.” [Philadelphia]

Joseph Pennell. “Table and Chair, Signers’ Room, Independence Hall.”  [Philadelphia]

1912.  23 x 17.  Lithograph.  Titled and signed in image.  Faint mat burn in margins.  Else, very good condition.  Wuerth: 286.

Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) was an etcher, lithographer, illustrator, and author.  He is one of the best known and respected of American artists from the etching revival period.  Born in Philadelphia, Pennell trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art.  Beginning in 1883, Pennell spent most of his time in Europe, moving back permanently to the United States in 1917.  His etching technique reflected Whistler’s, but he developed his own style.  His series of large lithographs of Philadelphia area scenes promoted the Colonial Revival which was popular in the United States in the early twentieth century and left a fine historical record of how these sites appeared at that time.