Shaw, Robert. “Dam of Valley Creek, Valley Forge, PA”

Robert Shaw (1859-1912). “Dam of Valley Creek, Valley Forge, PA.”  From American Memorial Etchings. 

New York: A. C. Butters & Co., (1904-1910).  8 x 11 ¾ (image) plus wide margins.  Etching on chine applique.  Signed in pencil by the artist.  Remarque of a Conestoga wagon in bottom margin.  Beckman, 33.  Notation on verso in pencil from the Fritz Eichenberg estate.  Very good condition.  

Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, artist and etcher Robert Shaw worked throughout his life depicting scenes of local importance and those which he sketched while on travels in the U.S. and abroad.  Shaw was an apparently self-taught artisan who worked first as a scenic landscape painter before learning the technique of etching.  His two artistic peers in the Wilmington area were his good friend J.D. Chalfant (1856-1931) and the popular late 19th century illustrator Howard Pyle (1853-1911).  Shaw was an active member of the American Painter-Etcher Movement.  He continued to work throughout his life although crippled by a childhood illness, and suffering from deafness and severe cataracts.  The works of Robert Shaw represent a unique American patriotism which is reflected in an appreciation of the architecture of famous sites.  His etchings of historically important and picturesque scenes of local interests make him an important and desirable Philadelphia area artist.

Robert Shaw’s works originally appeared in three portfolio publications:  “Picturesque Wilmington” (1889-1895), H.L. Everett’s “Historic Churches of America” (1892-1894), and the “American Memorial Etchings” (1904-1910).