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Levon West 1900 - 1968
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"Sawback Valley"
Drypoint and Etching
3 5/8 x 4 9/16 inches
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Levon West (1900 - 1968)
Levon West is an artist of dual heritage and dual talents. He was born in Centerville, South Dakota on February 3, 1900 to a New Hampshire-born mother and a father who traced his line of descent directly back to the artist Benjamin West.
His early interest in painting and drawing was interrupted by the First World War and study toward a degree in economics and business administration at the University of Minnesota. During the year after his graduation (1925) he free lanced as an artist in Minneapolis and became interested in etching after reading Malcolm Salaman’s “Masters of Etching” series. He decided to come to the East in 1925 to continue his business studies at Harvard. However, en route he sought out Joseph Pennell in New York who gave West great encouragement in the pursuit of a career in etching. His first successful etching of that year was followed by a year of etching in Spain. His first great public acclaim was for his etching of Lindberg’s “Spirit of Saint Louis” that appeared on the front page of the New York Times the day after the flight to Paris. Thereafter, his virtues as an etcher were recognized by dealers and collectors and he began to be known for his plates of the American Northwest and western ranch life. The prints are especially notable for their ability to capture the effect of swirling dust and snow.
His second career was that of pioneer color photographer under the pseudonym “Ivan Dmitri”. In both graphic careers, as an etcher and photographer, he won great critical acclaim. West died on April 25, 1968. He was described personally as a genial mustachioed man who “gives the impression of just having taken off a ten-gallon sombrero”. Undoubtedly this geniality and love of the wild led to his western subject matter and his close friendship with Dr. Eugene Noble who formed this collection. Because of Noble’s careful discrimination throughout his collection and his closeness with the artist, the quality and rarity of the prints in this group of West’s work would be nearly impossible to duplicate.
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