Normandy; Church of Saint Jean, Laigle, Orne

1944. Etching on bluish-grey, light, antique laid paper with a partial heraldic watermark, 3 x 1 3/4 inches (76 x 45 mm), full margins. Signed, dated, and inscribed "III" in pencil, lower margin. One of six trial proof impressions from the third state (of 3), aside from the regular edition of 184 signed and dated impressions. Fletcher states an unknown number of first state trial proof impressions, and five second state trial proof impressions. Printed by Charles S. White. In superb condition.


[Fletcher 385]. Miniature Series No. 34
French Church Series No. 45

Note: "Vermont" and "Normandy" were etched on the same plate, 6 x 5; 153 x 127. The "Vermont" section of the plate was damaged during the process of etching, which made it necessary to reduce the size. The plate was cut in half after the second state.

Paper: Arms was typical of the artists of this period - he was obsessed with paper, a mania for collecting paper that could/would improve an edition. The quantity he left after his death, distributed by his wife to fellow artists, witnesses his love for finely made paper -paper interesting because of texture, color, distinctive weave.

The earliest paper known to have been used by Arms came from a Baptismal Register Kirchen Ordnung, The Reformed Church, Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1708, bought in a bookshop in Philadelphia.

His early prints, 1915-1919, evidence paper taken from old books with gilded edges. Some prints appear on stationary from the Cisalpine Napoleonic Italy, still bearing the estampe of the office or department; others carry penned ink page numbers, taken from old ledgers of the Eighteenth Century-all beautiful shades of grey, blue and green, handmade, ribbed and otherwise. Some of his color aquatints were printed on full sheets of heavy chine or Japanese vellum, giving a sense of luxury in the richness of the stock and the width of the margins. There was a myriad of modern papers gleaned in England, France, Italy and the United States. -William Dolan Fletcher, A Man For All Times, p. 15.