Divination in Tea Leaves
Date1879
Artist
Alfred Laurens Brennan
(American illustrator, painter, and draftsman, 1853–1921)
Illustration CitationCommissioned by The American Art Review, 1879.
MediumEtching
Dimensionsplate: 8 × 5 7/16 in. (20.3 × 13.8 cm)
sheet: 11 13/16 × 8 3/8 in. (30 × 21.3 cm)
sheet: 11 13/16 × 8 3/8 in. (30 × 21.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of Helen Farr Sloan, 1978
Object number1978-479
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextThis print was commissioned by the magazine American Art Review. Inspired by the etchings of James McNeill Whistler, Charles Meryon, Francis Seymour Haden, among others, many American artists had become interested in the art of etching by 1875. The American Art Review (1879–1881), founded and edited by Sylvester Rosa Koehler, commissioned American artists for original etchings. Contributing etchers included such famous artists as Thomas and Peter Moran, Otto Bacher, J. M. Falconer, F. S. Church, Robert Swain Gifford, Henry Farrer, Samuel Coleman, Alfred Laurens Brennan and James D. Smillie. Due mostly to its lavish production costs, the journal lasted only slightly over two years. The finely printed etchings it produced, however, served as a cornerstone for the many great American etchings of the early 20th century.
