John M Kelly Aquatint Semi Nude Framed Female Portrait Print

Description

John M. Kelly framed aquatint. Signed at lower right corner. Image measures 16" x 13", Frame measures 27.5" x 21". … more John M. Kelly framed aquatint. Signed at lower right corner. Image measures 16" x 13", Frame measures 27.5" x 21".

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1878, John Melville Kelly and his wife, Katherine, a sculptor, went to Hawaii in 1923, for what they thought would be a year, to work with an advertising firm producing tourist promotional material. Kelly had an adventuresome career that included prizefighting and fourteen years of experience as a staff artist for the "San Francisco Examiner". The Kellys immediately identified with the native Hawaiians and became their champions in images and in print. Kelly was a master draftsman, whose etchings and aquatints include ravishing depictions of Polynesians. Although generally thought of as an artist of the human figure, Kelly also produced a significant number of beautiful images of the land.


Item ID: 4733C less