Firemen
Etching, 1913, edition unknown. 11 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. Signed in the plate and signed in pencil, lower right. A fine impression in very good condition. The margins are full. This is plate No.6 from Pearson's celebrated "Toilers of the City" series. Based on his time in Chicago, these compelling prints are remarkable for their fine draughtsmanship and command of the medium. Prints of firemen are rare in 20th century American printmaking.
SOLD

House and Rock, Carmel Highlands
Etching, 1922, edition unknown. 11 x 9 in. Signed and dated in the plate on the left side. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression in fine condition. The margins are full. Pearson traveled all across America promoting etching and etchers by way of lectures and demonstrations at various art institutions. He was one of the early etchers in the Taos area having produced prints there in the teens and early 1920s. He did a small series of California prints and this one depicts the James House in Carmel which was designed by Greene and Greene.
SOLD

Pasadena Palms
Etching, 1925, edition unknown. 5 3/4 x 10 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower right. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on a cream wove paper. The margins are full. This is one of Pearson's few California etchings. There was an exhibition of his etchings in 1922 in Los Angeles at the Stendahl Galleries in the Ambassador Hotel. In addition, he won a silver medal at the Panama-Pacific Exposition.
SOLD

Structural Iron
Etching, 1912-1913, edition unknown. 13 7/8 x 8 7/8 in. Signed in the plate and signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine, luminous impression in very good condition apart from slight toning within an earlier mat opening. The margins are full. This is plate #5 (of six) from Pearson's "Toilers of the City" series. This excellent series was based on his observations in Chicago during the early teens. The artist admired the work of Joseph Pennell and it shows, but Pearson, also the gifted etcher, was able to introduce a human presence into his city views which is lacking in the prints of Pennell. These early views of Chicago are not especially common and they are important precursors for the WPA era printmakers and their renditions of similar subjects. Pearson exhibited his prints at Marshall Field and Company in Chicago, among other places in the midwest. He also produced a series called "Picturesque Chicago" which is less well-known.
SOLD

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
Etching, 1920, edition unknown. 5 1/8 x 9 1/2 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower left. Signed and titled in pencil and with "#15" and also below in pencil "second state." This is a fine, luminous impression printed on light cream wove paper. The margins are substantial and this is probably the full sheet as issued. Excellent condition. Pearson was one of the earliest printmakers working in New Mexico. He arrived in Taos in 1915 and by 1918 he held an exhibition of some of these prints at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. This is a very rare print and is clearly one of the best that he produced there. He was a member of and exhibited with Chicago Society of Etchers, the Art Students League of Chicago, the New York Society of Etchers, the California Art Club, the California Society of Etchers, and the Brooklyn Society of Etchers. His work is represented in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
SOLD

The Asphalters
Etching, 1911, edition unknown. 10 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower left. Signed and titled in pencil. This is fine impression printed with dramatic plate tone. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. This is plate # 2 from his Toilers of the City Series. This excellent series was based on his observations in Chicago during the early teens. The artist admired the work of Joseph Pennell and it shows, but Pearson, also the gifted etcher, was able to introduce a human presence into his city views which is lacking in the prints of Pennell. These early views of Chicago are not especially common and they are important precursors for the WPA era printmakers and their renditions of similar subjects. Pearson exhibited his prints at Marshall Field and Company in Chicago, among other places in the midwest. He also produced a series called "Picturesque Chicago" which is less well-known.
SOLD