Click image to enlarge
"New York Old and New" by Ernest D. Roth, (Amer., 1879-1964)
Etching, 1944, Ed. unknown, 12 x 15-1/4, signed, titled, & dated in the plate, on cream laid paper. There is one spot of foxing and a handling crease left of the skyscraper on the right, and browning to the bottom left margin, and to the top margin with several small edge tears, all professionally mended and well away from subject. The same deft skill and perceptive eye whch had graced Roth's etchings of Venice and other European subjects earlier in the century were turned upon New York City's changing skyline in a series of late monumental views, many of which showed the city from the harbor. Here the bustling human prescence along the storefronts and seawall emphasize the dizzying height of the buildings which newly distinguished America's most modern of cities.