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Merchants of Death
Merchants of Death
Object number1976.32

Merchants of Death

Date1935
Artist (American, b.1876)
CultureAmerican
MediumCrayon lithograph with scraping on cream wove BFK paper
DimensionsImage: 8 x 12 7/8 in. (20.3 x 32.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 1/2 x 15 7/8 in. (29.2 x 40.3 cm)
Matted: 16 x 22 in. (40.6 x 55.9 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, Matthew Vassar Fund
On View
Not on view
Period20th c
Classification(s)
SignedOn recto, signed lower right margin in pencil: Mabel Dwight
InscribedOn recto, by artist, lower left margin in pencil: 3 1/4 - 3 1/4 - 12
Catalogue raisonnéRobinson and Pirog 74BibliographyModern Metropolis, (Poughkeepsie: FLLAC, 2002), p. 11; Catalogue of American Prints and Drawings, #26; Robinson and Pirog 74 ProvenancePurchased from Gropper Art Gallery
Vassar Exhibitions
Exhibition HistoryAmerican Prints and Drawings, Gropper Art Gallery, Sommerville, MA, 1976;

American Graphic Art of the 1930's, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA, May 23rd - June 27th, 1976 (exhibited under the title Dance of Death);

Modern Metropolis, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 5 - June 16, 2002
DescriptionDepiction of a line of wealthily dressed men in top hats, fur collared coats, suits, and spats following a skeleton wearing a bearskin hat, epaulettes, military ribbons, and spurs wielding a mace. In the background along the horizon is a dark outline of industry buildings with smoke coming out of them. The smoke at center gradually turns into vultures at the top right which join and gradually transform into the line of men.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu
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