Joseph Pennell's pictures of the Panama Canal

Joseph Pennell's pictures of the Panama Canal - Reproductions of a series of lithographs made by him on the Isthmus of Panama, January—March 1912, together with impressions and notes by the artist

THE idea of going to Panama to make lithographs of the Canal was mine. I suggested it, and the Century Magazine and Illustrated London News offered to print some of the drawings I might make. Though I suggested the scheme a couple of years ago, it was not until January, 1912, that I was able to goand then I was afraid it was too lateafraid the work was finished and that there would be nothing to see, for photographs taken a year or eighteen months before, showed some of the locks built and their gates partly in place. Still I started, and after nearly three weeks of voyaging found, one January morning, the Isthmus of Panama ahead of the steamer, a mountainous country, showing deep valleys filled with mist, like snow fields, as I have often seen them from Montepulciano looking over Lake Thrasymene, in Italy. Beyond were higher peaks, strange yet familiar, Japanese prints, and as we came into the harbor the near hills and distant mountains were silhouetted with Japanese trees and even the houses were Japanese, and when we at length landed, the town was full of character reminiscent of Spain, yet the local character came out in the Cathedral, the tower of whicha pyramidwas covered with a shimmering, glittering mosaic of pearl oyster shells. The people, not Americans, were primitive, and the children, mostly as in Spain, were not bothered with clothes. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 48924
Author: Pennell, Joseph
Release Date: May 10, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English