"The Drypoint Engravings of Churchill Ettinger"
Source Unknown
1992

An exhibition of sporting and wildlife drypoint prints by Vermont artist Churchill Ettinger (1903-1984) will be shown Dec. 4 - Jan. 17 at Clarke Galleries in Stowe.

"Blood, sweat and tears" was Ettinger's answer to that often asked question: "What goes into a great work of art?"

In fact, what makes Ettinger's drypoints outstanding is his discipline, passion and design sensibility. An excellent draftsman, Ettinger had great love and understanding for nature.

Called "Church" by his friends, Churchill Ettinger was an avid outdoor sportsman. He was an alpine skier, hunter, dowser and collector of mushrooms, as well as a prolific artist. Ettinger's drypoint prints capture his enthusiasm and love for the outdoors: the rushing cool water; the early mornings and the solitary afternoons in the wilderness; catching sight of wild animals and birds such as elk, moose, geese and ducks, and the excitement of alpine skiing, hunting and fishing.

Always able to make living doing artwork, Ettinger began his career as a portrait artist. He worked as an illustrator of celebrity figures in the worlds of art and politics for the New York Sunday World, (The Time Magazine of that era). He was also a "pulp" magazine illustrator in the 1940s.

As time went on, Ettinger attained prominence as a wildlife painter and printmaker. In the early '50s he settled in Weston, Vermont, where he remained, enjoying the environment and producing artwork until his death in 1984.

Ettinger's work is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, Yale University, the University of Hawaii, the Ford Collection, Boston Public Library and Rockhill Nelson Gallery.

The latest Clarke Galleries exhibit demonstrates the "blood, sweat and tears" Ettinger described. Skillful, disciplined and dedicated to whatever he did, Ettinger was an accomplished drypoint printmaker.

Drypoint is a printmaking technique done by scratching into a metal plate with a sharp to to produce fine lines. Ink is then rubbed onto the plate, after which the surface of the plate is wiped, leaving the ink wedged inside the scratched-in lines. The print itself is made by running the inked plate through a press onto dampened paper. The paper absorbs the ink to create the image.

Each time the plate is run through the press, the scratched lines in the metal plate weaken slightly. Thus, only a limited edition of Ettinger's drypoint prints are available.

Gallery owner Grier Clarke says. "Ettinger is an important Vermont artist. He is one of the top sporting drypoint artists, in the school of Benson, Rungius, Ripley, Schaldach and Clark. Ettinger depicted not only Vermont scenes in drypoint, but scenes from the wilderness areas in the Florida Keys, Georgia, and the Rockies. He was a true naturalist."