San Fernando, California, from the portfolio 'The Fault Zone'
Artist
Joe Deal
Physical Description
This is a black and white photograph of some roads seen from above, as if the viewer is standing on a nearby hillside. In the foreground, at the viewer's feet, is rocky, dusty soil. Below, the main road runs diagonally across the work and a smaller dirt road crosses it, leaving traces of dirt tracks to the other side of the road. The land is barren with very little vegetation and no vehicles are to be seen.
Five children (some only partially rendered) stand before a covered passageway of a building with the lower part of a second story window visible. Through the passageway in the midle distance can be seen a street corner with a woman on the sidewalk, and beyond that additional shops with men on the sidewalk. At the upper right is a flower-like form that is the artist's "butterfly" signature.
A vignetted view of a roadway with carriages is shown passing beneather a bridge crossing a river, which, too has carriages on its roadbed. The scene is one of bustling activity, although seen from a distance and from an elevated height.
A three-story house fills nearly the entire sheet. On the ground level, a stone arched entrance on the left is flanked by a window with green shutters; on the second level, rusticated stone the defines the vertical sides of the buildings is indicated, along with three small windows; the third level projects forward, corbels below and shadows indicating the overhanging top floor; a shingled roof with a dormer window completes the building. Summary indications of the flanking buildings are suggested. Two young women or girls stand at the lower left corner of the composition.
Artist Life Dates
1834 - 1903
Century
19th century
Object Creation Date
1893
Accession Number
1954/1.453
Medium and Support
Transfer lithograph with scraping printed in five colors on Japan paper
A sketch of a man seated and begging for money with a bowl in his left hand. He is drawn from the left angle and is facing forawrds, away from the artist. He is unshaved and wearing tattered clothing and no shoes. The shadows of the beggar suggest he is sitting on the street against a wall.
A black and white print of a house on a street corner. The image is crisp with stark black and white contrast and textures in shades of gray. The house appears to have a covered walkway in which stands a woman wearing a hat.
An open public space dominates the foreground of the image. In that space are several groups of children, particularly at the lower left of the image, a rooster at the lower right, and a water pump at the far side of the square just before the fence. Beyond is a street that receeds into the distance; on either side of the street are picturesque older buildings that face onto the square with banks of windows, overhangs, and steeply pitched rooflines.
Artist Life Dates
1834 - 1903
Century
19th century
Object Creation Date
1887
Accession Number
1954/1.398
Medium and Support
etching, printed in warm black ink on laid paper, trimmed to platemark
