Existing comment:
Charles Meryon
San Francisco, 1855-56
Meryon's view of this American city (a tour de force comparable to Wenceslaus Hollar's The Long View of Prague, also in this exhibition) was based on a series of photographs. The realistic appearance of the final product proved troubling to this artist (already suffering from bouts of mental illness), who wrote the following: "At the time when I executed this print, I had the idea, to avoid the break in continuity that exists in the center, to represent there fire, with flames and smoke reaching towards the sky, and birds of prey whirling above; but rushed as I was, I was not able to carry out the idea." |