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IN OUR TERRESTIAL LANDSCAPE, Mountain and Hill and Plain exist side by side, and each has its special virtue. Each also has its symbolic significance. In my fancy, the Plain might represent the plain necessities, the daily bread by which man lives, whereas Hill and Mountain might suggest our aspirations in steady ascent to higher planes. There are very few individuals who have attained a foothold on the craggy heights, in comparison with the many who live comfortably on the Plain. The Hill-folk of course are situated in between, and partake of both essences. The Hill is indeed rich in amenities, from forest paths and tidy vineyards to purling brooks and avian song. Reflecting these, Hill-folk are adept chroniclers of civilized pleasures and the good things of life.

It is with some such allegory in mind that I contemplate the print oeuvre of Prentiss Taylor. Obviously he is not of the Plain, for he is an artist. Nor is he of the Mountain, those who are epoch- making creators. He belongs to the Hill-folk: neither a titan nor a philistine, but a civilized human being dedicated to the good life. His taste is sure and his sensibility genuine. His technical training and his ability as a draughtsman are esta-blished beyond question. As befits a civilized being  he has a goodly measure of human social concern.

Prentiss Taylor was born in Washington in 1907 of old Revolutionary stock from Maine, New Jersey and Virginia. Because he had few playmates as a child, he designed and played with elaborate stage sets. Thus the habit of visual representation was inculcated and became ingrained in him. The whole world became a stage. Prentiss Taylor's lithographs have thus become what might be called stage sets for a sizable number of dramas of human experience. They are the responses of an urbane and civilized personality to the delights and complexities of landscape and the city scene, or to diverse aspects of the human condition. 

They may range from Southern Cross St. Thomas, White House- Canyon de Chelly, Segovia Aqueduct II (one of his most recent prints), to Louisberg Square-Boston, New Hampshire Barn, Charleston Battery, Supper in Port (Atlantic seaboard); from Experience Meeting, Massydony, Eight Black Boys in a Southern Jail, to Woman's Club Carnival, Budapest Quartet (concert at the Library of Congress), Steward, Course and Paddock (of a horse race in Virginia). The artist may turn to myth or past history: Orpheus: The Look Back or Romans in England (the Roman bath in Bath). He may look at matters of a professional artist's concern: Academy Self-Portrait (required of all members of the National Academy of Design), At George C. Miller & Son (his lithographic printers) or 4 sq." of utter Disrespect for the Square. This last print is a miniature print, two by two inches in size. The artist has executed a number of pieces in this exacting category of prints, which involves great concentration and special drawing ability.

Prentiss Taylor has executed well over a hundred lithographs since he took up printmaking in 1931, along wiht painting, teaching and other activities. After forty years of labor he is entitled to a retrospective exhibition! But for him a retrospective will not be the tell-tale test it is for some artists because he does not repeat himself and has remained true to his inspiration. The show, we hope, will spur hin on to make a second century of prints!

Carl Zigrosser

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Catalog (bold)

1. Negro Head (bold), October 1931, oeuvre number I 9 1/4 inches high x 10 1/2 inches wide, edition (10)
2. Zulu Chief, (bold) December 1931, VIII 21 x 15 3/4, (20)
3. Nameplate, (bold) January 1932, X 9 1/2 x 6 1/4, (12)
collection: The Elmer Adler Collection of Self-portraits
4. Circus Wagon, (bold) March 1932, XIX 
11 x 7 3/4, (15)
5. Christ in Alabama, (bold) April 1932, XXII
9 1/4 x 6 1/4, (45)
8 Black Boys, (bold) April 1932, XXIII
9 1/4 x 6 1/4, (40)
Scottsboro Limited, (bold) April 1932, XXIV
9 1/4 x 5 3/4, (80)
Town of Scottsboro, (bold) April 1932, XXV 
8 1/2 x 6, (42)
illustrations for SCOTTSBORO LIMITED by  Langston Hughes published by the GOLDEN STAR PRESS, New York City, 1932
[along the left side of this]
Prints made as a student of Eugene Fitsch and Charles W. Locke at the Art Students' League and printed by Arnold Grant Arnold

6. Louisburg Sqaure, (bold) April 1933, XXVII
14 x 10, (20)
coll: Addison Gallery of American Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, Phillips Collection
reproduced: CORONET, April 1939
7. New Hampshire Barn, (bold) April 1933, XXVIII
10 1/2 x 14 1/4, (10)
8. Carolina Low Country, (bold) December 1933, XXX
14 1/4 x 10 1/4, (20)
coll: Museum of Modern Art, Wadsworth Atheneum reproduced: as cover of the CRISIS (NAACP) March 1934, London STUDIO, May 1936, Museum of Modern Art BULLETIN, May 1934
9. Horlbeck Alley, (bold) February 1934, 
9 1/2 x 13 1/4, (20)
reproduced: in the CRISIS, July 1934; CORONER, April 1939
10. St. Helena's- Beaufort, (bold) May 1934,
XXXIII 9 1/2 x 11 1/4, (25)
coll: Addison Gallery of American Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, OWI Traveling Exhibitions (4 impressions by purchase), Phillips Collection, Seattle Art Museum
11. Experience Meeting - Massydony, (bold), May 1934, XXXIX 9 1/4 x 13 1/2, (25).
coll: Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art reproduced: in The CRISIS, August 1934, CORONET, April 1939
12. Public Way, (bold) January 1935, XLII
6 1/2 x 9 1/2, (25)
13. Sedgwick House & Details, (bold) March 1935, XLIII 9 3/4 x 13 1/2, 40 intended but only 26 printed 
coll: Yale Gallery of Fine Arts
14. The Seasons - Gilbertsville, (bold) January 1936, XLV 10 1/2 x 14 1/2, 40 intended but only 20 printed
15. Myself as Mezzetin, (bold) March 1936, XLVI
13 x 8 3/4, (40)
coll: The Elmer Adler Self-portrait Collection
16. Southern Cross- St. Thomas, (bold) June 1937, L 12 1/2 x 10 1/4 , (35)
coll: Library of Congress
[along the left side]
Stories and infrequent zinc plates printed by George C. Miller, New York City