The Enchanted Doorway, Venezia (La Porta della Corta, Venezia)

John Taylor Arms

1887–1953

The Enchanted Doorway, Venezia (La Porta della Corta, Venezia), 1930

Portfolio/Series title: Italian Series

Where object was made: Italy

Material/technique: laid paper; etching

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 318 x 169 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 12 1/2 x 6 5/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 389 x 259 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 15 5/16 x 10 3/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: Gift of Hal M. Davison, Class of 1949

Accession number: 1998.0177

Not on display

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Exhibition Label:
"American Etchers Abroad, 1880-1939," Apr-2004, Reed Anderson
Looking at "The Enchanted Doorway, Venezia," one would never guess that Arms was surrounded by mobs of inquisitive onlookers while he was composing it. As his wife Dorothy related, Arms also had to compete with pigeons constantly alighting on his drawing board and cooing in his ear. Characteristic of Arms’s work at this time, the composition is straightforward in its frontality and stable grid-like design. Yet the mass and weight of the Byzantine building framing this “doorway to dreams” seem to dissolve in the decorative patterns of brick, stone, and sculpture.