Above the Sea

Frances Gearhart sometimes outlined her woodcuts in blue, perhaps liking the way it tied nature together. At age 19 she and her family moved from Illinois to California, and the majestic California landscape became her lifelong theme. This exuberant print from around 1924 came at a turning point in her career: Now in her fifties, she’d just quit her job teaching high-school English history to make art full time, the Smithsonian was exhibiting her prints, and she and her two sisters (her housemates and fellow artists) had turned the front of their house into a public gallery. Arguably the most famous of California’s pioneering block printers, Gearhart carefully inked each individual print. For Above the Sea, she used a dry brush on the woodblock to produce obvious strokes on the water, creating a lovely shimmering effect. Even so, the trees greedily fill the picture space, ensuring that they, not the sigh-worthy coastal view, claim our attention.