Quarter to Nine, Saturday’s Children

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Quarter to Nine, Saturday’s Children

Artist Martin Lewis (American, 1882-1962)

Date1929

Dimensions9 15/16 x 12 7/8 in. (25.3 x 32.5 cm)

MediumDrypoint

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineFrederick B. and Kate L. Shoemaker Fund

Object number

1977.74

Not on View

Label TextMartin Lewis was born in Castlemaine, Australia. He studied with Julian Ashton, one of the first Australian artists to practice printmaking, before emigrating to the United States and settling in New York City in 1900. Along with the early 20th-century masters John Sloan, Reginald Marsh, and Edward Hopper, Lewis is one of the major printmakers of the American urban scene. His ability to capture the spirit of New York, its light and atmosphere, is unrivalled. Here he depicts a parade of mostly young women on their way to work in the shops (according to the children’s rhyme, “Saturday’s children must work for a living”). Following a trip to Japan in 1920, where he studied that nation’s art and culture, Lewis began making prints in earnest. Quarter of Nine, Saturday’s Children reveals his style at its very finest. His fascination for the fleeting moment, asymmetrical composition, and atmospheric effects clearly show the influence of Japanese prints. His treatment of his chosen subject—New York and its people–reveals Lewis as the “master-psychologist of the megalopolis.”Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, Buildings Real and Ideal, Nov. 15, 2007-Jan 27, 2008.

Toledo Museum of Art, Recent Acquisitions, Prints, Photographs and Drawings, April 1979.

Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.

TMA, The City, November 6, 2015-February 14, 2016.