Ginger Shop, large from Chinatown, San Francisco series

John William Winkler

John W. Winkler saw Whistler's work at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Whistler's influence is obvious in this etching, done in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1922. The focus of the composition is the ginger seller in his shop, and the work gets sketchier as the viewer moves away from the shop. Winkler found Chinatown fascinating and did many etchings there. Like Whistler, Winkler worked directly on the plate on-site, etching it with the nitric acid as he worked rather than immersing them in an acid bath later. Also like Whistler, he collected fine paper from every source to print on, including book end-papers and old ledgers, experimenting with the papers as he pulled the impressions.

As a young man, Winkler worked as a lamplighter in San Francisco and his route took him through San Francisco's Chinatown where he discovered an exotic community. According to biographers Mary Millman and Dave Bohn, Winkler spent "every spare weekday moment and every Saturday and Sunday there for about seven years." He created around seventy plates depicting the streets, architecture, inhabitants, vendors, and moments of rest or leisure. In his etchings, he captured vignettes of a lifestyle that was quickly vanishing and his subjects were always rendered with dignity and respect.

Ginger root is a staple of Chinese cuisine and medicine and Chinatown had a number of small and large shops that sold the root, teas, oils, and other cooking supplies. Chinatown today still has a number of these shops, updated to meet modern codes. In this image, the vendor puts together an order as another man watches as he holds a long opium pipe. The merchant's wares are displayed on the shelves and bins to their right. A dark vase in the foreground solidifies the composition for the viewer. Along the top is a rolled-up tarp that will be unrolled at closing.