Handy Pump by George Joseph Mess
Handy Pump
George Joseph Mess
Title
Handy Pump
Artist
George Joseph Mess
1898 - 1962Year
1954
Technique
color aquatint and etching
Image Size
6 15/16 x 4 7/8" platemark
Signature
pencil, lower right
Edition Size
not stated
Annotations
pencil titled, lower left
Reference
DuBois, page 125
Paper
heavy, ivory wove
State
Publisher
artist
Inventory ID
16402
Price
$400.00
Description
Printmakers George Jo and Evelynne Mess were an integral part of the Brown County, Indiana art community and, in 1942, they bought the forty acre John Followell farm, east of Nashville, Indiana. It was quite likely the source for this aquatint.
The farm had a barn and out-buildings, and a house that they described as "three rooms and a path". There was no electricity, plumbing or running water. Water would have to be pumped up from a well with a hand pump, such as this, and carried to the house. A real chore in the winter.
Mess originally addressed this subject eleven years earlier, in 1943, as a black and white aquatint, also titled "Handy Pump." This composition is one of only four color aquatints he attempted.