General Washington Saying Farewell to His Officers in Fraunces Tavern, New York (from the Bicentennial Pageant of George Washington portfolio)

Samuel V. Chamberlain

This etching, 'General Washington Saying Farewell to His Officers in Fraunces Tavern, New York', was the fifteenth of twenty etchings included in the 1932 Bicentennial Pageant of George Washington, (also called "The Life of George Washington") and was edited by John Taylor Arms in 1932; printed in England by Henry E. Carling on laid paper with watermarks "GW" (George Washington's monogram) and an eagle and shield coat of arms handmade at Head Mill, Maidstone, England. It was published by the American Art Foundation in an edition of 1000 (plus 20 artists' proofs).

Fraunces Tavern, built in 1719, located at 54 Pearl St at the corner of Broad, still exists in New York as a tavern and museum. It served as a headquarters for George Washington and when the British troops left New York in 1783 Washington bade farewell to his officers of the Continental Army.

The marketing for the portfolio read: "The American Art Foundation has the honor to announce Twenty Masterpieces in Etching each executed by one of America's most distinguished artists."

Originally commissioned by private investors, each artist was asked to complete a piece relating to George Washington, his private and public life. The respective artist signed each print in the portfolio at the time of issue, and the entire set bears those original signatures.

Included among the artists are: William Auerbach-Levy, Ralph Boyer, Samuel V. Chamberlain, Kerr Eby, Sears Gallagher, Childe Hassam, Arthur William Heintzelman, Eugene Higgins, Earl Horter, Robert Lawson, Allen Lewis, F. Luis Mora, Robert H. Nisbet, Louis C. Rosenberg, Ernest David Roth, Albert Sterner, Walter Tittle, Levon West, J.W. Winkler, and George Wright.

Samuel V. Chamberlain was born in Cresco, Iowa on October 28, 1895. His family moved to Aberdeen, Washington in 1901 and, in 1913, Chamberlain enrolled in the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied architecture under Carl Gould. By 1915, he was enrolled in the School of Architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. With the United States involvement in the first World War, Chamberlain sailed to France where he volunteered in the American Field Service. In 1918, he was transferred to the Unites States Army to complete his tour of duty. After the war, he returned to Boston and resumed his architectural studies, which he eventually discontinued and tried for a few years to work as a commercial artist.

Chamberlain received the American Field Service Scholarship in 1923, which he used to travel in Spain, North Africa and Italy. In 1924 he was living in Paris and in the spring he studied lithography with Gaston Dorfinant and in the autumn and winter months he studied etching and drypoint with Edouard Léon. He published his first etching the following year. In 1927, he studied drypoint with Malcolm Osborne at the Royal College of Art in London.

He taught part time at the School of Architecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and the School of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology between his travels abroad. Chamberlain eventually settled for a dozen years in France. He authored, and sometimes co-authored, with his wife Narcissa, Domestic Architecture of Rural France; Clementine in the Kitchen; New England Rooms 1639-1863; and Charleston Interiors.

Samuel V. Chamberlain died in Marblehead, Massachusetts on January 10, 1975.