Old Cedars New Mexico

 

George Elbert Burr

  1859 - 1939 (biography)

1920  

etching 

9 3/4 x 11 3/4" platemark 

pencil, lower left 

No 2/40 

inscribed after signature: Del et Imp.; editioned No 11/40; date incised into plate 

Seeber 218; American Etchers 218; LC59, copyright deposit print 

ivory wove with J WHATMAN 1915 watermark 

published 

artist 

CLMI111 

$1,500.00 

Old Cedars New Mexico captures the rugged beauty of the high desert of New Mexico. The scene overlooks an arid valley that is hemmed in by high mesas. Burr's title is misleading as according to Tony Genntro, a desert biologist, there are no native cedars in New Mexico. These are junipers and are frequently and falsely referred to as cedars. The United States Forest Service estimates that one quarter of New Mexico is covered with one-seed juniper. George Elbert Burr, painter, printmaker, and illustrator, was born in Munroe Falls, Ohio on 14 April 1859 to Linus E. and Lucy Ellen Gaylord Burr, and was raised in Cameron, Missouri. In 1906, Burr and his wife moved to Denver. A few of his color etchings were included in the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition and the following year he was represented by two etchings in the First Annual Exhibition of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers at the Brooklyn Museum. In 1921 he copyrighted the last of the thirty-five etchings in the Desert Set, which was circulated in exhibitions by the American Federation of Arts. For health reasons, Burr had to leave the winter chill of Denver and purchased a home in Phoenix, Arizona in 1927. Burr was in the unique position of self-promoting his work and in January 1930 wrote to R. P. Tolman, assistant curator at the Smithsonian Institution: "It's lots of fun to be a 'poor artist.' Nearly fifty years I've been, except for health limitations, supremely happy in my work, and am constantly surprised in the number of people that also seem to get pleasure out of my labor. It seems so odd, that without effort, I've always sold more than Mrs. Burr and I have needed for all our fourteen years of travel and other so-called luxuries." Burr was a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts; Arizona Society of Artists; Brooklyn Society of Etchers; Cactus Club, Denver; California Society of Etchers; Denver Art Association; National Arts Club of New York; New York Society of Etchers; Phoenix Fine Art Association; Print Makers' Society of California; and Société aux Etats-Unis. George Elbert Burr died in Phoenix, Arizona on 17 November, 1939.