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Daily Art Moment: Beatrice S. Levy

Image description: Beatrice S. Levy, Song of Summer, 1914, color etching,14 x 10 inches. Vertical rectangular color print in languid hues of greens and yellows. A pale, nude, female seated figure on a grassy bank gazes up into a canopy of dark green foliage at a small, perched red bird. The figure sits with her back against a dark tree trunk, one of three, with much smaller trees in the background. Her reflection is mirrored in a green-yellow body of water at the foreground of the scene. In the distant background there are clusters of trees rendered in a pale blue green with a pale clear sky contrasting the darker subjects in the foreground.

As cooler temperatures roll in, I am already feeling nostalgic for summer. This moody etching by Beatrice S. Levy captures some of the longing and freedom of the season. Born in Chicago and educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Levy quickly distinguished herself in both painting and printmaking. In 1915, Song of Summer was selected for exhibition at the prestigious Panama Pacific International Exhibition, where it won an honorable mention. There, it caught the eye of Portlander Charles Francis Adams, who purchased Levy’s prize-winning etching, as well as many other prints that were gifted to the Portland Art Museum in 1989.

Mary Weaver Chapin, Curator of Prints and Drawings

Beatrice S. Levy (American, 1892–1974), Song of Summer, 1914. Color etching on cream, medium-thick, moderately textured wove paper. Gift of Heirs of Charles Francis Adams Collection: Peter F. Adams, Mrs. Sandra Adams Beebe, and Charles Anthony Adams, 89.20.118

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