Philip Kappel copper plate

Collection

Identifier: GRA 0099-F0001

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

This item is one framed copper printing plate etched by American painter, illustrator, and etcher Philip Kappel in 1929. The plate is inscribed as follows: "To Dr. C. L. Reese / With the compliments of Philip Kappel Nov. 21, 1929 / Haitian Subject." The image on the plate is a group of men on a small open sailboat with two filled baskets in the foreground. The plate, which has been cancelled, is in a plain black frame. The back of the frame bears the stamp of the Schwartz Galleries of 517 Madison Ave., New York City.

In Volume IV of American Etchers, which focuses on Kappel, a list of his published plates includes a number of plates etched in 1928 with Haitian subjects. It is not possible to tell from the print titles whether or not this plate was used for one of these prints.

The plate was given to Dr. Charles Lee Reese, a Wilmington, Delaware, DuPont executive and chemist and avocational art collector who also purchased a limited edition of the American Etchers series. This series, as well as Kappel's copper plate, was later donated to the University of Delaware Library by Dr. Reese.

Dates

Creation: 1929 November 21

Creator

Kappel, Philip (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec

Biographical Note

Philip Kappel (1901-1981) was a painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialized in marine subjects. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and studied at the Pratt Institute in New York. He exhibited frequently, particularly in New England, and won several prizes including first prize at the Marblehead Art Association exhibition in 1925 and the Bijur Prize of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers in 1926. His work was represented in "Fine Prints of the Year" in 1926 and 1927.

Among the books he illustrated were The Story of Man's Work by William Richart Hayward (New York: Minton, Balch & Company, 1931); The Last Cruise of the Shanghai by Frederic De Witt Wells (New York: Minton, Balch & Company, 1925); Yankee Ballads by M. A. De Wolfe (Cambridge: Washburn & Thomas, 1930); and Lord Timothy Dexter of Newburyport, Mass. by John P. Marquand (New York: Minton, Balch & Company, 1925). His work also appeared in Volume IV of American Etchers (New York: T. Spencer Hutson & Company, 1929).

Fielding, Mantle, and Glenn B. Opitz. Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers. 2nd ed. Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo, 1986.