Artwork
Newark, N.J., from the Passaic
Newark, N.J., from the Passaic is an ink print by the Impressionist artist Mary Nimmo Moran. It dates from 1879 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Created in 1879, *Newark, N.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1879, *Newark, N.J., from the Passaic* is an etching on wove paper rendered in brown tones. The work belongs to Mary Nimmo Moran’s extensive series of landscape prints, a medium in which she produced roughly seventy images of scenes from both the United States and Europe during the late nineteenth century.
Subject & Meaning
The composition depicts a tranquil riverbank along the Passaic River, where a steamboat is moored beside modest buildings and foliage. Beyond the shoreline a factory rises, its tall smokestacks releasing a thin column of smoke, juxtaposing industrial activity with the calm of the water and suggesting the coexistence of nature and commerce in post‑Civil War America.
Technique & Style
Moran employed the traditional etching process, incising lines into a metal plate before printing onto paper. Her handling of line is loose and gestural, conveying the fleeting quality of light and movement. The limited brown palette, achieved through selective inking, lends the image the tonal subtlety of an early photograph, emphasizing atmosphere over detail.
History & Provenance
The print was produced during Moran’s most prolific period as a landscape etcher, a time when she was recognized among the leading American printmakers. While specific ownership records for this particular impression are scarce, it remains part of the body of work that secured her reputation for documenting varied American locales through the medium of etching.
Artist & collection
Artist
Mary Nimmo Moran (May 16, 1842 – September 25, 1899) was an American landscape printmaker, specializing in etchings.
