Name/Title
Towel, Calendar: Covered Bridge 508, 1966Description
A five-screen/six-color silkscreen print on off-white linen depicting a New England winter scene that includes a covered bridge, ice skating, sledding, a horse-drawn sleigh and a distant farm set amongst hilly countryside. The year, 1967, is rendered as part of the ice skate tracings on the frozen river.
Typical of Wert’s calendar months, open days at the beginning and end of each month bear phrases such as “Showers, A Garden Assured” (April). Timber frame structural members frame the right and left sides of the calendar year.
At the base of the design is an unattributed nostalgic description of covered bridges, probably written by Wert, very similar to that on another wall hanging dedicated to covered bridges; see “Towels/Wallhangings”. The text is flanked by two additional illustrations of covered bridges, “Wooden Arches, flung by hand across these streams to cover man, his burden and his craftsmanship. Employed with honest function, and a native skill, and looking more like open ended barns, a few still stand as weathered sentinels of a simpler life.”
First produced in 1965 for the 1966 calendar year. It also appears in the brochure “1967 Country Print Calendar Towels”. In 1968 this design was replaced by artwork from a freelance artist.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Robert Darr WertRole
ArtistManufacturer
Country PrintsDate made
circa 1965Time Period
20th CenturyPlace
Location
Gill MA.Continent
North AmericaNotes
Top edge is a rod pocket to accept a dowel for hanging, remaining edges are hemmed.Inscription/Signature/Marks
“© COUNTRY PRINTS”, lower left corner; “wert by hand on pure linen”, lower right corner.Material
Bleached Linen, Textile InkColors
Color
Brick Red, Teal, Aqua, Black, Yellow Ochre, Dark BrownColor Notes
Dark brown is produced by overprinting teal, brick red, and yellow ochre.
