Bass Player

For his etching Bass Player, William Gropper exploited the textured tones possible with the lift-ground etching technique to conjure a murky, even smoky, ambience for his grinning, bug-eyed bass player, rendered in loose outline. With long, spider-like arms the musician encircles his instrument, which he plays with long fingers as he taps his foot. Gropper's characteristically energetic line captures the exuberance of jazz, while the grainy overall surface of the print—covering figure, instrument, and background indiscriminately—evokes the consuming sound of the music in full swing. As a prominent member of New York City's lively Greenwich Village art scene in the middle decades of the twentieth century, Gropper was undoubtedly familiar with its cutting-edge music and musicians. Indeed, in 1938 he was among several artists invited to paint murals to decorate the interior of Café Society, an important jazz venue in the neighborhood.

Like Hassid Dancing (TF 2004.14), Bass Player presents a single figure with no clear setting, relying on the spare outline of gesture and pose to communicate intense involvement in an expressive activity. A powerful graphic artist, Gropper approached etching technique with an openness to experimentation, as demonstrated here in his powerful use of the medium's tonal capacity. Bass Player is among many etchings he produced in collaboration with master printer Emiliano Sorini, whose "ES" chop mark appears in the margin. This impression is one of approximately ten proofs of Bass Player that Gropper made.

Sorini, Emiliano. Gropper - Catalogue Raisonné of the Etchings. San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1998. No. 136, p. 136.