Word by the Way
In this print, Eby portrays soldiers in a noncombat situation, conversing outside a dugout, a tangle of barbed wire visible behind them. As an American army sergeant in the war, the artist was able to observe the daily life of soldiers, both in combat and at rest. He made sketches constantly, capturing preparations for major offensives as well as quotidian moments such as this. He later translated the drawings into prints—first in 1919, when he returned from the war, and then again in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as a reflection on his experiences and a warning about the human and environmental costs of military conflict.
Artwork Details
- Title: Word by the Way
- Artist: Kerr Eby (Canadian (born Japan), Tokyo 1889–1946 Norwalk, Connecticut)
- Date: 1919
- Medium: Etching
- Dimensions: Plate: 5 3/8 × 6 15/16 in. (13.6 × 17.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 5/16 × 14 15/16 in. (28.7 × 37.9 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Phyllis Brevoort Eby, 1962
- Object Number: 62.554.53
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Kerr Eby
1913
Kerr Eby
1924–46
Kerr Eby
1930
Kerr Eby
1940
Kerr Eby
1920–21
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