Charles W. Bartlett

1860-1940

Camel Drinking, Tartar Wall, Peking

watercolor on paper, signed, titled and dated at lower right, Charles W. Bartlett. 1922.Peking, 1922

9 3/4 by 14 7/8 in., 24.9 by 37.7 cm

After establishing a productive relationship with the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo in late 1915 and early 1916, Bartlett and his wife spent the remainder of 1916 continuing their travels through Korea and China before arriving in Hawaii in January of 1917. The tropical paradise agreed with the couple, and with the war raging back in England, they decided to stay. A temporary solution which became a permanent homestead. Subsequent journeys back west, to the Far East, would follow.

Bartlett returned again and again to his sketchbooks from his tours throughout Asia for source material for new print and painting compositions. An etching titled Camels Drinking, Near Peking (alternate title: Tartar Wall, Peking) issued with and without color from circa 1923-27 compares very closely with this composition. In addition, the paper used for this painting is of the same exact size and type with distinctive teeth marks along a perforated edge as found on other known Bartlett watercolors.

Reference:
Richard Miles & Jennifer Saville, A Printmaker in Paradise: The Art and Life of Charles W. Bartlett, 2001, p. 152, no. 111 (Camels Drinking, Near Peking etching)
(inv. no. 10-5061)

price: $5,600