Born 1860, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died 1926, Brooklyn Heights, New York.

As Joseph Pennell was probably this countries' most renowned print artist after Whistler as the 20th century started, much has been written about him. These remarks will be brief on his background but will cover a few items not in the normal short bio.

First, he did almost everything; he was a painter, an etcher, a lithographer and an accomplished writer. He belonged to many societies and groups in the United States, England, France and Belgium. He traveled Europe extensively. He met James A. M. Whistler in 1884, learned part of his etching knowledge from Whistler and by the 1890’s they were close friends. His work in print is said to carry on the style of Whistler.

Pennell did not shy away from controversy when his principles were at stake. Graphic artists owe a debt to him for the outcome of a court case that determined that lithographs made via the transfer method were to be considered “original” prints just as if the work had been drawn directly on the stone. In 1897 Walter Sickert published an article in the “Saturday Review” where he considered works by this method by Pennell and others, advertised as original art, as basically a fraud. Pennell sued for libel, with Whistler joining him, and successfully won the case.

On the other hand, he had earlier joined with Sickert in the British Press criticizing the actions of Sir Hubert Herkomer who was selling photogravures of his paintings as original etchings, which was not considered appropriate (and still isn’t).

Pennell’s output was huge; somewhat over 1800 works in print and his awards and exhibitions were likewise, large in number.

Together with his wife, Elizabeth Robbins Pennell, he wrote and published a number of books including in two volumes “The Life of James McNeill Whistler” in 1908 and “The Whistler Journals” in 1921. "The Adventures of an Illustrator", "Etchers and Etching", His etching were used to illustrate books. A good one to look at is A Little Tour of France by Henry James, first published in 1884 (with several additional publications in later years). This volume contains 43 of his etchings of French scenes and buildings. Also "Our Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy" by the Pennells and then there are the volumes on specific subjects which are filled with his illustrations: "London", "Pictures of the Panama Canal", "Pictures of Philadelphia", and "Pictures in the land of Temples". The reference work on his prints are the two volumes by Louis Wuerth, "Catalogue of the Etchings.", and "Catalogue of the Lithographs", both reprinted in 1991.