Marblehead 

Ella Fillmore Lillie made this aquatint etching, titled 'Marblehead'. The print depicts a cluster of modest early American houses, their roofs capped with snow. This could be interpreted as a commentary on community, or perhaps more accurately, neighborhood. Lillie was working in the first half of the twentieth century when many Americans felt the need to find a new sense of belonging. Industrialization and immigration were changing the country at a rapid pace, and people feared losing track of traditional American values. The image invokes nostalgia through the subtle picturesque of its subject matter, the primitive architectural forms, and its small-town, rural setting. The revival of printmaking at this time allowed artists to circulate images like this one, which arguably served a conservative desire to preserve a vanishing way of life. To understand the cultural context of this print, it’s useful to explore popular magazines, advertisements, and museum collections from the early twentieth century. These sources can help us understand the public role of art at this time.