In the Marshes 1933

Levon West made this etching, "In the Marshes," in 1935. It depicts two men in a boat, one poling and the other aiming a rifle, surrounded by tall grasses in a marshy landscape. The image evokes a specific type of masculine leisure, hunting. We can consider the culture of hunting in the US at the time this image was made. What class of person would have the time and resources to engage in this pursuit? The etching medium itself carries social information; it is a printmaking technique associated with fine art, not mass culture. It suggests a degree of investment, training, and connoisseurship. Historical research into gun ownership, leisure activities, and artistic printmaking in the United States during the 1930s can help us understand the social context of this image and the values it reflects. Art always exists within a specific cultural and institutional framework that informs its meaning.