Sir Muirhead Bone. 1876-1953.
Manhattan Excavation. 1923-28. Drypoint. Dodgson 390.xvii/xix. 12 3/8 x 10 1/4 (sheet 15 3/4 x 13 3/4). Edition of 40 in this state (total 151 impressions in 19 states). Begun from nature on June 4, 1923 and finished in 1928. A rich, beautifully inked impression printed on the full sheet with deckle edges. Signed and annotated 'XVII' in pencil. This is the most dramatic of Bone's New York etchings. The subject is an immense excavation for the foundation of a new building on Madison Avenue. $8,500.
A three-dimensional diaorama created by Louis Stimson for the Boston Public Library is online at Muirhead Bone.
The building is possibly Prudence Building, or Prudence Bonds Building, was a fourteen-story edifice at the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 43rd Street, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was the headquarters of the Prudence Bonds Corporation, opening in October 1923. Stores on the street level were leased to affluent shops. The banking floor was a close likeness of the Bankers Trust Company building at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The Bank of Manhattan was accorded a 21-year lease and moved its headquarters from 40 Wall Street. The building was demolished in 2016 and the site is now the location of One Vanderbilt.
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