American Monotypes from the Baker/Pisano Collection | Page 42

Eugene Higgins (American, 1874–1958)
Dark Streets, n.d.

Monotype, 6 x 5 in.
Collection of The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York. Gift of
the Baker/Pisano Collection, 2001.9.134

Higgins’ brooding and powerful monotypes often depicted
shadowy figures and downtrodden urban scenes. Painterly in
their appearance, Higgins’ monotypes eschewed detail in favor
of volume and weight. The artist noted in an interview that he
was more interested in capturing a “simple impression than
in holding details” and that human emotion was more important to him than people’s homes and clothing.* After the 1913
Armory Show, his choice of subject matter became more
mainstream and by the late teens, he was exhibiting in
New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. After 1922, Higgins
split his time between New York and his summer home near
Old Lyme, Connecticut.
NOTES:
DeKay, “Eugene Higgins: His Etchings,” 134–135, 164.
Lowrey, Legacy of Art, 120–121.
*Roberts, “Eugene Higgins: A Painter of the Shadow-World,” 365.

38

T H E E X H I B I T IO N