2 minute read
ETHEL MARS
Pioneers of the PROVINCETOWN PRINT
By | Bill Evaul
Ethel Mars (1876-1956), came from Springfield, Illinois and, in 1892, enrolled in the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio where she met her life partner, Maude Squire. Together they moved to New York City in 1900 and established studios there, getting work illustrating children’s books. They traveled to Germany in 1903 and got a first-hand look at the Blue Rider artists, especially Kandinsky’s woodcuts. They then headed to Paris in 1906, where they renewed their friendship with Edna Hopkins who taught them the Japanese printmaking techniques. Already familiar with the German woodcut artists and experimental by nature, Mars began block printing in her own unique style. It was her two-block, multi-color prints that encouraged Nordfeldt to take the next step in the invention of the white-line color woodcut.
Mars and Squire were a celebrated couple in Paris, served as Jurors for the Paris Salon d’Autumne, became members of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, and were embraced by Gertrude Stein who memorialized them in her short story, “Miss Furr and Miss Skene.” When the War broke out, they returned to Provincetown in 1915 and formed the Provincetown Printers. They exhibited regularly in Provincetown and across the country until 1921, when they returned to France where they painted and illustrated books until their deaths.
