1929 Varin View of the Chicago Water Works in Chicago, Illinois

This is a 1929 Raoul Varin aquatint view of the Chicago city waterworks and water tower as it appeared in 1868. Located on modern-day Michigan Avenue (called Pine Street in 1868), the Water Tower and the pump house survived the Great Chicago Fire of October 8-10, 1871. It stands 182.5 feet tall and housed a 138-foot high standpipe while it was operational. When Pine Street was widened in 1918, the plans were revised to give the Water Tower and the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station a featured location.

Source Print

Varin adapted an 1867 view published by Louis Kurz and James W. Sheahan to create the present view. The Kurz and Sheahan view was published in Chicago Illustrated in January 1867.

Aquatint

Aquatint is a printmaking technique that has been used since the 18th century. In aquatint, the artist creates an image by marking on the surface of a copper or zinc plate. The marks hold the ink, which is then transferred to paper when the plate is passed through a printing press. One of the innovations of the aquatint process was the ability to create tonal variation depending on how the image was etched onto the printing plate.

Publication History and Census

This view was created by Raoul Varin and published by A. Ackermann and Son in Chicago in 1929. Varin produced a series of thirty-one views of Chicago between 1926 and 1932, each issued in a limited edition of 125 prints. The present print is hand-numbered in the lower-left corner and is number 125 of 125, making it the last impression in the print run. It is signed by Varin on the lower right. Today, Varin's prints are known to have suffered from poor framing and are generally not in the best condition. The presently offered print, however, is stunning. We are aware of one other example of this view in private hands.