"The Red Shawl" is a soft ground color etching and aquatint by May Gearhart (1872–1951). Although she created landscape prints like her sister Frances, May Gearhart also made prints of figure subjects. "The Red Shawl" is an image inspired by one of her trips to Mexico.
In the print, a woman shown in profile holds a small bouquet of flowers while walking along a cobblestone sidewalk next to a white building. Her layered clothing, Gearhart's skillful use of color, and the deep shadows give the impression of a cold, but sunny morning. The woman is wearing a full, plaid, violet skirt and a red shawl. Her slightly bowed head is covered by a yellow kerchief and her face is shadowed.
Gearhart achieved a watercolor effect by thinning oil-based inks. This tiny print is very loosely rendered, a characteristic of the soft ground technique. Although the process of printmaking usually involves creating a set of identical images, Gearhart often printed in small editions, using different shades of ink for each print to produce unique impressions.
The Gearhart sisters both taught school, and they worked closely with two brothers, Benjamin and Howell Brown, to establish and support printmaking organizations in California. The Gearharts and the Browns exhibited their prints at the Smithsonian in the 1920s, and they all made generous donations of their work.
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