Kerr Eby, born Tokyo, Japan 1889-died - Polperro no. 2 - 1926 - T-Shirt

Polperro no. 2 is a 1926 etching by American artist Kerr Eby that renders the stone houses and harbour of a Cornish fishing village with quiet, atmospheric precision.

Visual Elements & Composition

The composition is built from architecture and water. Clustered buildings, pitched roofs and narrow passages rise and recede across the sheet, while the harbour and maritime setting anchor the lower part of the view. The image is worked in fine etched lines and graded tones, so light and shadow carry the scene rather than bold contrast. The work contains no text or numerals.

Meaning & Symbolism

Polperro is a village in Cornwall, England, rooted in fishing and seafaring. For visiting artists and travellers of the early twentieth century, places like it stood for picturesque charm and a traditional way of life tied to the rhythms of the sea and land, set against the expanding industrial centres of the era. Kerr Eby is best known for his dramatic etchings of First World War battlefields. His travel and topographical prints, including this one, show his command of the etching medium and his sensitivity to tonal subtlety.

Made for the Wearer

An etching built on fine lines and gradual tone reads best at close range, where the hatching and the shadows between buildings come into focus. On a tee, the village sits on the chest and is seen as the wearer moves, the same way a viewer would step up to a print to study its architecture. The design brings a piece of early twentieth-century Cornwall into everyday wear.