Kerr Eby, born Tokyo, Japan 1889-died - White Tails in the Morning - ca. 1929 - T-Shirt

A stag and a doe wade through still water at first light, while birch and reeds frame the quiet edge of a woodland pool.

Visual Elements & Composition

The etching is built on a horizontal rectangle, with the water running across the lower half and the trees rising at the sides. Cream dominates the palette, with sepia brown, pale tan, dark umber and grey-olive working through the reeds, the birch trunk and the shadows on the water. The two deer sit close together in the middle distance, and the stag's antlers are the sharpest lines in the scene. Fine hatched marks give the light its soft, early-morning tone.

Meaning & Symbolism

The subject is a fleeting moment in nature, a pause between the viewer and the wild. White-tailed deer have long stood for gentleness and untamed grace, and Eby shows them moving without alarm through their habitat. Made in the interwar years, the print reflects a wider American interest in rural landscapes during that period. Eby, an illustrator and etcher from Connecticut, is best known for his wartime work from the trenches of World War I, so this quieter landscape shows the range of his practice.

Designed for the Chest and the Morning Walk

A wide horizontal scene suits the front of a tee, where the deer and water stretch across the chest as you move. Viewed up close, the hatching and tonal shifts reveal more detail, much like looking at a print held in the hand. The stillness of the image pairs well with an unhurried start to the day.