This woodblock print by William Seltzer Rice (1873 – 1963), “Old Edinburgh,” (ca. 1916) is about 9″ x 7″. We put a 2-1/4″ wide solid core rag mat around it (3″ on the bottom) and set it in a 1″ wide stained quartersawn white oak through mortise and tenon frame, No. 1201, we call the “Kelmscott.” An inlaid raised square plug articulates each corner.
William Seltzer Rice, 1906
William Rice’s first artistic interest was in painting. In early years he set up a studio in a corner of his grandfather’s carriage painting shop in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He would later study with Howard Pyle, before moving to Northern California in 1900 to begin what would become a notable teaching career. Rice spent the summer of 1913 in Europe, where it seems likely he sketched this scene. The print, though, is believed to date from about 1916, a year after the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, where the woodblocks displayed at the the Japanese pavilion inspired Rice to resolve to focus on that art form. In 1918, he was given his first major exhibition at The California Palace of the Legion of Honor. In addition to pictorial arts, Rice worked in ceramics, hammered copper, leather, and wood.
We’ve framed numerous Rice prints and paintings. Another recent example is here…
