Sunday, October 23, 2016

Sentimental Sunday: A Drawing by Architect Ewald T. Pape

Back on September 2, I received an e-mail from a lovely lady named Bonny:

"I live in Missoula [Montana] and found this behind an old framed photo....Is this a relative if yours? I found your article on the internet."


What she found (behind a photo of a castle in Scotland, bought at a garage sale in Missoula) was an original drawing by my architect first cousin twice removed, Ewald Theodore Pape (1894-1976).  The article she referred to could have been any one of many I've previously written in this blog that mention Ewald.

The drawing is about 17" by 21" and done on what was probably white art board originally (thus it is thick enough to serve as backing for a framed photo).  The drawing appears to be done in black ink, with something (colored pencils perhaps) used to add green to some trees and grass, yellow and red to the shade and curtain in the big window, and blue to parts of the sky and to the birds perched on the sign (detail below):


I offered to buy the drawing from Bonny, but she very kindly took it to a UPS Store, which called me so I could pay for the packing and shipping.  It arrived on October 19, in perfect condition!

When Bonny sent me a photo of the drawing in her original e-mail, I knew I had seen it before.  I did some digging in my digital files, and found the following:


I actually had two copies of this image, one that I had saved on August 14, 2013, as "Ewald Pape House Unknown Location," and another that I had saved on October 10, 2015, as "Ewald Pape House 1920s Newspaper Clipping."  The clipping was undated and it is not even clear which newspaper it came from (but likely one in Portland, Oregon).  It was posted on July 5, 2013, on the Portland Architectural Heritage Center Facebook page, as one of a "donation of newspaper clippings, from local newspapers, of 1920s era house designs."

I'm so thrilled to get this drawing, which of course I will frame and hang on the wall!  I am still researching Ewald and will have more posts about him in the near future.

Thank you, Bonny, for your random act of genealogical kindness!


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

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