Dramatic 5.5 x 8 etching of Albert Einstein in a front-facing pose by Bernhardt Wall, signed in the lower border in pencil by the artist, "Bernhard Wall." The etching is bound into the June 1929 issue of 'The Etched Monthly,' issued as a limited edition of 250 (this out of series copy marked "Personal"), which contains eight more etchings signed in pencil by Wall, with subjects including Joseph Pennell, Poe's Home in Richmond, Benjamin Oakleaf, Roy S. Kellogg, and others. The volume is also signed on the colophon, and signed and inscribed on the first free end page, "To Natalie Williams, with my deepest regards, Bernhardt Wall, Nov. 20, 1936, Marshall, Texas." In fine condition.
Bernhardt Wall (1872–1956) was an American engraver, illustrator, graphic designer, and lithographer. He designed more than 5,000 postcards for various companies, earning him the nickname 'Postcard King.' Wall also established himself as an engraver of famous American political and cultural leaders, particularly Abraham Lincoln. He studied art in New York under, among others, Henry Reuterdahl and William Auerbach-Levy. From 1889, Wall worked as an artist in New York City and Buffalo. After a period as a soldier in World War I, he returned to New York and had a successful exhibition of his engravings, drawings, and watercolors in 1915—at that point, he had decided to focus on engraving. Wall met Einstein at a public speech at Columbia University in New York on April 27, 1921.
