Date in History: 1930’s
Whitewater artist Leon Pescheret was born in England in 1892 and immigrated to Chicago just before World War I. In 1933 he began working in the medium for which he is most famous – the difficult process of color etching on copper plates. It took weeks to etch a plate as the etcher’s eye could only stand the detailed work for short periods of time. The different ink colors then had to be mixed and put onto the plate for printing.
Pescheret moved to Whitewater in 1936 and lived at 519 West Main Street for more than 30 years. His small cottage-style home is still standing on the north side of the Mercy Medical Clinic. While in Whitewater, Pescheret produced 147 color etchings and won several national etching awards. His work is now in the collections of several noted museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Library of Congress.
This historic document aired on the radio as an Historic Minute on 06/09/2003.