"Diamond Merchant" by Marian Lerer, Amer., (1928-2017) Aquatint Excited by an exhibit of

Excited by an exhibit of French etchings at the 1893 World Colombian Exposition in Chicago

Gouache on thick watercolor paper

before the monogrammed signature in the plate upper right

Steve Wheeler

"Diamond Merchant" by Marian Lerer, Amer., (1928-2017) Aquatint Excited by an exhibit ofLithograph, Ca. 1950's, Ed. unknown, 12 3 16 x 8 3 16, unsigned, on cream wove paper. As with her print "Treegob's Variety", Marian Lerer here explores the "stage and actors" on which the wheels of local commerce turn, and this diamond merchant may have been a local neighborhood fixture in Philadelphia observed by Lerer while growing up. Regardless, it is a striking image, devoid of comedic elements, with it's formidible, stoic subject, fixing us with