Summer Woodcock by Arthur Burdett Frost (A. B. Frost)

Summer Woodcock by Arthur Burdett Frost (A. B. Frost)

C. 1972

Photomechanical Color Reproduction

This detailed woodland sporting scene, titled Summer Woodcock, is a vintage color print published by the Winchester Press in 1972. Based on the masterwork by legendary American illustrator Arthur Burdett Frost (A. B. Frost), the artwork depicts a lone hunter clad in a tan field jacket and high boots standing amidst thick greenery, raising his shotgun to sight a target. In the foreground, a white and brown spotted spaniel stands alert in the tall, uncultivated grasses, pointing toward a bird flushed high into the dense canopy of summer trees on the right. The lush, verdant composition is framed entirely by a heavy wall of leafy brush and overhanging branches, while the print carefully preserves the original composition, the faint artist signature in the lower right, and clean title typography along the bottom margin.

The composition stems from Frost's legendary Shooting Pictures portfolio, originally commissioned and published in 1895 by Charles Scribner's Sons. A. B. Frost (1851–1928) is widely considered the quintessential artist of American sporting life, renowned for combining rigorous anatomical precision with an authentic, non-romanticized view of rural hunting culture. This particular scene is historically important because it documents the traditional, specialized practice of "battery" or sinkbox hunting on vast coastal bays before the method was heavily restricted or banned for conservation purposes. Released as part of an elite, limited-edition commemorative run of 750 copies by Winchester Press, this plate serves as a vital cultural artifact of late Victorian outdoor sporting heritage and early American realism.

Dimensions: H 11” x 17” W

Condition: In very good condition