# Calligraphic Interior

**H. Lyman Saÿen** (born Philadelphia, PA 1875-died Philadelphia, PA 1918)  
ca. 1915  
watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard  
sheet: 10 x 14 in. (25.5 x 35.5 cm)

Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1968.19.12. [The museum's record](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=21686).

## About this work

H. Lyman Saÿen painted this in about 1915, aged 40. It is now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.

### [H. Lyman Saÿen](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/h-lyman-sayen)

born Philadelphia, PA 1875-died Philadelphia, PA 1918

Saÿen trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts while working as an electrical engineer, patenting improvements to X-ray tubes. In Paris from 1906 he joined Henri Matisse’s classes and absorbed the bold colour of Fauvism. Back in Philadelphia from 1914, he was among the city’s earliest modernists, moving towards flat, decorative, increasingly abstract compositions in the few years before his early death.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 40
- Real size: about 10 × 14 in (26 × 36 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 20th century
- Subjects: Architecture, Figure female, Chairs, Living room, Domestic, Furnishings
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1937.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1937/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/calligraphic-interior-si-saam-1968-19-12).