The Deserted Island (L'Île Déserte)
JEAN-EMILE LABOUREUR
French, (1877-1943)
Etching, 1914, Laboureur 135, edition 35. 11 3/16 x 13 3/4 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower center. Signed and numbered in pencil. This is a fine, rich impression printed on a sturdy wove paper. The margins are wide and probably full. This unusually large work was done as a memory of a previous vacation in Nova Scotia. (There were five additional impressions apart from the numbered edition of 35.)
$2,600

Pop's Tavern
ARMIN LANDECK
American, (1905-1984)
Drypoint and aquatint, 1934, Kraeft 45, edition 50 (100?) 6 1/8 x 10 in. Signed, dated and numbered "ed 100" in pencil. Here we have a fine impression of this great, early print. The margins are wide and the condition is excellent. According to the author, " On Christopher Street in New York, right across from the Hudson Theatre where "Cat's Paw" was showing." Note: This impression is numbered "ed 100" whereas the catalogue states "edition 50."
$6,000

East River Drive
ARMIN LANDECK
American, (1905-1984)
Drypoint, 1941, Kraeft 82, edition 100. 9 3/4 x 12 7/8 in. Signed, dated and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. According to Landeck, "Done when they were building the F.D.R. Drive on the East Side of New York."
$2,200

12th Street Walls (first state)
ARMIN LANDECK
American, (1905-1984)
Drypoint, 1944, Kraeft 93, edition 100. 8 1/4 x 11 5/8 in. Signed in pencil and inscribed "imp". Here we have a fine impression with full margins. The condition is very good apart from a faint mat line from an earlier mount. This is a scene near Union Square. The second state was done in 1978 with engraving added (see Kraeft 128).
$1,400

Clam Diggers, Cape Cod
CLARE LEIGHTON
American, (1899-1989)
Wood engraving, 1946, Boston Public Library 599, Stuhlman/Mint Museum 97; edition 250. 7 x 7 7/8 in. Signed and numbered in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is excellent apart from two small old hinges at the top corners. This lovely print was published by the Woodcut Society of Alexandria, VA in 1946. The print is still in the original presentation folder with a forward by the artist.
SOLD

The Net Menders
CLARE LEIGHTON
American, (1899-1989)
Wood engraving, 1948 , BPL 615, edition 300. 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. Here we have a fine impression printed on thin Japanese paper. The margins appear to be full. The condition is fine apart from modest old hinges on the corners, verso. This print was commissioned by the Marblehead Arts Association. However, the catalogue entry for the print is incorrect as it states an edition of only 50. (There's another print by Leighton which bears the same title. That one was done in 1933 and was published by the Woodcut Society of Kansas City in an edition of 200.) (See BPL 247).
$1,000

Night in New York
MARTIN LEWIS
American, (1881-1962)
Etching, 1932, McCarron 102, edition 135. 8 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. Signed in the plate, lower right. Signed in pencil. This is a fine, richly inked impression printed with retroussage. This was the presentation print for the Chicago Society of Etchers and their blindstamp appears in the lower left corner of the sheet. The margins are full and the condition is fine. McCarron states, "Retroussage is used to obtain a softer but stronger and richer effect. In this technique the printer drags a cloth, preferably muslin, over the already inked lines of a heated plate in order to raise the ink, making it spread over both edges of the etched lines." This edition was printed by Charles White who was the only other printer Lewis liked. Lewis gave White specific directions: "wipe clean, very clean on window and light foreground - retroussage on background and darks, very little retrossage on pavement and window."
$10,000

Gaiety Burlesque
REGINALD MARSH
American, (1898-1954)
Etching, 1930, Sasowsky 102, edition 39. 11 7/8 x 9 3/4 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression in fine condition. The margins are irregular and somewhat modest in the lower left corner but this is almost certainly the sheet Marsh printed on. The paper bears a WHATMAN watermark which is the paper used for most of the lifetime edition. This is one of Marsh's most famous prints and is found in many museum collections including: The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Provenance: The Old Print Shop, NY (with their label on the back of the frame.)
$8,000

Spring Umbrellas
KATHARINE HOOD MCCORMICK
American, (1882-1960)
White line woodcut printed in colors, probably 1946-1947, edition unknown. 14 x 11 3/8 in. Initialed in the block, lower right. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression of this very rare print. The paper is a cream fibrous Japanese and the margins are full. The condition is fine apart from a wrinkle in the upper right corner of the sheet and remains of old tape on the verso along the top edge in three places. McCormick was one of the original Provincetown printers and her work was included in Janet Flint's seminal catalogue, "Provincetown Printers: A Woodcut Tradition." (1983). McCormick was a Philadelphia artist, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and was treasurer of the American Color Print Society. She was a regular visitor to Provincetown and became a frequent correspondent of Blanche Lazzell. Lazzell advised her to use colors freely and rely on inspiration at the time of printing. McCormick wrote, "It is not a paying business as far as price is concerned. I do them (blockprints) because I like to." There are six woodcuts by McCormick in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art including this one.
SOLD

City Hall, Haarlem (Stadhuis, Haarlem)
SAMUEL JESSURUN DE MESQUITA
Dutch, (1868-1944)
Etching, 1911, van Es D37; 5 impressions cited in the catalogue. 16 1/2 x 20 3/8 in. Signed, dated and titled in the plate, upper right. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression of this large work printed on VAN GELDER ZONEN paper. The margins are full. The condition is fine apart from a few small repairs at the sheet edges. This exquisite architectural study is unusual for the artist and may have been some kind of commission. The building is still the site for marriage ceremonies and couples were once able to stand on the balcony above the door and greet their guests and onlookers.
$2,800

Sprinters
JOHN J. A. MURPHY
American, (1888-1968)
Woodcut, circa 1924-31, Cole 155, edition less than 75. 11 1/8 x 13 in. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from reside of two small hinges at the top of the sheet, far away from the image. Murphy's woodcuts are quite distinctive and this is considered by many to be his finest work. Sylvan Cole Gallery held an important retrospective of Murphy's work in 1990. The artist exhibited with the Leicester Gallery, London, while he was alive as well as with Frederick Keppel in New York. This print is illustrated on page 102 of Master Prints of Five Centuries; The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection (1991). Murphy was born in Boston and studied at the Museum school. He also studied in London with Noel Rooke and exhibited his work there at the Leicester Gallery. He was married to fellow artist, Cecil Buller.
$3,500

October Afternoon
JACKSON LEE NESBITT
American, (1913-2008)
Etching, 1946, Retif / Salzer 26, AAA 930; edition 250. 9 3/4 x 13 5/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil This is a superb, luminous impression with the full margins. Excellent condition. The setting is a sorghum mill near Liberty, Missouri. The artist considered this to be his best, early print. It was published by AAA in 1947.
$2,000

Auction Barn
JACKSON LEE NESBITT
American, (1913-2008)
Lithograph, 1989, Retif/Salzar 37, edition 250. 17 x 12 1/2 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is fine. This exceptional work was inspired by Benton and his strong sense of design. Apparently, Nesbitt and Benton visited the barn on one of their sketching trips. Nesbitt also produced an egg tempera painting which is now in the collection of the University of Missouri. The barn is/was located outside of Independence, Missouri. The printer was Wayne Kline.
$3,000

Bal Tabarin (Paris)
JULES PASCIN
Bulgarian-American, (1885-1930)
Drypoint, 1926, Hemin 126, edition 100. 11 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. Signed and numbered in pencil. This is a fine, delicate impression printed on RIVES watermarked paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine. (There's a customs stamp on the back in the margin and two old hinges at the top corners.) Pascin was Bulgarian and moved to Paris in 1905. He exhibited at various Paris art shows and was also an exhibitor at the Armory Show in New York in 1913. He moved to New York with his lover, Hermine David, and they eventually married in 1918. Like Toulouse-Lautrec, Pascin drew upon his surroundings and his friends as subjects. Nightlife scenes, such as this one, were typical of his best work in printmaking.
$1,650

The Harvest, South Carolina
CHARLES POLLACK
American, (1902-1988)
Lithograph, undated (1930s), edition 35. 9 3/4 x 14 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil "E35." This is a fine impression of this very rare print. The margins are full with a deckle edge on all sides. The condition is fine apart from old hinges at the top of the sheet, recto. Charles was the oldest brother of Jackson Pollack. He worked with the Michigan WPA program and joined the art faculty at Michigan State University. He also studied with Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League in New York. From the 1940s on, his work started changing to more abstraction. Ironically, Jackson Pollack also studied at the Art Students League with Benton and his earliest work is regionalist in nature. An impression of this print is found at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
$1,850

Landscape 2022-VII
GRIETJE POSTMA
Dutch, (b. 1961)
Woodcut printed in colors, 2022, edition 29. 13 x 22 7/8 in. Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a fine, luminous impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. This exemplary work by Postma has an almost impressionist look to it. The composition is extremely well designed.
$900

City in the Rain
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph printed in colors, 1932, Fine/Looney 77, edition 30. 11 1/4 x 8 7/8 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is fine and the paper bears a GERMAN watermark. The edition was possibly printed by Theo Cuno according to the catalogue. This uncommon, dynamic color lithograph was done early in his career after he returned from Paris.
$1,800

Dulcimer and Discord
BERNARD STEFFEN
American, (1907-1980)
Lithograph, 1939, edition unknown. 11 5/8 x 9 3/8 in. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. Here we have a fine impression of this extremely rare print. The margins are wide and the condition is fine. the paper is watermarked RIVES. Steffen was a WPA artist and studied with Thomas Hart Benton at the Kansas City Art Institute. He was a founding member of the of the American Artists Congress, an association established in 1935 to encourage government support for artist's unions and to promote social realism in American art. Sadly, in 1977, Steffen's studio was destroyed by a fire and he lost "thousands" of paintings and prints. (See David Acton, "A Spectrum of Innovation, Color in American Printmaking," (1990), page 286.)
SOLD

Martin's Hovel
ROBIN TANNER
British, (1904-1988)
Etching, 1927, Garton 3 (iii/III), edition 50. 6 5/8 x 8 3/8 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower left. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb, luminous impression from the first edition of 50 impressions by Nicholson. There were two subsequent editions; one in 1974 by the Penn Print Room (50 impressions) and another in 1984 by Garton & Co (12 impressions). This stellar, early work was done in Wiltshire and the Church in the background is St. Nicholas's at Biddestone. Tanner was inspired by Samuel Palmer and William Morris. He worked in the traditional English pastoral style of Paul Drury and Graham Sutherland.
$2,200

Creek in Winter (Back im Winter)
CARL THIEMANN
Austrian, (1881-1966)
Woodcut printed in colors, 1915, Merx 265F, edition unknown. 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on a sturdy Japanese paper. The margins are full. The condition is fine apart from a soft wrinkle in the outer margin on the left side. This charming print was also published unsigned in "Die Graphischen Künste" (Wien, Gesellschaft für vervielfältigenge Kunst, Volume 3, 1915).
$950