La Vieille au Loques (The Old Rag Woman)
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching and drypoint, 1858, Glasgow 27 (iii/IV), Kennedy 21 (ii/III); edition unknown. 8 1/16 x 5 3/4 in. Signed in the plate, lower right, and along the bottom, Imp. Delatre, Rue St. Jacques 171. This is a very fine, lifetime impression printed with plate tone on a thin China paper. The margins are wide and the condition is very good. (There's a skillful and barely noticeable repaired split in the upper left margin which goes to the image but not within.) This early work was published in this state as part of the French Set. This was a popular print during Whistler's lifetime and that interest continues to this day.
$1,700

Limehouse
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching and drypoint, 1859, Glasgow 48 (vi/VI), Kennedy 40 (iii/III), edition unknown. 5 x 8 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower right. This is a fine, dark impression of the final state, before cancellation. The paper is a cream-colored fibrous, thin Japanese. The condition is very good apart from slight lightening of the paper within an earlier mat opening. This print was published as part of Whistler's celebrated Thames Set in 1871. The plate was cancelled around 1894-95.
SOLD

Eagle Wharf
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching, 1859, Glasgow 50 (i/I), Kennedy 41 (i/I); edition unknown. 5 7/16 x 8 3/8 in. Signed and dated in the plate. This is a superb, dark impression printed on light cream laid paper. The margins are wide and probably untrimmed. The condition is fine apart from a few tiny, incidental losses here and there at the sheet edges. This stellar print was published as part of the Thames Set. Eagle Wharf was in Wapping on the River Thames in London.
SOLD

Greenwich Park
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching and drypoint, 1859, Glasgow catalogue 41 (iii/III), Kennedy 35 5 x 7 15/16 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. This is a fine, rich impression printed on thin, cream Japanese paper. The margins are full. This lovely landscape print is known in 38 impressions in the Glasgow catalogue. The sitters have not been indentified.
$2,000

Black Lion Wharf
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching, 1859, Glasgow 54 (iv/IV); Kennedy 42 (iii/III), Glasgow cites 104 impressions. 5 7/8 x 8 3/4 in. Signed and dated in the plate, lower right. This is a fine, strong impression printed on light cream laid paper without a watermark. The margins are most likely full with a deckle edge on three sides. The condition is excellent. This print, along with the Limeburner (Glasgow 55), are probably the two best images from the Thames Set. Black Lion Wharf was published with the rest of the set in 1871 by Ellis and Green. This is one of Whistler's most popular early etchings.
$5,000

The Little Pool
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching and drypoint, 1861, Glasgow catalogue 79 (ix/IX), Kennedy 74 (viii/IX); 76 impressions cited in Glasgow. 4 x 5 in. Signed and dated in the plate. This is a fine impression with modest margins. There's a trace of old paper tape along the top edge, verso. This plate was included in the Thames Set and was published as such in this, the ninth state. This impression is a duplicate from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, and bears their stamp on the verso.
$1,200

The Kitchen
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching, 1858, Glasgow 16 (ii/II); Kennedy 24 (ii/III); Glasgow cites 67 known impressions. 9 x 6 1/4 in. Signed in the plate, lower right. This is a very fine, rich impression printed on a light cream laid paper. The margins are substantial. The condition is excellent. This outstanding, early work was published in the French Set in this state. Auguste Delâtre was the printer and his name and address appear in the plate, lower right.
$7,000

The Wine Glass
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Etching, 1859, Glasgow 38 (ii/II); Kennedy 27 (ii/II); Glasgow states forty impressions were taken from the plate. 3 1/4 x 2 1/8 in. Signed in the plate lower left. This is a superb impression printed on thin Japanese paper. The margins are apparently full and the sheet measures 6 1/2 x 4 3/8 in. The condition is fine. This stellar and unique etching is Whistler's only still life. This plate was etched in London at the home of Seymour Haden. Whistler certainly had a chance to view Haden's collection of Rembrandt etchings and it's possible that Rembrandt's "The Shell," was an inspiration for this print. (See Katharine Lochnan, "The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler," (1984), pg. 59.) "The Wine Glass" has always been a highly sought after print and the great collectors of Whistler etchings owned it. Among them are Charles Lang Freer, Philippe Burty, Joshua Hutchinson, Howard Mansfield, Harris G. Whittemore, Lessing J. Rosenwald and Peter Lunder, among others.
SOLD

Maunder's Fish Shop, Chelsea
JAMES A. MCNEILL WHISTLER
American, (1834-1903)
Lithograph, 1890, Art Institute of Chicago 37 (ii/II) Way 28; edition at least 31 lifetime impressions. 7 1/2 x 7 in. Signed on the stone with the printed butterfly. Signed below with the pencil butterfly. This is a superb lifetime impression with full margins. (There's no apparent watermark.) The condition is excellent. This was a popular image for Whistler and it was later published in the Whirlwind in a large edition with a line of text added. There were an additional thirty-eight posthumous impressions printed by Goulding in 1903. Our impression is printed on an ivory laid paper and bears the red Rosaling Birnie Philip stamp (Lugt 406) indicating a lifetime impression. Whistler depicted this subject at least four times including as an oil painting now in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
$3,000

Gloucester Harbor, MA
LAWRENCE NELSON WILBUR
American, (1897-1988)
Drypoint, 1938, edition unknown. 8 x 10 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine, early impression done before the 1985 reprint. The margins are full. The condition is fine. Born in Boston, Wilbur moved to NYC in 1925 where he worked in engraving shops and studied at the Grand Central Art School with N.C. Weyth and others. He was also a talented painter and watercolorist.
$550

Vernissage at the Academy
MEYER WOLFE
American, (1897-1985)
Lithograph, 1937, edition unknown. 13 x 11 in. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. Here we have a fine impression in fine condition. The margins are full. Wolfe was born in Kentucky and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago and later at the Art Students League. He was a student of John Sloan. He excelled in lithography and was also a painter and sculptor.
$900

Seed Time and Harvest
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1937, Johnson 2, edition 250 7 3/8 x 12 1/8 in. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right. This is a fine impression in superb condition. The margins are full. This is an exemplary lithograph from Wood's early work.
SOLD

Fertility
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1939, Johnson 14, Cole 15; edition 250. 9 x 11 3/4 in. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression printed on a soft white wove paper.The margins are full with a deckle edge showing on all sides. The condition is excellent. As described by Johnson, "Of all nineteen of Grant Wood's lithographs, Fertility stands out as the most optimistic, literally swelling with symbols of Midwestern abundance, hope, and reassurance that the land will respond, providing sustenance for the American people still reeling from the devastating effects of the Great Depression." See Grant Wood: The 19 Lithographs; a Catalogue Raisonné by Bruce E. Johnson (2016), pg. 110.
$10,000

March
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1941, Johnson 17, Cole 14, edition 250. 9 x 11 7/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression in fine condition. The margins are somewhat trimmed measuring one inch on all sides. At least two preparatory drawings exist for this print and the edition was printed by George Miller and published by AAA in New York. The great design for this print gives it a strikingly modernist look. "March" expouses Wood's compositional practice of dynamic symmetry. (See Johnson, pg. 129-130)
SOLD

July Fifteenth
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1938, Johnson 6, Cole 5; edition 250. 9 x 11 7/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on RIVES paper with full margins. The condition is very good apart from slight thinness to the paper on the outer edges, verso. The print was attached at the edges at some point and this minor issue does not show in the front at all.
SOLD

Wild Flowers
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph with hand coloring by the artist's sister, 1939, Johnson 12, Cole 9; edition 250. 7 x 10 in. Signed in pencil, lower right. This is a fine impression with fresh colors. The margins are full and the condition is fine.
SOLD

In the Spring
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1939, Johnson 13, Cole 13; edition 250. 8 7/8 x 11 3/4 in. Signed in pencil. This is a very fine impression with full margins. The condition is outstanding. In his excellent 2016 catalog of Grant Wood's lithographs, Bruce Johnson writes the following about this print: "...the lithograph transcends from being a portrait of one individual to a symbol of all farmers and their relationship to their land." (pg. 105). The paper bears a RIVES watermark and was printed by George Miller in New York.
SOLD

Approaching Storm
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1940, Johnson 16, Cole 19; edition 250. 11 3/4 x 8 7/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The paper shows the watermark POYPE and there's a deckle edge on all sides. The condition is fine apart from a very faint trace of an old adhesive along the extreme top edge of the sheet. According to Associated American Artists records, this print was sold out within five months of being issued. (See Johnson, page 124.)
$9,000

December Afternoon
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1941, Johnson 18, Cole 16; edition 250. 9 x 11 7/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine, rich impression with wide margins. The condition is fine. This charming, beautifully crafted winter scene is a nice example of Wood's work. There's a related drawing for this print at the University of Iowa Museum of Art.
SOLD

Grant Wood: The 19 Lithographs (by Bruce Johnson)
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Catalogue raisonné, 2016, 185 pages. 8 x 10 x 1/2 in. This is the new catalogue on Grant Wood prints. The original catalogue was written by Sylvan Cole and published by Associated American Artists in 1984. This publication provides a substantial amount of information about Wood's interest in the lithography medium and each print is described at length. There are essays about George Miller, Wood's printer, and regionalism in general. Johnson includes amended dates for a few of the lithographs and explains the facts behind his conclusions. This is a must have book for Grant Wood collectors as it supersedes the Cole catalogue. The price is $30 plus $7 for postage and handling. Sales tax applies to North Carolina residents.
$37