Middle Germantown (PA)
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1934, Fine/Looney 98, edition 30. 10 x 13 5/8 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression on RIVES watermarked paper. The margins are full. The condition is fine. (There's s subtle soft wrinkle in the lower margin.) According to the catalogue raisonné, the subject of this print is the Spruance home in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.
SOLD

Bulldog Edition
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1932, Fine/Looney 76, edition 30. 8 7/8 x 14 1/2 in. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is excellent.
SOLD

Supplies for Suburbia
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph , 1938, Fine/Looney 153, edition 30. 10 x 15 in. Initialed in the stone, lower right. Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a fine impression of this uncommon print with full margins. The condition is excellent.
SOLD

Changing City
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1934, Fine/Looney 93, edition 36. 9 3/4 x 14 5/8 in. Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a fine impression of this rare early modernist print. The margins are full and the condition is excellent.
SOLD

American Pattern - Barn
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph , 1940, Fine/Looney 184, edition 45. 7 5/8 x 13 7/8 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a fine impression of this iconic American modernist print. The paper bears a RIVES watermark and the margins are full. The condition is very good apart from faint toning on the verso and soft creases showing primarily on the verso. This work was printed by Theodore Cuno in Philadelphia.
SOLD

Self Portrait
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1932, Fine/Looney 74, edition 30. 12 3/8 x 9 1/2 in. Initialed on the stone, lower left. Signed, titled in numbered in pencil. Here we have a fine impression in fine condition. The margins are full.
SOLD

Portrait of the Artist as Model
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1942, Fine/Looney 204, edition 25. 11 1/2 x 14 in. Initialed on the stone, lower right. Signed, dated, titled and numbered in pencil. The compelling and elaborate image of the artist is rare today. This impression has full margins. The condition is very good apart from four old tape stains on each side, center. (They have been professionally treated to defer and further influx of acid and toning into the paper.)
SOLD

Landscape with Figures
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1940, Fine/Looney 179, edition 30. 10 x 13 3/8 in. Signed and dated on the stone (literally) lower right. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a fine impression of this beautifully drawn print. The margins are full and the condition is fine. (There's a slight bit of toning along the lower edge of the sheet and a subtle streak (pencil?) in the upper left corner margin, well away from the image.) This somewhat divergent subject by Spruance reminds us of the regionalist tradition of Benton, Wood and others.
$1,800

Approach to the Station
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1932, Fine/Looney 70, edition 28. 10 7/8 x 13 3/4 in. Initialed on the stone, lower right. Signed, titled, numbered and next to that, "imp. Theo Cuno." This is a superb impression in fine condition with full margins. George Bellows was a major inspiration for Spruance throughout his career, most notably in the early work from the 1930s and 1940s.
SOLD

Prelude to Rest
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1935, Fine/Looney 109, edition 32. 9 x 13 1/4 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. this is a fine impression of this stellar, early work. The margins are full and the condition is fine.
SOLD

Cat and Busybody
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1933, Fine/Looney 85, edition 33. 11 x 13 3/8 in. Initialed and dated on the stone, lower right. Signed, numbered and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression of this uncommon print. The margins are full. The condition is fine apart from some handling creases in the wide margins and stray printers ink in upper right margin.
$2,800

Closed Road
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1932, Fine/Looney 72, edition 25. 10 1//2 x 13 1/8 in. Initialed on the stone, lower right. Signed, numbered and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on a creamy wove paper. The margins are full and the condition is very good. (The print is numbered "ed 30" but the catalogue lists an edition of 25.)
SOLD

Girl and Cat
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1935, Fine/Looney 121, edition 33. 10 3/8 x 13 5/8 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. Here we have a fine impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. The edition was supposedly printed by Theodore Cuno. This is an uncommon print.
$3,000

Introduction to Love
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph, 1935, Fine / Looney 110; edition 35. 10 1/2 x 13 1/2 in. Initialed on the stone, lower right. Signed, numbered and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on thin wove paper with the watermark BARCELONA CATALUNYA SPAIN. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. Spruance’s lithograph is a provocative portrayal of a first sexual encounter. Enveloped by a seemingly unstable space with dramatic shadows, the figures of a man and woman are accompanied by a serpent, a vulture, and a monkey. This lithograph is reproduced in American Master Prints from the Betty and Douglas Duffy collection, by way of the trust for museum exhibitions Washington, D.C., 1987.
$2,500

City in the Rain
BENTON SPRUANCE
American, (1904-1962)
Lithograph printed in three 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 the watermark GERMANY. The margins are full and the condition is very good. There's just a slight bit of toning within an earlier mat opening and the colors are vibrant. This uncommon, dynamic color lithograph was done early in his career. Impressions are located in several museums including: The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum, the Farnsworth Art Museum and at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell.
SOLD

Woman and Child
MAUD HUNT SQUIRE
American, (1873-1954)
Etching and aquatint printed in colors, 1907, from a very small edition. 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 in. Signed in pencil. Dated in pencil and inscribed "Paris." This is a fine impression printed on a wove paper. The margins are wide and appear to be untrimmed. Fine condition. Squire met Ethel Mars in Cincinnati and the couple went to Paris in 1903. They remained there together until the start of WW1. From there they went to Provincetown, MA and became active in the art scene there. The couple eventually returned to Paris and became great friends of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. They remained in France for the rest of their lives.
SOLD

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

Forest of Flame
HARRY STERNBERG
American, (1904-2001)
Lithograph, 1939, Moore 158, Warner 56; edition unknown. 12 1/2 x 16 1/2 in. Signed on the stone, lower right. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression with wide margins. The condition is excellent apart from a small, very faint spot of toning in the margin above the second smokestack on the left. This exemplary print from the period is illustrated and discussed in Graphic Excursions, American Prints in Black and White, 1900-1930, Selections from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams (1991), entry 81. Impressions are located in the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Gallery of Art, among other institutions.
SOLD

Blast Furnace #1
HARRY STERNBERG
American, (1904-2001)
Etching and aquatint, 1937, Moore 147, AAA 828; edition 250. 11 3/4 x 8 3/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is fine. Sternberg produced another such image in lithography which is in the opposite direction of this one (see Blast Furnace 2.) This print was not published by AAA until 1946. It was included in American Prize Prints of the 20th Century by Albert Reese (see page 194).
$1,400

God Comes Down to Inspect His Creations
CHARLES F. SURENDORF
American, (1906-1979)
Linoleum cut, 1940s, edition 15. 9 x 12 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. A fine impression printed in rich, black in on thin Japanese paper. The margins are full and the condition is also fine. This unusual and engaging print is a kind of comic book expressionist image; very serious stuff but with an element of zaniness. Surendorf was a California artist and was active in the Bay area as a block print artist and painter.
SOLD