The Stronghold
ALBERT BARKER
American, (1874-1947)
Lithograph printed on gray paper, 1933, Barker 127, edition 55. 10 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. Signed and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression in perfect condition. The margins are full. This exceptional print is illustrated on page 65 of Clinton Adams' book, "American Lithographers 1900-1960, the Artists and their Printers," (1983), University of New Mexico Press. Barker was friends with Bolton Brown and they often worked together at the press. The Stronghold is generally considered his finest print.
$1,400

Old Man Reading
THOMAS HART BENTON
American, (1889-1975)
Lithograph, 1941, Fath 44, edition 250. 10 x 12 1/8 in. Signed on the stone, lower right. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression in excellent condition. The margins are full. According to the artist, "This old man was from one of the small towns near K.C.(Kansas City). A painting was made directly from life - the litho was made from the painting."
SOLD

Lonesome Road
THOMAS HART BENTON
American, (1889-1975)
Lithograph, 1938, Fath 18, edition 250. 9 5/8 x 12 1/2 in. Signed on the stone, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. Benton did a painting of this subject in 1927. He also did a drawing of this Arkansas subject in 1926.
$3,500

A Spanish Good Friday (Ronda)
MUIRHEAD BONE
Scottish, (1876-1953)
Drypoint, 1925, Dodgson 412 (xxix/XXIX), total edition 160 (83 in this, the final state) 12 5/8 x 8 1/16 in. Signed in the plate, lower left and signed in pencil. This is a superb impression of the final state. The paper is a sturdy cream colored Japanese with full margins. Fine condition. Inscribed "B" in the upper right corner margin by the artist indicating a very fine impression. This impression is also inscribed to the left below the image, "GB". (This is very unusual and probably stands for Gertrude Bone, the artist's wife.) As the artist has stated, "This dry-point was made, in England, from a sketch done on the spot (Ronda, Spain) Good Friday night, 1925." (See page 22 of Dry points by Muirhead Bone by M.Knoedler & Company, Inc., 14 East 57th Street, New York, 1932.) This exceptional, luminous impression is from the collection of Alan and Marianne Schwartz (Detroit).
SOLD

Modern Art
ARTHUR WESLEY DOW
American, (1857-1922)
Lithograph printed in colors, 1895-96, edition unknown. 10 1/4 x 8 in. Signed on the stone, lower left. Here we have a fine impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from subtle toning at the extreme outer edges of the sheet. This is the most common version of this iconic arts and crafts image which was originally published by Louis Prang & Co. in Boston. (As David Kiehl states, "The consummate skill of the Prang firm sensitively reproduced Dow's woodcut "Sundown, Ipswich River" for this poster... capturing the subtle washes of color that characterize his watercolors and Japanese-style woodblock prints." (See pg 119 of American Art Posters of the 1890s.) This smaller version was published in a large edition by Les Maitres de l'Affiche (Paris), (Plate 36) and bears their blindstamp in the lower right corner of the margin (Lugt 1777c). This print was created to promote the journal by this name which was edited by J.M. Bowles and published from 1893-1897. A careful comparison between the two versions does show slight differences in color. (See: American Art Posters of the 1890s by David Kiehl and others, Metropolitan Museum of Art (1988), color plate 4.) There is a third version of this print from 1897, printed in Dresden by Verlag von Gerhard Kuhtmann for the portfolio, Das Moderne Plakat.
SOLD

Dance of Death in Seven Tempos
NICOLAS (NICO) EEKMAN
Belgian, (1889-1973)
Woodcuts, 1924, edition 200. 10 3/4 x 6 in. Signed in red ink with the artist's monogram on the left and signed in pencil, lower right. This set of seven woodcuts (plus title page) consists of fine, uniform impressions in very good condition. (There are minor wrinkles on the right edge of the title page.) The margins are full as issued. This masterful Belgian expressionist work is printed on one sheet of Toshi paper and presented in an accordian fold, with the original presentation wrapper. Eekman was born in Brussels and settled in Paris in 1920. He exhibited widely in Europe and was quite friendly with Mondrian and Signac. He was very active as a painter and woodblock artist and also showed his prints in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Toronto and Chicago. (There's a wonderful web site which has been organized by the artist's daughter, Luce: nicolaseekman.com.) As seen in the work of Henri van Straten, Victor Delhez and Nicolas Eekman, among others, a macabre and thoroughly captivating sense of humor often pervades Belgian aesthetics during the 1920s and 1930s. James Ensor is best known and certainly an early inspiration, but there were many other printmakers whose work stands out. This is particulary evident in the woodcut medium and Eekman's version of "danse macabre" is exemplary.
$2,200

Market Wagon
ALLAN R. FREELON
African American, (1895-1960)
Aquatint, 1933, edition probably 50. 8 7/8 x 11 3/4 in. Signed, titled and numbered "50". This impression bears the following dedication,"to Martha Kreidel with best wishes, 6/30/33". This is a superb impression of one of Freelon's best prints. The margins are full and the condition is fine. (The margin is narrow along the top but this is the full sheet as printed. The condition is fine apart from a small stain in the lower right corner of the margin.) Freelon was an African American artist from Philadelphia. He studied at the University of the Arts (now closed) as well as the University of Pennsylvania. Further studies ensued at the Barnes Foundation and in private with Earl Horter and Dox Thrash. He exhibited widely throughout his career with both prints and paintings on display. Freelon taught etching and lithography at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1940 to 1946. His finest prints were done in aquatint as we have here.
$4,000

Winter Twilight
WANDA GAG
American, (1893-1946)
Lithograph, 1927, Winnan 39, edition 100. 10 x 12 5/8 in. Signed on the stone, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression of this stellar print. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. Seventy-five impressions were printed on the zinc plate by George Miller. The total edition was apparently not printed. Two study drawings are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
SOLD

Backyard Corner
WANDA GAG
American, (1893-1946)
Lithograph, 1930, Winnan 80, edition 100. 10 3/8 x 12 7/8 in. Initialed on the stone "w" lower right. Signed and dated in pencil. Here we have a fine impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from slight waviness in the outer margins and a little wrinkle in the lower right corner. This work was printed in New York by George Miller. Winnan cites fifteen impressions in museum collections around the world including the Kupferstichkabinett in Basel, The British Museum in London and the Pushkin State Museum in Moscow. This impression was deaccessioned from the Minneapolis Institute of Art and it previously came from the estate of the artist.
$2,800

Snow Drifts (Bridge in Winter)
WANDA GAG
American, (1893-1946)
Lithograph, 1934, Winnan 104, edition 50. 9 1/4 x 7 in. Signed and dated in pencil. This is a fine impression with mostly full margins (lacking a small portion of the upper right corner of the sheet). The condition is fine overall apart from old hinges, verso, at the four corners and a little smudge in the lower left margin. This impression was deaccessioned from the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
SOLD

Easter Morning (Pussy Willows; Radiator)
WANDA GAG
American, (1893-1946)
Lithograph, 1926, Winnan 20, edition 100. 15 1/4 x 11 1/2 in. Signed and dated in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is also fine. This large, early print is arguably her best early lithograph. This was a breakthrough year for her printmaking. She still produced a few using sandpaper but by now she had largely switched to zinc plates. George Miller was her primary printer.
$2,400

Mirror of the Goddess
ERNEST HASKELL
American, (1876-1925)
Etching, 1920, Pousette-Dart pg. 31 (ii/II); edition 100 pus 5 in the first state. 9 x 11 7/8 in. Signed and dated in the plate. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is fine. Haskell was a printmaker and illustrator well known for his theatrical posters. Whistler is known to have taught him the art of etching and he made several caricatures of him. His prints are in many museums including: the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Amon Carter Museum, the Mead Art Museum and so on. "Mirror of the Goddess" is one of his very best prints.
$800

Manhattan
LAWRENCE KUPFERMAN
American, (1909-1982)
Drypoint, 1943, from a very small edition. 11 x 8 1/4 in. Signed and titled in pencil and also inscribed, "Dec 29, 1943." This is a superb impression of this compelling and extremely rare print. This is the full sheet as printed (with a ragged edge across the bottom). Fine condition. This potent, wartime image is among his finest prints and the influence of German expressionism is readily evident. Kupferman was a Boston contemporary of Karl Knaths, Jack Levine, Hyman Bloom and Carl Zerbe. During the years 1937-1940, they were all employed by the WPA program. Kupferman was teaching at the Massachusetts College of Art when this print was done. A comparable work to this is "Vertigo."
$1,600

Le Bal Bullier
JEAN-EMILE LABOUREUR
French, (1877-1943)
Woodcut, 1898, Laboureur 579, edition 60 (61?) 8 3/4 x 11 3/8 in. Initialed in the block, lower left. Signed and numbered in pencil. This is a fine, rich impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. This stellar woodcut was exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the spring of 1898. It's illustrated and discussed on page 139 of The Artistic Revival of the Woodcut in France 1850-1900 (1984) by Jacquelyn Baas and Richard Field. Bal Bullier was a ballroom in Paris created by François Bullier in the mid 19th century and it was open until 1940. It was a well known student dance hall at 31 Avenue de l'Observatoire. (Note: the catalogue states an edition of sixty-one impressions but all the numbering we have seen is from an edition of sixty, as here. The catalogue suggests there exists an "épr. d'essai" proof before the monogram in the block which would account for the extra impression.)
$4,500

Warming Up
LOUIS LEGRAND
French, (1863-1951)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint, 1908, Arwas 365 (vii/VII); edition 100. 15 3/4 x 11 3/8 in. Signed in the plate, upper left. Signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 100. The condition is fine apart from slight toning within an earlier mat opening. There are old hinges on the verso at the four corners of the sheet. The margins are full and the paper bears an ARCHES watermark. This large print was published in the album of twelve prints, 'La Petite Classe," by Gustave Pellet, 1908, Paris, in this edition of 100. This impression has a solid provenance: In addition to the Pellet stamp next to the numbering (Lugt 1191), there's the stamp of C.G. Vattier Kraane (Lugt 2521a) and Paul Sachs (Lugt 2113).
SOLD

The Riding Light
TOD LINDENMUTH
American, (1885-1976)
Linocut printed in colors, circa 1920, small edition. 15 x 12 3/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression of this large work. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. Lindenmuth was included in Janet Flint's landmark exhibition, Provincetown Printers; A Woodcut Tradition (1983). He is also represented in A Spectrum of Innovation; Color in American Printmaking 1890-1960, by David Acton (1990).
$2,600

Granite Quarries
LOUIS LOZOWICK
American, (1893-1973)
Lithograph, 1936, Flint 131, edition 25. 11 7/8 x 14 in. Initialed on the stone, lower left. Signed and dated "37" in pencil. Inscribed "AP"in pencil lower left. This is a fine impression of this uncommon print. The margins are full and the condition is fine. Lozowick produced a few quarry studies this one being about the best. "These granite quarries were at Rockport, MA. At one time, the exporting of high-grade granite was such an important industry that a special type of sloop was developed in the shipyards of Rockport and nearby towns for carrying granite." (Flint, pg. 117)
$1,300

The Maid
SAMUEL JESSURUN DE MESQUITA
Dutch, (1868-1944)
Woodcuts , 1932, van Es H 163, edition 10 for each (states i/III and ii/III). 18 1/4 x 7 3/8 in. Both prints are signed, dated and numbered in pencil. These are fine impressions printed on thin Japanese paper. The margins are wide and the condition is fine for both prints. For the second state, which shows the maid looking to the right, a small block was added to the printing as he needed a new printing surface to make the change. From about her shoulders up, the cutting is different notably in the jagged lines on each side of her head. These jagged lines are the same in the image from about her shoulders down to the bottom. There's a third state impression listed in the van Es catalogue which shows some subtle changes in her hair and in other places. Each state was printed in an edition of ten. There are only eight cited impressions in the catalogue: Three of the first state, four of the second and one of the third state. These two prints are exceedingly rare and make a fabulous pair. Mesquita was MC Escher's teacher and his work highly sought after. We've been dealing in his prints since the 1980s.
SOLD

Seamstress
EMIL ORLIK
Czech, (1870-1932)
Woodcut printed in colors, executed 1896-1899, published in 1920, edition 100. 6 1/4 x 6 1/8 in. Initialed in the block, lower right. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is also fine. This work is from the 1920 portfolio, Kleine Holzschnitten, published by Verlag Neue Kunsthandlung in Berlin. There were 34 prints in total. Orlik was born in Prague and later studied at the Munich Academy. He traveled to Japan in 1900 and spent several months studying the traditional art of the Japanese woodcut.
$850

Baa Baa Black Sheep
IDA MARIE PERRAULT
American, (1872-1929)
White line color woodcut, circa 1920, edition 100. 14 1/2 x 12 3/8 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. The print is also signed, "print by R.P." which refers to the artist's brother, Raoul Perrault. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from occasional soiling and ink marks in the margins. Perrault studied at the Detroit School of Art and in Paris and Brussels. She probably learned the white line color woodcut process in Provincetown. She possibly knew Ada Gilmore and Hope Voorhees who were both from Michigan like Perrault and also worked in Provincetown. Her brother, Raoul, printed her blocks.
$2,500