Perseus and Andromeda
JOHANNES AARTS
Dutch, (1871-1934)
Woodcut, circa 1905, Wielick H77, edition unknown. 9 3/8 x 7 in. Signed in the block with the monogram, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a very good impression of this rare print. The margins are wide and the condition is fine. We believe this woodcut shows the story of Perseus and Andromeda. Perhaps Aarts showed the head of Medusa and Pegasus just to combine the most important images of the Perseus cycle. In other depictions of the story, Perseus and the head of Medusa are left out. Wielick catalogued this as Perseus and the Head of Medusa and the Rijksmuseum titles their impression as Perseus and Andromeda. Our website shows a similar print which we previously sold, Wielich H-75, titled as Perseus with the Head of Medusa. Aarts was born in the Hague and moved to Amsterdam in 1911 were he became an influencial teacher at the Rijksacademie. (He replaced Pieter Dupont who died prematurely in 1911.)
SOLD

Leisure
ALBERT ABRAMOVITZ
Latvian-American, (1879-1963)
Woodcut (linocut?) printed in colors, circa 1937, edition probably about 25 impressions. 13 7/8 x 17 in. Initialed in the block and signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression of this large, rare print. Printed on a thin Japanese paper, the margins are full and the condition is very good. (There's a trace of wrinkling in the lower margin just to the image.) Abramovitz was born in Riga, Latvia, studied in Paris, and eventually settled in New York where he was employed by the WPA program. His work is illustrated and discussed in The Federal Art Project: American Prints from the 1930s (1985), published by the University of Michigan Museum of Art. His prints are in the following American collections: Art Institute of Chicago, Baltimore Museum of Art, Newark Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art and others. This potent, expressionist image is an outstanding example of his work and a bold social statement about life for many during the 1930s.
SOLD

Mallow
ANDERS ALDRIN
American, (1889-1970)
Woodcut printed in colors, circa 1935, Newark Museum-Aldrin 2; total edition unknown but small. 6 1/2 x 6 in. Signed with the printed monogram in the lower right. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. Fine condition apart from traces of previous hinges at the top corners. This is one of a few color variants of this image printed by the artist. Aldrin was born in Sweden and moved to America in 1911. By 1920, Aldrin had relocated to southern California and studied at the Otis Art Institute. He later attended the Santa Barbara School of Art and studied with Frank Morley Fletcher, the British artist known for his exceptional woodcuts in the Japanese manner. Provenance: Annex Galleries, CA.
$1,200

Composition with Green and Red
WOBBE ALKEMA
Dutch, (1900-1984)
Linoleum cut, 1926, Bool/Petersen G34, edition 75. 8 x 5 1/2 in. Signed and dated in pencil "26/78" and numbered "18/75." This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. According to the raisonné, there was no edition printed in 1926 and eight proofs were pulled in 1958. This impression is from the 1978 edition of seventy-five. Even these 1978 impressions are not common today. Alkema was originally trained as a cabinetmaker and he eventually worked with an architectural firm in Groningen. He joined De Ploeg (albeit for a brief period) and produced many remarkable works of geometric abstraction in painting as well as printmaking. His paintings from the 1920s are important today and his prints are equally desirable. Alkema was primarily associated with the Belgian modernists such as Josef Peeters.
SOLD

Bouwen (Building)
PETER ALMA
Dutch, (1886-1969)
Linocut, 1926, edition unknown. 16 1/4 x 16 5/8 in. Signed and dated in the block, upper left corner. Signed and titled in pencil and also inscribed "No.2". This is a fine impression printed on heavy laid paper with wide margins. The condition is fine. This large, early work by Alma epitomizes his interest in workers and their rights. This is, in many ways, a Dutch equivalent to the American WPA print with all its connotations. Alma studied in the Hague and moved to Paris when he was only twenty. There he met Mondrian and Lodewijk Schelfhout who shared a studio. He studied in Paris at the Académie Humbert (1907-1914). Alma was greatly influenced by the Russian Revolution having joined the Communist Party in 1919 and then visiting Moscow in 1921. There he met with Kandinsky, El Lissitsky, and others. A major retrospective of his work was held at the Stedelijk Museum in 1960. This museum was also the home of his first retrospective held in 1924.
SOLD

Landscape with Farmhouses
JAN ALTINK
Dutch, (1885-1971)
Woodcut, 1926, edition unknown. 9 3/8 x 14 3/4 in. Signed and dated in ink, lower right. Here we have a fine, rich impression printed on a sturdy cream wove paper. The margins are full and the condition is good. (There's a repaired break just outside the image in the upper left corner. There are traces of old cellotape adhesive in the margins, one of which extends on the bottom to just outside the image.) This potent and very rare woodcut exemplfies Altink at his best in this medium. He also worked in etching and lithography and excelled as a painter. He was born in Groningen and studied at the Minerva Academy. He one of the founders of "de Ploeg" and remained a member of the group into the 1960s.
SOLD

Blue Poppies
JEAN ARMITAGE
British, (exhibited 1919-1938)
Woodcut printed in colors, circa 1930, edition 50. 12 7/8 x 7 3/4 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is fine other than for a soft wrinkle here and there, primarily in the margins. The influence of Japanese printmaking is here in evidence. Her work is executed with great skill, especially as seen here. She studied with the illustrator J.D. Batten at the Byam Shaw School of Art and exhibited with the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. This information was provided by the British Museum and they own two example of her woodcuts.
SOLD

The Tawny Owl
JEAN ARMITAGE
British, (exhibited 1919-1938)
Woodcut printed in colors, circa 1925, edition 50. 10 3/8 x 8 in. Signed, numbered and titled in pencil. Here we have a fine, luminous impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from old hinges at the top two corners, a small spot of foxing to the right of the image and a subtle little repair in the lower left corner below the title. The influence of Japanese printmaking is here in evidence. Her work is executed with great skill, especially as seen here. She studied with the illustrator J.D. Batten at the Byam Shaw School of Art and exhibited with the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. This information was provided by the British Museum and they own two example of her woodcuts.
$1,500

The Last Trumpet
BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF
Russian/ American, (1899-1965)
Wood engraving, 1937, edition 200. 11 3/8 x 7 7/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on a cream wove paper. The margins are full. The condition is very good apart from old adhesive on the top corners, verso, where the sheet was attached to the accompanying portfolio. This potent image was published by the Woodcut Society of Kansas City with an introduction by Carl Carmer. Artzybasheff was a gifted set designer and illustrator and he created more than 200 covers for Time magazine before his death. This potent image was perhaps partially inspired by his early time in the front lineswhen the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917. He was drafted into the German sponsored Ukranian army and was forced to fight for a separatist Ukranian Republic. With his life at risk, he eventually escaped and made it to New York and commenced his career as an artist. This is a universal statement about war and destruction against the background of a large metropolis.
$3,500

Child Reaching
WILL BARNET
American, (1911-2012)
Woodcut, 1940, Cole 82, Szoke 83; edition 25 (60) 7 1/8 x 11 1/4 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a fine dark impression printed on thin japanese paper. The margins are full. The condition is fine other than for slight handling marks on the left and right edges of the paper. This charming work was printed and published by the artist. This impression is numbered 59/60. There's no indication in either catalogue raisonné that a second edition was printed. Most likely the artist printed 35 more impressions and continued the numbering as we see here.
$850

Fair in de Doelen (Kermis in de Doelen)
HERMAN F. BIELING
Dutch, (1887-1964)
Woodcut, 1922, edition unknown. 8 7/8 x 12 1/4 in. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. Here we have a fine impression in fine condition. The margins are full. Bieling was a Rotterdam artist and a founder of De Branding, an avant-garde artists association. He had a studio fire in 1933 and there lost much of his early work. De Doelen was a fair venue in Rotterdam but it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1940. (It was rebuilt in 1966 as a convention center.)
SOLD

The Poet (Der Dichter)
HERMAN F. BIELING
Dutch, (1887-1964)
Woodcut, 1920, edition unknown. 11 5/8 x 10 in. Initialed in the block, lower right. Signed, dated and titled in ink. The margins are full and the condition is fine. The image is printed on the back of a sheet of incunabula published by Michael Furter, Basel, (in facsimile). Bieling was a Rotterdam artist who founded an artistic group called "De Branding" (meaning surf or breakers in Dutch). He had connections with art groups including De Stijl and Der Sturm. Bieling was also an organizer of shows which included his work and those by Kurt Schwitters, Piet Mondriaan and many other cutting edge artists. He was an active proponent of modernism in Dutch painting and printmaking during the 1920s and 1930s. Much of his work was lost during a major fire in his studio in 1930.
$1,000

Nude (Naakt)
HERMAN F. BIELING
Dutch, (1887-1964)
Woodcut (linocut?), 1920, edition unknown. 17 3/4 x 8 5/8 in. Signed, titled and dated in ink. Printed by the artist and so inscribed. This is a superb impression of the large work. The margins are full and the condition is fine. Bieling was a Rotterdam artist who founded an artistic group called "De Branding" (meaning surf or breakers in Dutch). He had connections with art groups including De Stijl and Der Sturm. Bieling was also an organizer of shows which included his work and those by Kurt Schwitters, Piet Mondriaan and many other cutting edge artists. He was an active proponent of modernism in Dutch painting and printmaking during the 1920s and 1930s. Much of his work was lost during a major fire in his studio in 1930.
$1,200

Dancers (Danseres)
HERMAN F. BIELING
Dutch, (1887-1964)
Linoleum cut, 1922, small edition. 12 1/2 x 9 in. Signed, titled and dated in ink. Here we have a fine impression printed on a thin light tan paper. The margins are full. The condition is fine apart from slight wrinkling along the left edge of the sheet. Often, as we see here, Bieling's images are comprised of dynamic geometric forms and lines to enhance the overall composition and primary subject.
$800

Houses in the Snow
JAN BOON
Dutch, (1882-1975)
Woodcut printed in colors, 1930s-1940s, edition unknown. 10 5/8 x 11 5/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on fibrous Japanese paper. The margins are full. Excellent condition. Boon studied with Philip Zilcken and Jacob Maris. He was a gifted painter as well as a printmaker and his works are rare. He moved around the Netherlands and in 1922 he relocated to Austria for a few years. His carefully composed and detailed work in paintings in often referred to as the New Realism from the mid 1920s onward.
$650

Tree in Winter
JAN BOON
Dutch, (1882-1975)
Woodcut printed in black and gray, 1930-1940s, edition unknown. 9 5/8 x 13 in. Signed in pencil. Here we have a fine impression printed on fibrous Japanese paper. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. Boon was a painter, watercolorist, draughtsman, woodcut artist as well as being an etcher. For some reason his work rarely turns up. He won numerous awards and medals for his work over the years.
$650

Venice
EMMA BORMANN
Austrian, (1887-1974)
Linocut printed in colors, undated (possibly 1923)., Johns pg. 80, edition unknown. 9 x 14 in. Signed and titled in pencil. Here we have a very fine impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. This stellar view of Venice exists in color variations. This rare work is one of several views of Italy that she did in addition she made trips to: Vienna, Stockholm, Rome, Florence, Prague, Tokyo, Shanghai, New York, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh and on and on. She worked in woodcut and linocut and they can be difficult to tell apart.
$1,900

Leopard
NORBERTINE BRESSLERN-ROTH
Austrian, (1891-1978)
Woodcut (linocut?) printed in colors, circa 1922, edition unknown. 8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression with vibrant colors. The paper is a thin Japanese which is usually her choice for printing the blocks. The margins are modest on the top and both sides. The condition overall is very good apart from a couple of soft wrinkles near the top of the image and rippling from the printing process in the bottom edge. She produced this same image in reverse.
SOLD

Flamingos
NORBERTINE BRESSLERN-ROTH
Austrian, (1891-1978)
Linocut, 1920s, edition unknown. 8 3/8 x 7 3/4 in. Signed and inscribed in pencil "handdruck." This is a fine impression printed on thin wove paper The margins are full. The condition is very good apart from slight toning at the outer edges of the sheet, well away from the image.
$1,900

Toucans
NORBERTINE BRESSLERN-ROTH
Austrian, (1891-1978)
Linocut printed in colors, 1929, edition unknown. 10 5/8 x 9 1/8 in. Signed with the monogram in the block, lower right. Signed in pencil. Here we have a fine, vibrant impression with probably the full margins. The condition is excellent. This stellar work was published in a special edition of the 1920 Gesellschaft für Vervielfältigende Kunst, Vienna. There is also the published, unsigned edition with the printed descriptive text along the bottom edge of the sheet.
$1,900