Modern Art - ARTHUR WESLEY DOW

Medium: lithograph printed in colors

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

Also available from Dow: Dow lithographs for sale, Dow reliefs for sale, Dow prints for sale

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