Adolf Arthur Dehn

Believe in Jesus and be saved from everlasting Hell

1926

Signed and dated by the artist in ink, lower right Annotated in ink lower left: Plate 19. Sec. 1. Lesson 4 Note: A very early student work by Dehn Provenance: Estate of the Artist

Crucifixion Engraving, 1958 Signed, dated, titled, and annotated 'Printers Proof II' in pencil A printed by Master Printer Jon Clemens, c. 2000 A brilliant impression full of burr Im...

Getting Ready for the Revolution - Learning How to Ride in the Subway Litho crayons on illustrator’s board, c. 1932 Signed: Adolf Dehn (VED) lower right corner (signed by Virginia Dehn, the artist’s widow) Tilted along the upper edge of the recto in pencil by the artist Verso inscriptions: “VF 3168.D” in a circle, also annotated in red pencil “32” in a circle and “699 Provenance: Mary Ryan Gallery, exhibition entitled Adolf Dehn Lithographs, 1927-1940, Nov. 16 to Dec. 12, 1982. The original exhibition notice us affixed to the backing board of the frame Note: A drawing intended or used in the publication Vanity Fair, for whom Dehn worked in the mid 1920’s to the 1930’s. Adolf Dehn, American Watercolorist and Printmaker, 1895-1968 Adolf Dehn was an artist who achieved extraordinary artistic heights, but in a very particular artistic sphere—not so much in oil painting as in watercolor and lithography. Long recognized as a master by serious print collectors, he is gradually gaining recognition as a notable and influential figure in the overall history of American art. In the 19th century, with the invention of the rotary press, which made possible enormous print runs, and the development of the popular, mass-market magazines, newspaper and magazine illustration developed into an artistic realm of its own, often surprisingly divorced from the world of museums and art exhibitions, and today remains surprisingly overlooked by most art historians. Dehn in many regards was an outgrowth of this world, although in an unusual way, since as a young man he produced most of his illustrative work not for popular magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post, but rather for radical journals, such as The Masses or The Liberator, or artistic “little magazines” such as The Dial. This background established the foundation of his outlook, and led later to his unique and distinctive contribution to American graphic art. If there’s a distinctive quality to his work, it was his skill in introducing unusual tonal and textural effects into his work, particularly in printmaking but also in watercolor. Jackson Pollock seems to have been one of many notable artists who were influenced by his techniques. Early Years, 1895-1922 For an artist largely remembered for scenes of Vienna and Paris, Adolf Dehn’s background was a surprising one. Born in Waterville, Minnesota, on November 22, 1895, Dehn was the descendent of farmers who had emigrated from Germany and homesteaded in the region, initially in a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. Adolf’s father, Arthur Clark Dehn, was a hunter and trapper who took pride that he had no boss but himself, and who had little use for art. Indeed, during Adolf’s boyhood the walls of his bedroom and the space under his bed were filled with the pelts of mink, muskrats and skunks that his father had killed, skinned and stretched on drying boards. It was Adolf’s mother, Emilie Haas Dehn, a faithful member of the German Lutheran Evangelical Church, who encouraged his interest in art, which became apparent early in childhood. Both parents were ardent socialists, and supporters of Eugene Debs...

Signed by the artist in ink lower right Preliminary sketch in reverse for the 1928 lithograph "Cornucopia," part of Dehn's Paris Lithographs portfolio An unsigned sketch of tw...

The Invocation is an original drawing in pencil realized by an anonymous artist in the early 20th Century. Fair conditions with folding and ripping. The artwork is depicted by perf...

Sketch is a China Ink and watercolor Drawing realized by Henry Gabriel Ibels in 1919. Good condition on a yellowed paper. Hand-signed, dated on the lower right corner. Henri-Gabri...

Christ on the Cross is an original artwork realized by the Unknown Artist in the early 20th century. Original pencil drawing on ivory-colored paper, glued on colored cardboard (22 x...

Holy Man is a drawing realized by  Joseph Colin in the mid-20th century  Charcoal on a cream-colored paper. Good conditions. The artwork realized through deft quick strokes by mas...