Vertical Abstract Prints

Jasper Johns Art Card: The Seasons (Spring), hand signed by Jasper Johns, 1987 Offset lithograph postcard (hand signed by Jasper Johns) Hand signed on the front by Jasper Johns Prove...

Composition with Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and Gray by Piet Mondrian was originally painted in 1921. This period falls within Mondrian's mature phase, where he refined his abstract s...

UV pigment print on 410gsm Somerset Tub Sized Radiant White paper with 3 silkscreen layers and matte silkscreen varnish 60 × 50 cm Edition of 100 hand-signed and numbered by the arti...

Artist: (after) Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976) Title: "Staatliche Werkkunstschule Kassel (Prefatio)" Year: 1957 Medium: Original Relief Print (Letterpress), Exhibition Poster on light wove paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: Staatliche Werkkunstschule Kassel, Kassel, Germany Publisher: Staatliche Werkkunstschule Kassel, Kassel, Germany Sheet size: 24.75" x 17.63" Image size: 11.75" x 15.63" Condition: A few faint handling creases. Never framed, has been professionally stored away for decades. In excellent condition Extremely rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Nuremberg, Germany. Poster produced for a special exhibition of Albers' work "Early Pictures from the Twenties and New Works" at the Staatliche Werkkunstschule Kassel from May 28 - June 8, 1957. The image featured on this poster is Albers' 1942 lithograph edition "Prefatio", (Danilowitz No. 103, page 76), from his 1942 "Graphic Tectonics" series of 9 lithographs, (Danilowitz No. 100-108, page 74-79). Printer's imprint upper right. This is an extremely rare poster being if not the, one of the, earliest documented Josef Albers exhibition...

Alexander CALDER Composition with Red and Blue Ball Original lithograph (printed in Mourlot workshop) Printed signature in the plate On Arches vellum 25 x 19 cm (c. 10 x 8 inch) Edi...

23 x 22 inch. Handmade Paper, Textured Lithograph. Signed in Pencil: Bottom Right. Numbered in Pencil: Bottom Left "111/150" A meditative and serene, abstract piece made of a combin...

Derriere Le Miroir-Page 9 Color lithograph, 1973 From: Derriere Le Miroir, No. 201, January 1973 Unsigned (as issued) Publisher: Maeght Editeur, Paris Printer: L’Imprimerie Arte, Adr...

This painting captures the early spring in Shizico Yi’s garden, where the Cherry Prunus stands as the season’s first joyful announcement. Painted en plein air, it reflects the raw fr...

This exquisite lithograph after Henri Matisse (1869–1954), titled Series I, Variation 1, originates from the rare 1943 folio Henri Matisse, Dessins, Themes et Variations. Published by Martin Fabiani, Editeur, Paris, and printed by Georges Duval, Paris, on February 27, 1943, this edition presents a suite of drawings that encapsulate Matisse’s lifelong pursuit of purity in draftsmanship and composition. Created under the artist’s supervision, each plate demonstrates Matisse’s mastery of contour and simplicity, transforming minimal gestures into harmonies of balance and grace that evoke both strength and serenity. Executed on velin pur fil paper, this lithograph measures 12.88 x 9.62 inches (32.72 x 24.44 cm). It is signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued, in accordance with the authorized 1943 publication format. Produced during wartime Paris under the direction of publisher Martin Fabiani, this folio embodies Matisse’s commitment to artistic renewal through discipline, sensitivity, and elegance. It remains a landmark in 20th-century printmaking, celebrated for the lyrical clarity and modernity of its graphic vision. Artwork Details: Artist: After Henri Matisse (1869–1954) Title: Series I, Variation 1, from Henri Matisse, Dessins, Themes et Variations, 1943 Medium: Lithograph on velin pur fil paper Dimensions: Paper size 12.88 x 9.62 inches (32.72 x 24.44 cm) Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued Date: 1943 Publisher: Martin Fabiani, Editeur, Paris Printer: Georges Duval, Paris Catalogue raisonne reference: Duthuit, Claude. *Henri Matisse: Catalogue raisonne des ouvrages illustres.* Editions Claude Duthuit, Paris, 1988, illustration 9 Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium Provenance: From the 1943 folio *Henri Matisse, Dessins, Themes et Variations,* published by Martin Fabiani, Editeur, Paris Notes: Excerpted from the 1943 folio (translated from French): "Finished printing in Paris, on February 27, 1943, at the expense of Martin Fabiani, publisher, with the help of Roger Lacouriere. Henri Matisse’s *Themes et Variations* were printed by G. Duval and the preface of Aragon, printed by Fequet et Baudier. Justification of the draw — This folio has been printed in CML examples, all numbered, namely: X examples on Imperial Japan, numbered from I to X, signed by the artist; XX examples on Velin d’Arches, numbered from II to XXX, signed by the artist; and CMXX examples on Velin pur fil, numbered from XXXI to CML." About the Artist: Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was a French painter, draughtsman, sculptor, and printmaker whose bold use of color, fluid line, and decorative brilliance helped define modernism and Fauvism. Born in Le Cateau-Cambresis, Matisse trained at the Academie Julian and later in Paris, where his expressive palette and relaxed compositions challenged conventions of light and form. Alongside his contemporary and friendly rival Pablo Picasso, Matisse reshaped the course of 20th-century art, each artist pushing the other toward greater innovation and emotional depth. Over his career, he worked across a wide array of media—painting, cut-outs, printmaking, sculpture, and interior design—always emphasizing harmony, balance, and visual poetry. His works are in the permanent collections of leading museums globally, including the Musee d'Orsay, MoMA, the Tate, and the Centre Pompidou. The highest price ever paid for a Matisse artwork is approximately $80.75 million USD, achieved in 2018 at Christie's New York for *Odalisque Couchee aux Magnolias* (1923). Henri Matisse lithograph, Matisse Series I Variation 1, Matisse Dessins Themes et Variations, Matisse 1943...

Roger BISSIERE (1886-1964) Abstract Composition in Yellow Stone lithograph after a painting Printed in Mourlot workshop Printed signature in the plate On Arches vellum 50 x 65 cm (c...

DORR BOTHWELL ( 1902 - 2000) MALLORCA Serigraph, Signed, titled and numbered 8/25 in pencil. Signed and dated in the print. Image. 13 1/8 x 9 inches, sheet 19 7/8 x 12 3/4 inches. ...

Cy Twombly’s Cat by Mychael Barratt [2022] Cy Twombly's Cat is a limited edition hand made print by artist Mychael Barratt. Part of his series of artists pets this print presents a...

Jack Zajac, American, born 1929 1964 Etching and aquatint hand printed on Fabriano paper, pencil signed and editioned. Edition Roman Numeral III Image: 12 9/16 x 8 5/8 in. (31.9 x 2...

MULTI PERSONAGE is an original limited edition lithograph by the Dutch artist Karel Appel, printed using hand lithography techniques on archival Arches paper, 100% acid free. MULTI PERSONAGE is a lively abstract color collage portrait expressed in vibrant shades of red, blue, pink, green, purple, yellow with hints of multi color pastel tones and white creating an abstracted body and face. Bold black paint strokes define the face with its zany black eyes, head, body and limbs; collage effect torn paper bits fill in the body form. MULTI PERSONAGE is a very unique, fantastically playful and wild composition by Karel Appel, one of the founders of the avant-garde art movement CoBrA active during the late 1940's thru early 1950's. His paintings are known for incorporating applications of vibrant, violent colors often possessing a primal, childlike quality. Print size - 30 x 20 inches, unframed, excellent condition, pencil signed by Karel Appel Edition size - 175 Year published - 1980 Printer - JK Fine Art Editions Co., NY Karel Appel was one of the founders of the avant-garde art movement CoBrA, active during the late 1940's thru early 1950's. His paintings are known for incorporating applications of vibrant, violent colors often possessing a primal, childlike quality. Karel Appel, (born April 25, 1921, Amsterdam, Netherlands—died May 3, 2006, Zürich, Switzerland), Dutch painter of turbulent, colorful, and semi-abstract compositions, who was a co-founder (1948) of the CoBRA group of northern European Expressionists. He was also a noted sculptor and graphic artist. Appel attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Amsterdam (1940–43), and helped found the “Reflex” group, which became known as CoBRA (for Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam), in 1948. He moved to Paris in 1950 and by the 1960s had settled in New York City; he later lived in Italy and Switzerland. Partly in reaction against what they perceived as the sterile academicism of the de Stijl movement, the CoBRA artists...

Jim Dine Hearts (Hand Signed), 1983 Offset lithograph 28 × 22 inches Boldly signed in black marker on the front Unframed This vintage hand signed 1983 poster...

Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.4 x 9.65 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné references: Johns, Jasper, et al. The Prints...

This Limited Edition abstract print, "A Summer Day in Nantucket," by Sofie Swann measures 60" x 48" and is an edition of 95. Printed on canvas, this print ships rolled with natural c...

Edition of 300. Murakami signed and numbered in silver marker pen along the lower right edge. Offset lithograph with cold foil stamp and high gloss varnishing on UV paper. 70 x 52.8 ...

R.B. Kitaj (British American 1932-2007) Hand signed and numbered Screenprint Measures approximately 24.5 X 16.65 inches This is from the Robert Creeley daybook. They were done in ...

A very good impression of this offset color lithograph poster on heavy white wove paper.

Unrtitled is an artwork realized by Gustave Singier (1909-1984). Lithograph , cm 32,5x25. Signed and numbered (copy 44/200) in pencil on the front. Very Good condition. Gust...

1960s Francis Bacon lithograph from Derrière le miroir: Well-suited for matting & framing, this original 1960's print is derived from Bacon's ...

Eugenio Carmi is an Italian painter born in 1920 in Genoa. He studied in Turin in Felice Casorati’s studio. His experience as a graphic designer in the ‘50s, is decisive for his pict...

Artist: Marc Chagall (after) Title: Siren with Pine Portfolio: Nice and the Cote d'Azur Medium: Lithograph Date: 1967 Edition: Unsigned and unnumbered proof (aside from the edition o...

Hans BELLMER Abstract Erotism Original etching, 1973 Handsigned in pencil by the artist Numbered / 20 (Roman numerals) On Auvergne paper, 57 x 38 cm (22,4 x 14,9 inches) From the P...

Soleil rouge (Red Sun) Etching and embossing, c. 1974 Signed and editioned in pencil by the artist (see photos) Condition: Paper has yellowed. There is a white square at top of shee...

"Juggler on a Tightrope" Etching in Ink on Paper Playful etching of a performer by Dick Swift (American, 1918-2010). A juggler is show in a cubist style, w...

This exquisite lithograph after Georges Braque (1882–1963), titled Oiseau sur fond de X (Bird on Background of X), from the album San Lazzaro et ses Amis, Hommage au fondateur de la revue XXe siecle (San Lazzaro and His Friends, Tribute to the Founder of the Journal XXe Siecle), originates from the 1975 edition published by XXe siecle, Paris, and printed by Mourlot Freres, Paris, October 1975. Oiseau sur fond de X exemplifies Braque’s late-career mastery of poetic symbolism and formal harmony. The composition’s abstracted bird—one of Braque’s most enduring motifs—emerges from an intricate background of interlocking shapes and textures, expressing his lifelong fascination with balance, serenity, and the unity between nature and form. Executed as a lithograph on velin d'Arches paper, this work measures 10.5 x 14 inches (26.67 x 35.56 cm). Unsigned and unnumbered as issued. The edition reflects the exceptional craftsmanship of Mourlot Freres, the legendary Parisian atelier known for its collaborations with Braque, Picasso, Chagall, and Matisse. Artwork Details: Artist: After Georges Braque (1882–1963) Title: Oiseau sur fond de X (Bird on Background of X), from San Lazzaro et ses Amis, Hommage au fondateur de la revue XXe siecle, 1975 Medium: Lithograph on velin d'Arches paper Dimensions: 10.5 x 14 inches (26.67 x 35.56 cm) Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered as issued Date: 1975 Publisher: XXe siecle, Paris Printer: Mourlot Freres, Paris Catalogue raisonne references: Vallier, Dora, et al. Braque, the Complete Graphics: Catalogue Raisonne. Translated by Robert Bononno, Gallery Books, 1988, illustration 122. Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium Provenance: From the album San Lazzaro et ses Amis, Hommage au fondateur de la revue XXe siecle, published by XXe siecle, Paris, October 1975 Notes: Excerpted from the folio (translated from French), Finished printing in Paris in October 1975. This album has been printed on velin d'Arches in DLXXV numbered examples. The LXXV original examples include a series of VIII original lithographs, signed and numbered by the artists. In addition, LV examples were printed for artists, authors, friends and collaborators of XXe siecle. The typography is from l'Imprimerie Union in Paris; the lithographs of Max Bill, Marc Chagall, Hans Hartung, Braque, Fontana, Magnelli, Picasso, Magritte and Poliakoff were printed by Fernand Mourlot in Paris; those of Alexander Calder and Joan Miro by l'imprimerie Arte in Paris; that of Max Ernst by Pierre Chave in Vence; that of Zao Wou-Ki by ateliers Bellini in Paris; and that of Henry Moore by the Curwen Studio in London. About the Publication: San Lazzaro et ses Amis, Hommage au fondateur de la revue XXe siecle (San Lazzaro and His Friends, Tribute to the Founder of the Journal XXe Siecle), published in 1975 by XXe siecle, Paris, was conceived as a landmark tribute to Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, the visionary founder of the celebrated art journal XXe Siecle. The folio unites original lithographs by leading masters of modern art—Braque, Picasso, Chagall, Miro, Calder, Hartung, Moore, and others—printed by premier Parisian ateliers including Mourlot, Arte, Bellini, and Curwen. Representing the creative spirit and internationalism of postwar modernism, this edition stands as one of the great artistic collaborations of the 20th century. About the Artist: Georges Braque (1882–1963) was a French painter, printmaker, sculptor, and collagist whose visionary innovations and lifelong pursuit of balance, structure, and poetic form made him one of the most influential figures in 20th-century art. Born in Argenteuil-sur-Seine and raised in Le Havre, Braque began as a decorative painter before studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Academie Humbert in Paris, where he absorbed the vibrant colorism of the Fauves and the structural logic of Paul Cezanne. His encounter with Pablo Picasso in 1907 led to one of the most groundbreaking collaborations in art history—the invention of Cubism—a movement that redefined visual perception by fragmenting form, rejecting single-point perspective, and reconstructing reality into a multidimensional experience. Between 1908 and 1914, Braque and Picasso revolutionized painting through Analytical Cubism, a style characterized by muted palettes, overlapping planes, and a focus on underlying structure rather than surface appearance. In 1912, Braque pioneered papier colle, the first use of collage in fine art, incorporating wallpaper and printed paper into his compositions and forever changing the relationship between art and the material world. After World War I, he returned to painting with renewed sensitivity, developing a lyrical and introspective form of Synthetic Cubism distinguished by harmony, rhythm, and a meditative sense of stillness. His still lifes, musical instruments, and interior scenes became metaphors for balance and contemplation, uniting intellect and emotion in perfect equilibrium. Immersed in the Parisian avant-garde, Braque worked alongside and exchanged ideas with Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray, each of whom shared his passion for redefining the boundaries of modern art. His innovations in form, collage, and spatial construction deeply influenced later artists, including Jean Dubuffet, Nicolas de Stael, Henry Laurens, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Diebenkorn, and Jasper Johns, shaping the course of postwar abstraction and modern design. In 1961, Braque became the first living artist to have a solo exhibition at the Louvre, a recognition of his monumental impact on modern aesthetics. His works are now housed in major museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and remain sought after for their intellectual depth and timeless serenity. His highest auction record was achieved by Paysage a la Ciotat, which sold for $15.8 million at Sotheby’s, New York, in 2013, reaffirming Georges Braque’s legacy as one of the founding architects of Cubism and a master whose art continues to define the modern age. Georges Braque Oiseau...

Apparition of the Rose is from Magic Butterfly & the Dream ( Tarot ) suite is an original signed limited ed. 5/250 lithograph by Salvador Dali. Published by Levine and Levine, 1...

76 x 52 cm. Printed by Fernand Mourlot on rag paper watermarked "Mourlot." A condition. Not in Saphire. .Fernand Mourlot was born in Paris in 1895. He grew up in the family print shop but it wasn't until he took over in the early 1920s that he would change the fabric of printing forever. His influence fostered a resurgence of lithography, revealing it as a new avenue for expression and a new realm of possibilities for likes of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, and Alberto Giacometti to enrich their own work as well as fine art in general. Fernand cultivated the lithograph as a painter's medium and the family studio on Rue Chabrol became a hub where he could invite artists to work directly on the stone, as if creating a poster. In 1937, the studio produced two posters (based on paintings by Matisse...

This exquisite lithograph by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled Personnage et Etoiles (Figure and Stars), from the folio Les Peintres mes amis (The Painters My Friends), originates from t...

Joan Miro (1893-1983) Cat, Small Bird and Black Hand, 1970 Original lithograph Printed signature in the plate On vellum 83 x 60 cm (c. 33 x 24 in) Excellent condition

ABOUT THIS ARTIST: Maria Piessis is a multimedia artist based in NYC and Paris. She is always playing somewhere in the endless universe where photography, art and design meet. She ha...

“Plate I,” from “Oda à Joan Miró,” by Joan Brossa Lithograph in colors, 1973 Signed in pencil and inscribed “H.C.” (presumably one of 10; the total edition was 525) Published by La...

Fantasy, Japanese, limited edition lithograph, black, white, red, signed, titled Shinoda's works have been collected by public galleries and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Museum and Metropolitan Museum (all in New York City), the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the British Museum in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Singapore Art Museum, the National Museum of Singapore, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, the Albright–Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. New York Times Obituary, March 3, 2021 by Margalit Fox, Alex Traub contributed reporting. Toko Shinoda, one of the foremost Japanese artists of the 20th century, whose work married the ancient serenity of calligraphy with the modernist urgency of Abstract Expressionism, died on Monday at a hospital in Tokyo. She was 107. Her death was announced by her gallerist in the United States. A painter and printmaker, Ms. Shinoda attained international renown at midcentury and remained sought after by major museums and galleries worldwide for more than five decades. Her work has been exhibited at, among other places, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the British Museum; and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. Private collectors include the Japanese imperial family. Writing about a 1998 exhibition of Ms. Shinoda’s work at a London gallery, the British newspaper The Independent called it “elegant, minimal and very, very composed,” adding, “Her roots as a calligrapher are clear, as are her connections with American art of the 1950s, but she is quite obviously a major artist in her own right.” As a painter, Ms. Shinoda worked primarily in sumi ink, a solid form of ink, made from soot pressed into sticks, that has been used in Asia for centuries. Rubbed on a wet stone to release their pigment, the sticks yield a subtle ink that, because it is quickly imbibed by paper, is strikingly ephemeral. The sumi artist must make each brush stroke with all due deliberation, as the nature of the medium precludes the possibility of reworking even a single line. “The color of the ink which is produced by this method is a very delicate one,” Ms. Shinoda told The Business Times of Singapore in 2014. “It is thus necessary to finish one’s work very quickly. So the composition must be determined in my mind before I pick up the brush. Then, as they say, the painting just falls off the brush.” Ms. Shinoda painted almost entirely in gradations of black, with occasional sepias and filmy blues. The ink sticks she used had been made for the great sumi artists of the past, some as long as 500 years ago. Her line — fluid, elegant, impeccably placed — owed much to calligraphy. She had been rigorously trained in that discipline from the time she was a child, but she had begun to push against its confines when she was still very young. Deeply influenced by American Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell, whose work she encountered when she lived in New York in the late 1950s, Ms. Shinoda shunned representation. “If I have a definite idea, why paint it?,” she asked in an interview with United Press International in 1980. “It’s already understood and accepted. A stand of bamboo is more beautiful than a painting could be. Mount Fuji is more striking than any possible imitation.” Spare and quietly powerful, making abundant use of white space, Ms. Shinoda’s paintings are done on traditional Chinese and Japanese papers, or on backgrounds of gold, silver or platinum leaf. Often asymmetrical, they can overlay a stark geometric shape with the barest calligraphic strokes. The combined effect appears to catch and hold something evanescent — “as elusive as the memory of a pleasant scent or the movement of wind,” as she said in a 1996 interview. Ms. Shinoda’s work also included lithographs; three-dimensional pieces of wood and other materials; and murals in public spaces, including a series made for the Zojoji Temple in Tokyo. The fifth of seven children of a prosperous family, Ms. Shinoda was born on March 28, 1913, in Dalian, in Manchuria, where her father, Raijiro, managed a tobacco plant. Her mother, Joko, was a homemaker. The family returned to Japan when she was a baby, settling in Gifu, midway between Kyoto and Tokyo. One of her father’s uncles, a sculptor and calligrapher, had been an official seal carver to the Meiji emperor. He conveyed his love of art and poetry to Toko’s father, who in turn passed it to Toko. “My upbringing was a very traditional one, with relatives living with my parents,” she said in the U.P.I. interview. “In a scholarly atmosphere, I grew up knowing I wanted to make these things, to be an artist.” She began studying calligraphy at 6, learning, hour by hour, impeccable mastery over line. But by the time she was a teenager, she had begun to seek an artistic outlet that she felt calligraphy, with its centuries-old conventions, could not afford. “I got tired of it and decided to try my own style,” Ms. Shinoda told Time magazine in 1983. “My father always scolded me for being naughty and departing from the traditional way, but I had to do it.” Moving to Tokyo as a young adult, Ms. Shinoda became celebrated throughout Japan as one of the country’s finest living calligraphers, at the time a signal honor for a woman. She had her first solo show in 1940, at a Tokyo gallery. During World War II, when she forsook the city for the countryside near Mount Fuji, she earned her living as a calligrapher, but by the mid-1940s she had started experimenting with abstraction. In 1954 she began to achieve renown outside Japan with her inclusion in an exhibition of Japanese calligraphy at MoMA. In 1956, she traveled to New York. At the time, unmarried Japanese women could obtain only three-month visas for travel abroad, but through zealous renewals, Ms. Shinoda managed to remain for two years. She met many of the titans of Abstract Expressionism there, and she became captivated by their work. “When I was in New York in the ’50s, I was often included in activities with those artists, people like Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Motherwell and so forth,” she said in a 1998 interview with The Business Times. “They were very generous people, and I was often invited to visit their studios, where we would share ideas and opinions on our work. It was a great experience being together with people who shared common feelings.” During this period, Ms. Shinoda’s work was sold in the United States by Betty Parsons, the New York dealer who represented Pollock, Rothko and many of their contemporaries. Returning to Japan, Ms. Shinoda began to fuse calligraphy and the Expressionist aesthetic in earnest. The result was, in the words of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland in 1997, “an art of elegant simplicity and high drama.” Among Ms. Shinoda’s many honors, she was depicted, in 2016, on a Japanese postage stamp. She is the only Japanese artist to be so honored during her lifetime. No immediate family members survive. When she was quite young and determined to pursue a life making art, Ms. Shinoda made the decision to forgo the path that seemed foreordained for women of her generation. “I never married and have no children,” she told The Japan Times in 2017. “And I suppose that it sounds strange to think that my paintings are in place of them — of course they are not the same thing at all. But I do say, when paintings that I have made years ago are brought back into my consciousness, it seems like an old friend, or even a part of me, has come back to see me.” Works of a Woman's Hand Toko Shinoda bases new abstractions on ancient calligraphy Down a winding side street in the Aoyama district, western Tokyo. into a chunky white apartment building, then up in an elevator small enough to make a handful of Western passengers friends or enemies for life. At the end of a hall on the fourth floor, to the right, stands a plain brown door. To be admitted is to go through the looking glass. Sayonara today. Hello (Konichiwa) yesterday and tomorrow. Toko Shinoda, 70, lives and works here. She can be, when she chooses, on e of Japans foremost calligraphers, master of an intricate manner of writing that traces its lines back some 3,000 years to ancient China. She is also an avant-garde artist of international renown, whose abstract paintings and lithographs rest in museums around the world. These diverse talents do not seem to belong in the same epoch. Yet they have somehow converged in this diminutive woman who appears in her tiny foyer, offering slippers and ritual bows of greeting. She looks like someone too proper to chip a teacup, never mind revolutionize an old and hallowed art form She wears a blue and white kimono of her own design. Its patterns, she explains, are from Edo, meaning the period of the Tokugawa shoguns, before her city was renamed Tokyo in 1868. Her black hair is pulled back from her face, which is virtually free of lines and wrinkles. except for the gold-rimmed spectacles perched low on her nose (this visionary is apparently nearsighted). Shinoda could have stepped directly from a 19th century Meji print. Her surroundings convey a similar sense of old aesthetics, a retreat in the midst of a modern, frenetic city. The noise of the heavy traffic on a nearby elevated highway sounds at this height like distant surf. delicate bamboo shades filter the daylight. The color arrangement is restful: low ceilings of exposed wood, off-white walls, pastel rugs of blue, green and gray. It all feels so quintessentially Japanese that Shinoda’s opening remarks come as a surprise. She points out (through a translator) that she was not born in Japan at all but in Darien, Manchuria. Her father had been posted there to manage a tobacco company under the aegis of the occupying Japanese forces, which seized the region from Russia in 1905. She says,”People born in foreign places are very free in their thinking, not restricted” But since her family went back to Japan in 1915, when she was two, she could hardly remember much about a liberated childhood? She answers,”I think that if my mother had remained in Japan, she would have been an ordinary Japanese housewife. Going to Manchuria, she was able to assert her own personality, and that left its mark on me.” Evidently so. She wears her obi low on the hips, masculine style. The Porcelain aloofness she displays in photographs shatters in person. Her speech is forceful, her expression animated and her laugh both throaty and infectious. The hand she brings to her mouth to cover her amusement (a traditional female gesture of modesty) does not stand a chance. Her father also made a strong impression on the fifth of his seven children:”He came from a very old family, and he was quite strict in some ways and quite liberal in others.” He owned one of the first three bicycles ever imported to Japan and tinkered with it constantly He also decided that his little daughter would undergo rigorous training in a procrustean antiquity. “I was forced to study from age six on to learn calligraphy,” Shinoda says, The young girl dutifully memorized and copied the accepted models. In one sense, her father had pushed her in a promising direction, one of the few professional fields in Japan open to females. Included among the ancient terms that had evolved around calligraphy was onnade, or woman's writing. Heresy lay ahead. By the time she was 15, she had already been through nine years of intensive discipline, “I got tired of it and decided to try my own style. My father always scolded me for being naughty and departing from the traditional way, but I had to do it.” She produces a brush and a piece of paper to demonstrate the nature of her rebellion. “This is kawa, the accepted calligraphic character for river,” she says, deftly sketching three short vertical strokes. “But I wanted to use more than three lines to show the force of the river.” Her brush flows across the white page, leaving a recognizable river behind, also flowing.” The simple kawa in the traditional language was not enough for me. I wanted to find a new symbol to express the word river.” Her conviction grew that ink could convey the ineffable, the feeling, "as she says, of wind blowing softly.” Another demonstration. She goes to the sliding wooden door of an anteroom and disappears in back of it; the only trace of her is a triangular swatch of the right sleeve of her kimono, which she has arranged for that purpose. A realization dawns. The task of this artist is to paint that three sided pattern so that the invisible woman attached to it will be manifest to all viewers. Gen, painted especially for TIME, shows Shinoda’s theory in practice. She calls the work “my conception of Japan in visual terms.” A dark swath at the left, punctuated by red, stands for history. In the center sits a Chinese character gen, which means in the present or actuality. A blank pattern at the right suggests an unknown future. Once out of school, Shinoda struck off on a path significantly at odds with her culture. She recognized marriage for what it could mean to her career (“a restriction”) and decided against it. There was a living to be earned by doing traditional calligraphy:she used her free time to paint her variations. In 1940 a Tokyo gallery exhibited her work. (Fourteen years would pass before she got a second show.)War came, and bad times for nearly everyone, including the aspiring artist , who retreated to a rural area near Mount Fuji and traded her kimonos for eggs. In 1954 Shinoda’s work was included in a group exhibit at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. Two years later, she overcame bureaucratic obstacles to visit the U.S.. Unmarried Japanese women are allowed visas for only three months, patiently applying for two-month extensions, one at a time, Shinoda managed to travel the country for two years. She pulls out a scrapbook from this period. Leafing through it, she suddenly raises a hand and touches her cheek:”How young I looked!” An inspection is called for. The woman in the grainy, yellowing newspaper photograph could easily be the on e sitting in this room. Told this, she nods and smiles. No translation necessary. Her sojourn in the U.S. proved to be crucial in the recognition and development of Shinoda’s art. Celebrities such as actor Charles Laughton and John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet bought her paintings and spread the good word. She also saw the works of the abstract expressionists, then the rage of the New York City art world, and realized that these Western artists, coming out of an utterly different tradition, were struggling toward the same goal that had obsessed her. Once she was back home, her work slowly made her famous. Although Shinoda has used many materials (fabric, stainless steel, ceramics, cement), brush and ink remain her principal means of expression. She had said, “As long as I am devoted to the creation of new forms, I can draw even with muddy water.” Fortunately, she does not have to. She points with evident pride to her ink stone, a velvety black slab of rock, with an indented basin, that is roughly a foot across and two feet long. It is more than 300 years old. Every working morning, Shinoda pours about a third of a pint of water into it, then selects an ink stick from her extensive collection, some dating back to China’s Ming dynasty. Pressing stick against stone, she begins rubbing. Slowly, the dried ink dissolves in the water and becomes ready for the brush. So two batches of sumi (India ink) are exactly alike; something old, something new. She uses color sparingly. Her clear preference is black and all its gradations. “In some paintings, sumi expresses blue better than blue.” It is time to go downstairs to the living quarters. A niece, divorced and her daughter,10,stay here with Shinoda; the artist who felt forced to renounce family and domesticity at the outset of her career seems welcome to it now. Sake is offered, poured into small cedar boxes and happily accepted. Hold carefully. Drink from a corner. Ambrosial. And just right for the surroundings and the hostess. A conservative renegade; a liberal traditionalist; a woman steeped in the male-dominated conventions that she consistently opposed. Her trail blazing accomplishments are analogous to Picasso’s. When she says goodbye, she bows. --by Paul Gray...

Silhouettes is a beautiful colored serigraph realized by Gianpistone in 1975. Hand-signed and dated in pencil on the lower right margin. Numbered on the lower left. Edition of 81/90...

This is a truly historic limited edition hand signed museum print from the 1960s - of the first North American building the legendary artists Christo ever wrapped: Christo Wrap In Wr...

Barbara Kruger (1945, American) I Shop Therefore I Am, 1990 Medium: Photolithograph on paper shopping bag Edition size: 9000 Dimensions: 17 5/16 x 10 3/4 in (43.9 x 27.3 cm) Publishe...

Silkscreen on Mohawk Superfine Bristol paper. Inscription: unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, X + X, Ten Works by Ten Painters, 1964. Publishe...

ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: La Femme Visible MEDIUM: original Heliogravure - Etching in the book titled "La Femme Visible" SIGNED: Hand Signed by Salvador Dali on the frontispie...

Pierre SOULAGES Lithograph n°9 Original stone lithograph (3 colors- atelier Mourlot) Unsigned On vellum 12 x 10" (31 x 24 cm) REFERENCES : Catalogue raisonné BNF #53 Created in 19...

Artist: Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976) Title: "Variant I" Portfolio: Ten Variants *Unsigned edition Year: 1967 Medium: Original Screenprint on Rives BFK paper Limited edit...

Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.4 x 9.65 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné references: Webel, Sophie, and Jean Dubuffet...

DAMIEN HIRST (BORN 1965) Taytu Betul, from 'The Empresses' (H10-5), 2022 signed in pencil on the publisher's label affixed verso, stamp-numbered, laminated giclée print with screenpr...

Artist Name: Larry Zox Title:Niagara Series IV Yellow Signed Linocut Lithograph Year : 1979 Medium Type: Print - Linocut Lithograph Size-Width Size-Height : 42.25'' 29.75'' Signed ...

This exquisite collotype after Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), titled Pigeon, originates from the rare 1957 folio 40 dessins de Picasso en marge du Buffon (Forty Drawings by Picasso in the Margin of Buffon). Published by Berggruen et Cie, Paris, under the direction of Henri Jonquieres, and printed by l'atelier de Georges Duval, Paris, this edition presents forty unpublished compositions created by Picasso as marginal drawings inspired by the writings of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. In Pigeon, Picasso captures the delicate poise and natural grace of the bird with a single, continuous line, distilling its essence into pure form. The composition demonstrates Picasso’s mastery of simplicity—balancing spontaneity, rhythm, and clarity in a work that unites artistic minimalism with lyrical sensitivity. Executed on velin du Marais paper, this collotype measures 14.5 x 11.125 inches (36.83 x 28.26 cm). As issued, it is unsigned and unnumbered, consistent with the authorized 1957 publication format. This edition, printed in January 1957, captures the immediacy and vitality of Picasso’s Buffon drawings, revealing the artist’s playful engagement with both the subject matter and the act of drawing itself. Artwork Details: Artist: After Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Title: Pigeon, from 40 dessins de Picasso en marge du Buffon (Forty Drawings by Picasso in the Margin of Buffon), 1957 Medium: Collotype on velin du Marais paper Dimensions: Paper size 14.5 x 11.125 inches (36.83 x 28.26 cm) Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued Date: 1957 Publisher: Berggruen et Cie, Paris Printer: l'atelier de Georges Duval, Paris Catalogue raisonne references: Goeppert, Sebastian, et al. Pablo Picasso, the Illustrated Books: Catalogue Raisonne. Patrick Cramer, 1983, illustration 84. Johnson, Robert Flynn, et al. Artists Books in the Modern Era 1870–2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Thames & Hudson, 2002, illustration 77. Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium Provenance: From the 1957 folio 40 dessins de Picasso en marge du Buffon (Forty Drawings by Picasso in the Margin of Buffon), published by Berggruen et Cie, Paris Notes: Excerpted from the 1957 folio (translated from French): "Proposed by Henri Jonquieres, this album was made under his direction. The compositions, unpublished to date, were drawn on an example of the Buffon, published by Martin Fabiani, publisher in Paris, who has obligingly authorized the edition of the text and engraving plates. The original album belongs to Dora Maar. The printing of the plates was made in l'atelier de Duval, in Paris, and completed in January 1957, and that of the typography by l'imprimerie Priester Freres. MMCCXXVI examples were printed, namely: CCXXVI examples on velin a la forme d'Arches, including an original gouge engraving by Picasso, signed by him and printed on the press of Robert Blanchet, numbered from I to CCXXVI, and MM examples on velin du Marais, numbered from CCXXVII to MMCCXXVI. In addition, non-commercial examples, numbered in Roman numerals, were reserved for the collaborators." About the Artist: Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist whose revolutionary vision redefined modern art in the 20th century. Born in Malaga, Spain, he demonstrated prodigious talent from an early age and trained in Barcelona and Madrid before moving to Paris, where he became the epicenter of avant-garde innovation. Picasso pioneered Cubism alongside Georges Braque, explored emotional depth through his Blue and Rose periods, and continually reinvented his style across thousands of works in painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. His influence spans movements from Surrealism to abstraction, and his work remains central to global art history. The highest price ever paid for one of his artworks is approximately US $179.4 million for Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O) (1955). Pablo Picasso collotype, Pigeon Picasso, Buffon Picasso, 40 dessins de Picasso en marge du Buffon (Forty Drawings by Picasso in the Margin of Buffon), Picasso 1957 edition, Picasso Berggruen et Cie Paris, Picasso Georges Duval atelier, Picasso Henri Jonquieres, Picasso velin du Marais paper, Picasso animal drawing, Picasso Buffon portfolio, Picasso bird...

Donald Judd (American 1928-1994) Untitled, 1978-79. Aquatint on etching paper Signed and numbered 18/175 in pencil (there were also 15 artist's proofs) Published by the artist, with ...

This exquisite four color process archival pigment print after George Condo (born 1957), titled Pink and Yellow Sweep, from the folio George Condo, Drawing Paintings, originates from...

"Pour Caroline" is a Limited Edition Lithograph, E/A by Marcel Mouly. The print is pencil-signed by the artist. It measures 30.75 x 22.75 inches. The date of creation is unknown, but...

This exquisite lithograph after Henri Matisse (1869–1954), titled Margueritte Matisse (Margueritte Matisse), from the album Portraits par Henri Matisse (Portraits by Henri Matisse), ...

"Original Lithograph XI" is an original color lithograph by Joan Miro, published in "Miro Lithographs II, Maeght Publisher" in 1975. It depicts Miro's signature biomorphic abstract s...

Sonia DELAUNAY Flamenco : Spanish Dancer, 1972 Original lithograph (Printed in Mourlot workshop) Unsigned On heavy paper 31 x 24 cm (c. 12 x 10 inch) Edited by San Lazzaro in 1972 ...

After Andy Warhol The Souper Dress, ca. 1969 Screenprint on Cellulose Dress. Stamped; with the Souper Dress label at the neck 38 × 22 inches Bears original label on the inside This w...

Medium: original lithograph. Printed by Mourlot in 1962 for the art revue XXe Siecle (issue No. 18). Size: 12 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches (313 x 242 mm). Not signed. Condition: there is cre...

Artist: Robert Motherwell, American (1915 - 1991) Title: Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart, 25th Anniversary Year: 1991 Medium: Lithograph and Screenprint on ...

Original San Fermin Pamplona running of the bulls, vintage poster. Archival linen backed in very fine condition ready to frame. Artist: Alonso Astarloa....

ICARUS 2 is an original hand drawn lithograph created in 1986 by the French American artist Marius Sznajderman, printed using traditional lithography techniques on archival Arches pa...

A composition resembling a collage, created by American Pop Artist Robert Rauschenberg. Multiple images of noteworthy American figures, such as the Kennedy family, are overlaid above...

Composition is an interesting b/w lithograph realized by the Italian artist Pietro Annigoni in 1973. Hand-signed and numbered.Edition,77/100. Good Co...

Pierre Soulages - Original Lithograph Published in the deluxe art review "XXe siècle" 1970 Unsigned as published Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm Pierre Soulages or the "painter of black" as ...