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Katherine Sophie Dreier
'Variation 5, Vol. I' — from the series '1 to 40 Variations'

1934

About the Item

Katherine S. Dreier, 'Variation 5, Vol. I' from '1 to 40 Variations', lithograph with pochoir and hand-coloring, 1934, edition 65. Stenciled signature and date, lower right. Annotated 'Vol. I. 5.' in ink, bottom left sheet corner. Stamped verso 'Made in France'. A fine, clean impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove paper; full margins (1 to 1 1/4 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 8 3/8 x 11 7/8 inches (213 x 302 mm); sheet size 10 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches (276 x 352 mm). Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. Katherine Dreier's 1934 series '1 to 40 Variations' was the artist's seminal tribute to early 20th-century modernist abstraction forged by the groundbreaking explorations of her friends Marcel Duchamp and Wassily Kandinsky. The series, comprised of 2 portfolios of 20 prints each, published in an edition of 65, was the product of two distinct inspirations: Beethoven's piano 'Diabelli Variations' and the International Regatta yacht races. The 'variations' were created with hand-coloring and pochoir (stencil) applied to a uniform black-ink lithograph. The laborious printing process, editioned in Paris in 1937, was supervised by Marcel Duchamp. The introduction to the series was by Maholy-Nagy, with a foreword by the artist. Impressions from the Variations series are included in the permanent collections of the Asheville Art Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Yale University Art Gallery. ABOUT THE ARTIST Brooklyn-born painter and writer Katherine Sophie Dreier was among the earliest and most important promoters of European avant-garde artists in America. She authored numerous articles on contemporary art and wrote the first book published in English on Vincent Van Gogh. She founded, with Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, the Société Anonyme Inc., a museum devoted to the exhibition and promotion of modern art. During the 20 years of its existence, the Société purchased over 800 works of art by living artists and organized lectures and traveling exhibitions. Works in the collection included major paintings by Marcel Duchamp, Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, John Marin, and Arthur Dove. The entire collection was given to Yale University in 1941.