1940s Abstract Prints

Childwood Memory is an original Modern artwork realized by Luigi Spacal (Trieste, 1907 - Trieste, 2000) in the half of the 20th Century. Original B/W woodcut on cardboard. Excellent conditions. Lojze Spacal...

Jean Arp, Signes, woodcut, edition 50, 1949. A fine, black impression, with all the fine lines printing clearly, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with wide margins (1 5/8 to 6 7/8 inches), in excellent condition. Signed and numbered '8/50' in pencil. Matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THE ARTIST Jean Arp was born Hans Arp on September 16, 1886, in Strassburg. In 1904, after leaving the Ecole des Arts et Métiers, Strasbourg, he visited Paris and published his poetry for the first time. From 1905 to 1907, Arp studied at the Kunstschule, Weimar, and in 1908 went to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian. In 1909, he moved to Switzerland and in 1911 was a founder of the Moderner Bund group there. The following year, he met Robert and Sonia Delaunay in Paris and Vasily Kandinsky in Munich. Arp participated in the Erste deutsche Herbstsalon in 1913 at the gallery Der Sturm, Berlin. After returning to Paris in 1914, he became acquainted with Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Amadeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso. In 1915, he moved to Zurich, where he executed collages and tapestries, often in collaboration with his future wife Sophie Taeuber (who became known as Sophie Taeuber-Arp after they married in 1922). In 1916, Hugo Ball...

Composition is an original etching realized in 1942. Hand-signed and at bottom right.unreadable sign. Sheet dimension: 38 x 28 Excellent conditions. The artwork represents a comp...

'The Orange Point', color serigraph, edition 54, c. 1940. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Ed/54' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on buff wove paper; the full sheet wi...

Charles Quest, 'Work Bench', 1949, wood engraving, edition 40. Signed, dated and numbered 9/40 in pencil. Titled and annotated 'wood engraving 1949' in pencil, in the artist’s hand, lower right margin. A fine, richly-inked impression, on off-white wove Japan, with full margins (1 3/4 to 2 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THE ARTIST Charles Quest, a successful artist, and fine art instructor, worked in a variety of mediums including mosaic, stained glass, mural painting, and sculpture, but remains best known as a printmaker. Quest grew up in St. Louis, his talent evident as a teenager when he began copying the works of masters such as Michelangelo on his bedroom walls. He studied at the Washington University School of Fine Arts where he later taught from 1944 to 1971. He traveled to Europe after his graduation in 1929, and studied at La Grande Chaumière and Academie Colarossi, Paris, continuing to draw inspiration from the works of the Old Masters. After returning to St. Louis, Quest received several commissions to paint murals in public buildings, schools, and churches, including one from Joseph Cardinal Ritter to paint a replica of Velasquez's Crucifixion over the main altar of the Old Cathedral in St. Louis. Quest soon became interested in the woodcut medium which he apparently learned through his study of J. J. Lankes' A Woodcut Manual (1932) and Paul Landacre's articles in American Artist magazine ‘since no artists in St. Louis were working in wood’ at that time. Quest also revealed that for him, wood cutting and engraving were ‘more enjoyable than any other means of expression.’ In the late 1940s, his graphic works began attracting a lot of critical attention—several of his woodcuts won prizes and were acquired by major American and European museums. His wood engraving entitled ‘Lovers’ was included in the American Federation of Art's traveling print exhibition in 1947. Two years later Quest's two prize-winning prints, ‘Still Life with Grindstone’ and ‘Break Forth into Singing’ were exhibited in major American museums in a traveling show organized by the Philadelphia Print Club. His work was included in the Chicago Art Institute's exhibition, ‘Woodcut Through Six Centuries’ and the print ‘Still Life with Vise’, was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1951 he was invited by artist-Curator Jacob Kainen to exhibit thirty wood engravings and color woodcuts in the Graphic Arts Division of the Smithsonian's National Museum (now known as the American History Museum). This one-man exhibition was a remarkable achievement for Quest, who had been working in the medium for only about ten years. In the press release for the show, Kainen praised the ‘technical refinement’ of Quest's work: ‘He obtains a great variety of textural effects through the use of the graver, and these dense or transparent grays are set off against whites or blacks to achieve sparkling results. His work has the handsome qualities characteristic of the craftsman and designer.’ At the time of the Smithsonian exhibition, Quest's work was represented by three New York galleries in addition to one in his home town. He had also won 38 prizes, and his prints were in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Chicago Art Institute, the Metropolitan Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In cooperation with the Art in Embassies program, his color woodcuts were displayed at the American Embassy in Paris in 1951. Recognition at home came in 1955 with his first solo exhibition in St. Louis. Press coverage of the show heralded the ‘growth of graphic arts toward rivaling painting and sculpture as a major independent medium’. Charles Quest retired from teaching in 1971 and made relatively few prints in his later years, as the rigors of the medium were too demanding. He moved to Tryon, North Carolina, with his wife Dorothy, an artist and portrait painter, and remained active as a painter until his death in 1993. An exhibition of his prints at the Bethesda Art Gallery in 1983 attracted the interest of Curator Emeritus Joseph A. Haller, S.J., who began purchasing his work for the University's collection. In 1990 Georgetown University Library's Special Collections Division became the grateful recipient of a large body of Quest's work including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, and stained glass, as well as his archive of correspondence and professional memorabilia. These extensive holdings, including some 260 of his fine prints, provide a rich opportunity for further study and appreciation of this versatile and not-to-be-forgotten mid-Western American artist...

Josef Albers, 'Interim' from the series 'Graphic Tectonics', zinc plate lithograph, 1942, edition 30, Danilowitz 101. Signed, titled, dated, and numbered '3/30' in pencil. A fine imp...

Artist: Pablo Picasso Title: Monogram "J" with Landscape (Plate XI) Portfolio: Carmen Medium: Etching on Montval wove paper Year: 1949 Edition: 289 Sheet Size: 13" x 10 3/16" Signed:...

'Quintet', etching and aquatint, edition 20, c. 1948. Signed, titled, and numbered '12/20' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on off-white wove paper, with full margins (1...

Rooftop. 1941. Engraving. Kraeft 84. 4 7/8 x 8 7/8 (sheet 8 7/8 x 12 3/4). Edition 100. Provenance: estate of David Llewellyn Reese, New York. A rich impression printed on white wove...

Original lithograph by Jean-Michel Atlan For Description of a Struggle by Franz Kafka Paris, Maeght Publisher, 1946. Dimensions: 30.5 x 24.5 Edition: 300 on vellum Mourlot JEAN-MI...

Original lithograph by Jean-Michel Atlan For Description of a Struggle by Franz Kafka Paris, Maeght Publisher, 1946. Dimensions: 30.5 x 24.5 Edition: 300 ...

Original lithograph by Jean-Michel Atlan For Description of a Struggle by Franz Kafka Paris, Maeght Publisher, 1946. Dimensions: 30.5 x 24.5 Edition: 300 on vellum Mourlot JEAN-MI...

Hand signed. Artist's proof. Etching and Aquatint. Image Dimensions ：45 x 36 cm Reference: Catalogue Mason n. 242

"Sculptural Objects" is an original color lithograph by Henry Moore. The artist signed the piece lower right. This is from an edition of 3,000. It features abstract, biomorphic figur...

Unknown/Unidentified Artist, "Untitled: Woman with Plant", Abstract Figurative/ Portrait Lithograph signed in Pencil, 16 x 11.50 (Image: 12 x 9), Mid-20th Century, 1949 Colors: Blac...

Hand signed. Artist's proof. Edition Couturier. Printed by Jacques David, Paris. Jean Fautrier was a French painter, printmaker, illustrator and sculptor. He was one of the most impo...

Hand signed. Artist's proof. Image Dimensions : 16 x 28 cm This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under existing legislation, any artwork in Italy created over 70 years ago by an artis...

Image dimensions: 28x18 cm. Edition of only 30 prints, numbered and hand signed. Excellent conditions. This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under existing legislation, any artwork in...

A Rare and important collaboration by four of the leading artists of pre- and post-WWII French artists. Arp et al, Jean. JEAN ARP - SONIA DELAUNAY - ALBERTO MAGNELLI - SOPHIE TAEUBER...

L'Otage aux mains is an original etching realized by Jean Fautrier in 1944. Hand signed in pencil on lower right margin. Artist's proof. Edition of 50 prints. Excellent conditions. ...

Hand signed and numbered. Edition of 90 prints. In excellent condition. A wonderful print describes a hanged man which was created in 1946 and published in 1977 by “Vertice Editoria ...

"From the Weather Bureau. February 1940. Lithograph printed in black and cream. Stuckey catalog 106. state i. Two stone printing. 10 1/8 x 17 (sheet 16 x 21 5/8). Edition 40 in this ...

Hand Signed. Artist's Proof. Etching and aquatint. Image Dimensions : 23 x 32 cm Reference: Catalogue Mason n. 240

Hand signed.Artist's proof. Image Dimensions : 15.5 x 24 cm

Artist: Harry Bertoia Title: Untitled 3 Year: circa 1945 Medium: Monoprint on Rice Paper Paper Size: 9 x 11 inches Frame: 14.5 x 17.5 inches

Artist: Harry Bertoia Title: Untitled 4 Year: circa 1945 Medium: Monoprint on Rice Paper Paper Size: 9 x 11 inches Frame: 14.5 x 17.5 inches

Artist: Salvador Dali Title: St. George and the Dragon Medium: Etching on J. Whatman wove paper Year: 1947 Edition: 250 Frame Size: 31 3/4" x 24 1/2" Sheet Size: 22 5/8" x 15 1/4" Im...

Henry Moore (British, 1898 - 1986) "Sculptural Objects" - 1949 Lithograph, signed in the plate. Mounted to backing sheet support Image Size: 19.5 x 30 in. Sheet Size: 22 x 32.5 i...

Pochoir printed in colours, 1947. From: Jazz, Plate VI. From the book edition of 270. Printed on Arches paper by Edmond Vairel, Paris. Published by Teriade, Paris. (Duthuit Livre...

Charles Quest, 'Two Women', 1947, chiaroscuro woodcut, edition 25. Signed, dated, and numbered 11/25' in pencil. Annotated "color woodcut 'Two Women'" in pencil in the lower left margin. A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream, wove paper, with full margins (7/8 to 3 1/8 inches), in excellent condition. Scarce. Image size 12 1/16 x 9 inches; sheet size 17 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches. Scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Included in Quest's solo exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1951. Exhibited: Georgetown University Library, 'Charles Quest: Visions in Copper and Wood', May 15 - October 18, 2002. Collections: Davis Museum (Wellesley College), Georgetown University Library. ABOUT THE ARTIST Charles Quest (1904-1993), painter, printmaker, and fine art instructor, worked in various mediums, including mosaic, stained glass, mural painting, and sculpture. Quest grew up in St. Louis, his talent evident as a teenager when he began copying the works of masters such as Michelangelo on his bedroom walls. He studied at the Washington University School of Fine Arts, where he later taught from 1944 to 1971. He traveled to Europe after his graduation in 1929 and studied at La Grande Chaumière and Academie Colarossi, Paris, continuing to draw inspiration from the works of the Old Masters. After returning to St. Louis, Quest received several commissions to paint murals in public buildings, schools, and churches, including one from Joseph Cardinal Ritter, to paint a replica of Velasquez's Crucifixion over the main altar of the Old Cathedral in St. Louis. Quest soon became interested in the woodcut medium, which he learned through his study of J. J. Lankes' 'A Woodcut Manual' (1932) and Paul Landacre's articles in American Artist magazine. Quest also revealed that for him, woodcutting and engraving were ‘more enjoyable than any other means of expression.’ In the late 1940s, his graphic works began attracting critical attention—several of his woodcuts won prizes and were acquired by major American and European museums. His wood engraving entitled ‘Lovers’ was included in the American Federation of Art's traveling print exhibition in 1947. Two years later, Quest's two prize-winning prints, ‘Still Life with Grindstone’ and ‘Break Forth into Singing’, were exhibited in major American museums in a traveling show organized by the Philadelphia Print Club. His work was included in the Chicago Art Institute's exhibition, ‘Woodcut Through Six Centuries’, and the print ‘Still Life with Vise’ was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1951 he was invited by artist-Curator Jacob Kainen to exhibit thirty wood engravings and color woodcuts in a one-person show at the Smithsonian's National Museum (now known as the American History Museum). Kainen's press release praised the ‘technical refinement’ of Quest's work: ‘He obtains a great variety of textural effects through the use of the graver, and these dense or transparent grays are set off against whites or blacks to achieve sparkling results. His work has the handsome qualities characteristic of the craftsman and designer.’ At the time of the Smithsonian exhibition, Quest's work was represented by three New York galleries and one in his hometown. He had won 38 prizes, and his prints were in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Chicago Art Institute, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In cooperation with the Art in Embassies program, his color woodcuts were displayed at the American Embassy in Paris in 1951. Recognition at home came in 1955 with his first solo exhibition in St. Louis. The show's press coverage heralded the growth of graphic arts as a major independent medium comparable to painting and sculpture. An exhibition of his prints at the Bethesda Art Gallery in 1983 attracted Curator Emeritus Joseph A. Haller, S.J., who began purchasing his work for Georgetown University's collection. In 1990 Georgetown University Library's Special Collections Division received a large body of Quest's work, including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, stained glass, and his archive of correspondence and professional memorabilia. These extensive holdings, including some 260 of his fine prints, provide a rich opportunity to study and further appreciate this versatile and not-to-be-forgotten mid-Western American artist...

Pochoir in colors on wove paper bearing the “ARCHES” block letter watermark, after Matisse's cut paper collage maquette. A superb example of the definitive state, from the folio edi...