Stanley William Hayter

'Torero' — rare, early modernist engraving – Atelier 17

1932

Stanley William Hayter, 'Diptych', color engraving and scorper, 1967, edition 50, Black & Moorhead 314. Signed, titled, dated, and numbered '10/50' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, with fresh, vibrant colors on antique-white wove BFK Rives paper; the full sheet with margins (2 1/2 to 3 1/4 inches). Minor skinning and tape residue on the top and bottom sheet edges, verso, otherwise in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 13 7/8 x 19 1/2 inches (146 x 108 mm); sheet size 19 7/8 x 25 3/8 inches (394 x 292 mm). Hayter created this work using engraving and scorper on 2 plates, printed side by side. He used alkali blue, printed intaglio, and a phthalo green with a hard roller on the surface. The proofing was in three states, the first with engraving (a single proof); the second adding further engraving and scorper (a single proof); the third added further engraving and editioned: color trial proofs, 5 artist's proofs, edition of 50. The edition was completed in three printings: 8 in 1967; then Hector Saunier printed numbers 9 through 18 in 1968, and numbers 19 through 50 in 1969. This impression is from the Saunier 1968 printing. Note: the online image cannot accurately convey the vibrancy of the printed alkali blue/phthalo green. ABOUT THE ARTIST Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988) was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century, Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris, now known as Atelier Contrepoint. Among the artists he is credited with influencing are Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, and Marc Chagall. The hallmark of the workshop was its egalitarian structure, breaking sharply with the traditional French engraving studios by insisting on a cooperative approach to labor and technical discoveries. In 1929 Hayter was introduced to Surrealism by Yves Tanguy and André Masson, who, with other Surrealists, worked with Hayter at Atelier 17. The often violent imagery of Hayter’s Surrealist period was stimulated in part by his passionate response to the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Fascism. He organized portfolios of graphic works to raise funds for the Spanish cause, including Solidarité (Paris, 1938), a portfolio of seven prints, one of them by Picasso. Hayter frequently exhibited with the Surrealists during the 1930s but left the movement when Paul Eluard was expelled. Eluard’s poem Facile Proie (1939) was written in response to a set of Hayter’s engravings. Other writers with whom Hayter collaborated in this way included Samuel Beckett and Georges Hugnet. Hayter joined the exile of the Parisian avant-garde in 1939, moving with his second wife, the American sculptor Helen...

Stanley William Hayter, 'Danse du Soleil (Danseuse du Soleil; Sun Dance; Sun Dancer)', color engraving, soft-ground etching and scorper; 1 of 10 artist's proofs, edition 200, 1951, Black & Moorhead 197. Signed and annotated 'Epreuve d’Artiste II/XII' in pencil. Inscribed 'Pour Nesto Jacometti avec amitié' in pencil, in the artist’s hand. A superb, richly-inked impression, with fresh colors, on handmade Arches cream wove paper; full margins (2 3/4 to 4 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 15 7/16 x 9 7/16 inches; sheet size 22 1/4 x 15 inches. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Printed by Hayter and Atelier 17. Published by La Guilde Internationale de la Gravure, Geneva. Impressions of this work are in the permanent collections of the British Museum and the Yale University Art Gallery. ABOUT THE ARTIST Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988) was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century, Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris, now known as Atelier Contrepoint. Among the artists he is credited with influencing are Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, and Marc Chagall. The hallmark of the workshop was its egalitarian structure, breaking sharply with the traditional French engraving studios by insisting on a cooperative approach to labor and technical discoveries. In 1929 Hayter was introduced to Surrealism by Yves Tanguy and André Masson, who, with other Surrealists, worked with Hayter at Atelier 17. The often violent imagery of Hayter’s Surrealist period was stimulated in part by his passionate response to the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Fascism. He organized portfolios of graphic works to raise funds for the Spanish cause, including Solidarité (Paris, 1938), a portfolio of seven prints, one of them by Picasso. Hayter frequently exhibited with the Surrealists during the 1930s but left the movement when Paul Eluard was expelled. Eluard’s poem Facile Proie (1939) was written in response to a set of Hayter’s engravings. Other writers with whom Hayter collaborated included Samuel Beckett and Georges Hugnet. Hayter joined the exile of the Parisian avant-garde in 1939, moving with his second wife, the American sculptor Helen Phillips...

Lawrence Kupferman, 'European Landscape', drypoint, edition 50, 1942. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '7/50' in pencil. A superb, finely nuanced impression, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 to 1 3/4 inches); in excellent condition. Image size 10 7/8 x 13 3/8 inches; sheet size 13 1/8 x 16 1/2 inches. Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. An impression of this work is included in the permanent collection of the Syracuse University Art Museum. ABOUT THE ARTIST Lawrence Kupferman (1909 - 1982) was born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston and grew up in a working-class family. He attended the Boston Latin School and participated in the high school art program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In the late 1920s, he studied drawing under Philip Leslie Hale at the Museum School—an experience he called 'stultifying and repressive'. In 1932 he transferred to the Massachusetts College of Art, where he first met his wife, the artist Ruth Cobb. He returned briefly to the Museum School in 1946 to study with the influential expressionist German-American painter Karl Zerbe. Kupferman held various jobs while pursuing his artistic career, including two years as a security guard at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During the 1930s he worked as a drypoint etcher for the Federal Art Project, creating architectural drawings in a formally realistic style—these works are held in the collections of the Fogg Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In the 1940s he began incorporating more expressionistic forms into his paintings as he became progressively more concerned with abstraction. In 1946 he began spending summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he met and was influenced by Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, and other abstract painters. At about the same time he began exhibiting his work at the Boris Mirski Gallery in Boston. In 1948, Kupferman was at the center of a controversy involving hundreds of Boston-area artists. In February of that year, the Boston Institute of Modern Art issued a manifesto titled 'Modern Art and the American Public' decrying 'the excesses of modern art,' and announced that it was changing its name to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). The poorly conceived statement, intended to distinguish Boston's art scene from that of New York, was widely perceived as an attack on modernism. In protest, Boston artists such as Karl Zerbe, Jack Levine, and David Aronson formed the 'Modern Artists Group' and organized a mass meeting. On March 21, 300 artists, students, and other supporters met at the Old South Meeting House and demanded that the ICA retract its statement. Kupferman chaired the meeting and read this statement to the press: “The recent manifesto of the Institute is a fatuous declaration which misinforms and misleads the public concerning the integrity and intention of the modern artist. By arrogating to itself the privilege of telling the artists what art should be, the Institute runs counter to the original purposes of this organization whose function was to encourage and to assimilate contemporary innovation.” The other speakers were Karl Knaths...

Stanley William Hayter, 'Feu sous L'eau (Fire Under Water)', color engraving, soft-ground etching and scorper with yellow silkscreen, 1955, edition 50 plus 10 artist proofs, Black & Moorhead 221. Signed, titled 'Fire Under Water', dated and annotated 'Essai' in pencil. Dedicated in the artist’s hand 'for Adja & Dove WH Bill 17–5–55' in the top margin. A superb, richly inked impression with fresh colors, on heavy, cream wove paper; wide margins (2 1/2 to 3 7/8 inches), in excellent condition. One of 10 artist’s proofs. Image size 10 3/16 x 7 inches; sheet size 18 1/8 x 12 1/4 inches. Matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THIS WORK In 1950 Hayter returned to Paris and reopened Atelier 17. Works such as 'Fire Under Water' reveal newfound influences, such as that of the Ardèche area of southern France, where he acquired a house in 1951 and frequently visited. Hayter took great interest in the flowing Escoutay River, an experience that parallels the artist and co-director of Atelier 17 Krishna Reddy’s interest in depicting water. While some forms in this print evoke the natural world, the palette of contrasting tones of purple, yellow, black, and white reflects Hayter’s belief in using color intuitively to express emotions and evoke feelings. The sharp white relief lines from the paper and the textural effects realized through soft-ground etching operate in tandem with the sweeping curves and bold colors to give the composition a sense of vitality and dynamism. —edited from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Published by 'La Jeune Gravure Contemporaine', Paris. Impressions of this work are in the following collections: British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art. ABOUT THE ARTIST Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988) was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century, Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris, now known as Atelier Contrepoint. Among the artists he is credited with influencing are Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, and Marc Chagall. The hallmark of the workshop was its egalitarian structure, breaking sharply with the traditional French engraving studios by insisting on a cooperative approach to labor and technical discoveries. In 1929 Hayter was introduced to Surrealism by Yves Tanguy and André Masson, who, with other Surrealists, worked with Hayter at Atelier 17. The often violent imagery of Hayter’s Surrealist period was stimulated in part by his passionate response to the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Fascism. He organized portfolios of graphic works to raise funds for the Spanish cause, including Solidarité (Paris, 1938), a portfolio of seven prints, one of them by Picasso. Hayter frequently exhibited with the Surrealists during the 1930s but left the movement when Paul Eluard was expelled. Eluard’s poem Facile Proie (1939) was written in response to a set of Hayter’s engravings. Other writers with whom Hayter collaborated included Samuel Beckett and Georges Hugnet. Hayter joined the exile of the Parisian avant-garde in 1939, moving with his second wife, the American sculptor Helen Phillips...

Minna Citron, 'Flight to Tomorrow', aquatint and engraving, edition unknown but small, 1948. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated 'engr & aqua' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression with selectively wiped plate tone, on heavy cream wove paper, the full sheet with margins (1 3/4 to 3 1/2 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 6 7/8 x 8 7/16 inches (175 x 214 mm); sheet size 11 1/8 x 14 7/8 inches (283 x 378 mm). Matted to museum standards, unframed. Literature: The Women of Atelier 17, Modernist Printmaking in MidCentury New York, Christina Weyl, Yale University Press, 2019, p. 186. Collections: Davis Museum (Wellesley), Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Harvard Art Museums, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Palmer Museum of Art (Penn State...

Hans Bellmer, 'Child and Seeing Hands', photogravure and engraving, edition 9, 1970. Flahutez 4-9. Signed by the artist and numbered '41/90' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impress...

Alberto Giacometti - Portrait Engraving (after the drawing) Published in the deluxe art review, XXe Siecle 1956 Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm Publisher: G. di San Lazzaro. From the art Re...

Joan Miro - L'Issue Dérobée - Original Aquatint One plate from Jacques Dupin, L'Issue Dérobée, Maeght Editeur, Paris, 1974 (D. 687-706; C. books 187) 1974 Dimensions: 36 x 54 cm Ed...

One plate from the illustrated book Jacques Dupin, L'Issue Dérobée, Maeght Editeur, Paris, 1974 Original prints by Joan Miro (C. books 187) Edition: 220 Individual images are unsigne...

Claude WEISBUCH The angel of death Original drypoint engraving on Vellum paper Handsigned on bottom right 56 x 76 cm Claude Weisbuch, French (1927 - 2...

Pablo Picasso (after) Helene Chez Archimede Medium: engraved on wood by Georges Aubert Dimensions: 44 x 33 cm Portfolio: Helen Chez Archimede Year: 1955 Edition: 240 (Here it is on...

Pablo Picasso (after) Helene Chez Archimede Medium: engraved on wood by Georges Aubert Dimensions: 44 x 33 cm Portfolio: Helen Chez Archimede Year: 1955 Edition: 240 (Here it is on...