Thomas A. Robertson

'The Orange Point' — Mid-Century Modernism

c. 1940

Edward Landon, 'Counterpoint', color serigraph, 1942, edition 25, Ryan 45. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Edition 25' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on cream, wove paper; the full sheet with margins (7/8 to 2 1/2 inches). A 1 1/2 inch crease across the top left sheet corner, well away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition. Scarce. Image size 13 9/16 x 14 5/16 inches (344 x 364 mm); sheet size 14 15/16 x 17 inches (379 x 432 mm). Matted to museum standards, unframed. Literature: 'A Spectrum of Innovation: Color in American Printmaking', David Acton, New York, London, 1990. 'American Screenprints', Reba and Dave Williams, New York, 1987. 'The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock', Stephen Coppel, The British Museum, 2008. Impressions of this work are held in the following museum collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum. ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Edward Landon dropped out of high school to study art at the Hartford Art School. In 1930 and 1931 he was a student of Jean Charlot at the Art Students League in New York, after which he traveled to Mexico to study privately for a year with Carlos Merida. In 1933 he settled near Springfield, Massachusetts, painted murals in the local trade school, and exhibited with the Springfield Art League. His painting 'Memorial Day' won first prize at the fifteenth annual exhibition of the League at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts. Landon became an active member of the Artists Union of Western Massachusetts, serving as president from 1934-1938. Landon acquired Anthony Velonis’s instructional pamphlet on the technique of serigraphy in the late 1930s. With colleagues Phillip Hicken, Donald Reichert, and Pauline Stiriss, he began experimenting with screen printing techniques. The artists' groundbreaking work in screen printing as a fine art medium was the subject of the group’s landmark exhibition at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts in 1940. Landon became one of the founding members of the National Serigraph Society and served as editor of its publication, 'Serigraph Quarterly,' in the late 1940s and as its president in 1952 and 1953. The Norlyst Gallery in Manhattan held a one-person show of his prints in 1945. Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 1950, Landon traveled to Norway, where he researched the history of local artistic traditions and produced the book 'Scandinavian Design: Picture and Rune Stones...

Robert Vale Faro, untitled (African Idol), serigraph, c. 1940, edition 6. Signed in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on buff wove paper; the full sheet with margins(5/8 ...

James Houston McConnell, 'Equus Uirumpu' (The Man's Horse), color serigraph, c. 1945, edition not stated but small. Signed and titled in pencil. Initialed in the image, lower right. ...

Edward Landon 'River View, color serigraph, 1942, edition 50, Ryan 159. Signed in pencil in the image, lower right. Titled, dated, and annotated '9 COLORS – 50 PRINTS' in the screen,...

James Houston McConnell, 'Sister Kate', color serigraph, 1947, edition 24. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '24' in pencil. Annotated '10.00 - 19 colors - 24 copies - #24' in pencil. A fine impression, with vibrant, fresh colors, on heavy tan wove paper, with full margins (11/16 to 1 1/2 inches). Tack holes in the four margin corners, well away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Scarce. Another of McConnell's mid-century modernist, jazz-inspired serigraphs, 'Combo', is featured in the British Museum's 2008 publication (and traveling exhibition) 'The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock'. ABOUT THE IMAGE "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate", often simply "Sister Kate", is an up-tempo jazz dance song, written by Armand J. Piron and published in 1922. The lyrics of the song are narrated in the first person by Kate's sister, who sings about Kate's impressive dancing skill and her wish to be able to emulate it. She laments that she's not quite "up to date", but believes that dancing like "Sister Kate" will rectify this, and she will be able to impress "all the boys in the neighborhood" like her sister. Over the years this song has been performed and recorded by many artists, including Frances Faye and Rusty Warren, a 1959 version by Shel Silverstein...

Edward Landon, 'Time Silhouette', color serigraph, 1969, edition 30, Ryan 201. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Edition 30' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on cream wo...

Anthony Velonis (1911-1997) was an extremely innovative artist. He learned the technique of screen printing, also known as silkscreen, (for which he also coined the term serigraphy) while working with a wall paper manufacturer. Unusual for fine prints, the image is made by the artist in the same direction as it will print, as the colored inks are forced through fabric (silk) directly onto a paper surface. (He also invented a machine that could print onto column-shaped items such as cocktail glasses or make-up bottles and a rack system for drying sheets of paper with wet ink in which the sheets are just inches apart.) The technique allows extreme versatility on the part of the artist and the ink tends to sit on top of the paper rather than soak into the fibers. In 1934 Velonis used this new technique on Mayor LaGuardia's NYC Poster...

"Indianapolis Museum of Art Inaugural Exhibitions", 25 October 1970, is an eye popping large bold colorful geometric abstract silk screen. It is signed on the lower right. Robert Indiana, one of the preeminent figures in American art since the 1960s, played a central role in the development of assemblage art, hard-edge painting, Pop art, Neo-Dada, American Modernism and Modern Art. A self-proclaimed “American painter of signs,” Indiana created a highly original body of work that explores American identity, personal history, and the power of abstraction and language, establishing an important legacy that resonates in the work of many contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Roy Lectenstein, David Hockney, Romero Britto, Richard Hamilton and Robert Rauschenberg who make the written word a central element of their oeuvre. Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana on September 13, 1928. Adopted as an infant, he spent his childhood moving frequently throughout his namesake state. At 14 he moved to Indianapolis in order to attend Arsenal Technical High School, known for its strong arts curriculum. After graduating he spent three years in the U.S. Air Force and then studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in Maine, and the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. In 1956, two years after moving to New York, Indiana met Ellsworth Kelly, and upon his recommendation took up residence in Coenties Slip, where a community of artists that would come to include Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, and Jack Youngerman had studios. Indiana, like some of his fellow artists, scavenged the area’s abandoned warehouses for materials, creating sculptural assemblages from old wooden beams, rusted metal wheels, and other remnants of the shipping trade that had thrived in Coenties Slip. The discovery of 19th century brass stencils led to the incorporation of brightly colored numbers and short emotionally charged words onto these sculptures as well as canvases, and became the basis of his new painterly vocabulary. Although acknowledged as a leader of Pop, Indiana distinguished himself from his Pop peers by addressing important social and political issues and incorporating profound historical and literary references into his works. In 1964 Indiana accepted Philip Johnson’s invitation to design a new work for the New York State Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, creating a 20-foot EAT sign...

Edition: 34. This impression is one of only two proofs printed on graph paper. Printed by Reinhard Schumann, Hickory, North Carolina. Reproduced in Formulation: Articulation (portfol...

Michael Mazur "The Artist" Hand signed and editioned from the edition of 50 1967 Michael Burton Mazur (1935-August 18, 2009) was an American artist who was described by William Grimes of The New York Times as "a restlessly inventive printmaker, painter, and sculptor." Born and raised in New York City, Mazur attended the Horace Mann School. He received a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1958, then studied art at Yale. Mazur first gained notice for his series of lithographs and etchings of inmates in a mental asylum, which resulted in two publications, "Closed Ward" and "Locked Ward." Over the years, he worked in printmaking and painting. His series of large-scale prints for Dante's Inferno won critical acclaim, and were the subject of a traveling exhibition organized by the University of Iowa in 1994. Later he concentrated on creating large, lyrical paintings which make use of his free, gestural brushwork and a varied palette. Some of these paintings were seen in an exhibition of 2002 at Boston University, "Looking East: Brice Marden, Michael Mazur, and Pat Steir." (See also Susan Danly, "Branching: The Art of Michael Mazur," 1997). The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has acquired a definMichael Mazur received a B.A. from Amherst College in 1957, studying in his senior year at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy. He went on to earn both a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1961. Mazur's first teaching job was at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1961 to 1964. He was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship for 1964–65. From 1965 to 1976, he taught at Brandeis University, and from 1976 to 1978 at Harvard University. As an artist, teacher, and writer, Mazur has been active in reviving the monotype process. He contributed an essay to the pioneering exhibition catalogue The Painterly Print, published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1980. Mazur recently chaired the New Provincetown Print...

"Dodge Rebellion Girls" - 1967 Silkscreen on Paper 1967 color silkscreen depicting the Dodge Rebellion Girls by Marc Foster Grant (American, b. 1947). A silhouette of the 'dodge gi...

Artist: Bill Sontag, American (b. 1932) Title: Urban Walls: Cincinnati Year: 1971 Edition: 85/150 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Image Size: 24 x 32 inches Size: ...