(After) Kees van Dongen

wood engraving for Mille Nuits

1955

Medium: wood engraving (after the watercolor). Printed in Paris in 1955 at the atelier Coulouma for "Mille nuits et une nuit" (1001 Nights) which was the last major portfolio by Kees...

Medium: wood engraving (after the watercolor). Printed in Paris in 1955 at the atelier Coulouma for "Mille nuits et une nuit" (1001 Nights) which was the last major portfolio by Kees...

Medium: wood engraving (after the watercolor). Printed in Paris in 1955 at the atelier Coulouma for "Mille nuits et une nuit" (1001 Nights) which was the last major portfolio by Kees...

Medium: wood engraving (after the watercolor). Printed in Paris in 1955 at the atelier Coulouma for "Mille nuits et une nuit" (1001 Nights) which was the last major portfolio by Kees...

This Winslow Homer woodcut engraving entitled "Skating on the Ladies' Skating-Pond in Central Park, New York", was published in Harper's Weekly in the January 28, 1860 edition. It depicts a large number of men, women and children skating on a recently opened pond in Central Park. At the time of publication of this engraving, Central Park was in the early stages of construction. This engraving documents the very early appearance of Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux's masterpiece of landscape design. According to Olmsted, the park was "of great importance as the first real Park made in this century – a democratic development of the highest significance". The people of New York were very proud of the plans for their park. It was stated at the time: "Our Park, which is progressing very satisfactorily under the management of the Commissioners, will undoubtedly be, one of these days, one of the finest place of the kind in the world...Those who saw the Park before the engineers went to work on it are amazed at the beautiful sites which have been contrived with such unpromising materials; all fair persons believe that the enterprise is managed with honesty and good taste." Skating was rapidly rising in national popularity in part due to the opening of Central Park’s lake to skaters on a Sunday in December 1858 with 300 participants. The following Sunday it attracted ten thousand skaters. By Christmas Day, a reported 50,000 people came to the park, most of them to skate. There were rules governing who could use the skating pond. “The Ladies’ Pond...

Artist: Hermann Max Pechstein (German, 1881-1955) Title: "Weib Vom Manne Begehrt (Woman Desired by Man)" Portfolio: Deutsche Grapiker der Gegenwart (German Printmakers of Our Time) *Unsigned edition Year: 1919, (published 1920) Medium: Original Woodcut Engraving on cream wove paper Limited edition: 500, (there was also a signed and numbered edition of 30) Printer: Unknown Publisher: Klinkhardt & Biermann, Leipzig, Germany Reference: "Das Graphische Werk Max Pechsteins" - Krüger No. 224; Fechter No. 157; Rifkind No. 2252; Söhn I, page 108-114 Sheet size: 12.75" x 9.5" Image size: 9.88" x 6.25" Condition: One small skillfully repaired tear lower left in margin. It is otherwise a strong impression in excellent condition Notes: Provenance: private collection - Kiel, Germany. Comes from the 1920 "Deutsche Grapiker der Gegenwart (German Printmakers of Our Time)" portfolio of fifteen lithographs, eight woodcuts, eight reproductions, and one lithographed cover by various artists. The artists who contributed to this portfolio were George Grosz, Ernst Barlach, Lovis Corinth, Richard Seewald, Heinrich Campendonk, Erich Heckel, Otto Mueller, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Lyonel Feininger, Conrad Felixmüller, Max Unold, Karl Caspar, Max Lieberman, René Beeh, Adolf Ferdinand Schinnerer, Ludwig Meidner, Max Beckmann, Richard Seewald, Käthe Kollwitz, August Gaul, Rudolf Grossman, Alfred Kubin, and Paul Klee. This very same work is within many permanent museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. "Deutsche Graphiker der Gegenwart (German Printmakers of Our Time)" brings together woodcuts, lithographs, and reproductions by thirty-one artists representing a cross-section of styles from Impressionism to Expressionism, uniting under a single cover works ranging from naturalistic self-portraits to left-wing political caricatures. It features works by artists associated with the Berlin Secession (an exhibiting society comprised primarily of German Impressionists), with Expressionist groups like the Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, and with the political Novembergruppe, as well as artists like Max Beckmann who were not affliliated with any group. In his introduction, art historian Kurt Pfister identified Expressionism as the leading force in German art at the time, while stressing the plurality of approaches to style and subject matter that the movement encompassed. Pfister emphasized the openness of German artists to foreign sources, and cited the importance of Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, and Pablo Picasso as well as Japanese, Indian, African, and Gothic art for the development of German art. There was a fifty-year difference in age between the oldest artist, Max Liebermann, and the youngest, Conrad Felixmüller, featured in the collection. The volume also included Lyonel Feininger, an American who had lived in Germany since 1896, as well as Austrian artists Oskar Kokoschka and Alfred Kubin. Biography: Pechstein was born in Zwickau, the son of a craftsman who worked in a textile mill. Early contact with the art of Vincent van Gogh stimulated Pechstein's development toward expressionism. After studying art first at the School of Applied Arts and then at the Royal Art Academy in Dresden, Pechstein met Erich Heckel and joined the art group Die Bru¨cke in 1906. He was the only member to have formal art training. Later in Berlin, he helped to found the Neue Sezession and gained recognition for his decorative and colorful paintings that were lent from the ideas of Van Gogh, Matisse, and the Fauves. His paintings eventually became more primitivist, incorporating thick black lines and angular figures. From in 1933, Pechstein was vilified by the Nazis because of his art. A total of 326 of his paintings were removed from German museums. Sixteen of his works were displayed in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art...

Artist: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (German, 1884-1976) Title: "Frau in der Wanne (Woman in Tub)" Series: Die Aktion *Unsigned edition Year: 1915 Medium: Original Woodcut Engraving on cream smooth wove paper Limited edition: Unknown, (there was also a signed edition on laid paper with wider margins in an unknown edition size) Printer: F.E. Haag, Melle, Hanover, Germany Publisher: Verlag der Wochenschrift DIE AKTION, Berlin, Germany Reference: "Das Graphische Werk Bis 1923" - Schapire No. 171, page 37; Söhn No. 40502 Framing: Recently framed in a contemporary gold moulding with 100% cotton rag matting and Artglass Framed size: 16" x 13.25" Sheet size: 11.5" x 8.75" Image size: 10" x 7.25" Condition: Faint UV staining to sheet and light toning at edges. It is otherwise a strong impression in excellent condition Extremely rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Kiel, Germany. Comes from the famous "Die Aktion" publication, Vol. 5, No. 13 published March 20th, 1915. There is an example of this complete issue in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. In 1911 Franz Pfemfert, a cantankerous critic of capitalism and Wilhelmine society, founded Die Aktion as a political and literary journal. In April of the following year, a new subtitle declared the journal a "weekly for politics, literature, and art." Although politics remained the priority, Die Aktion began featuring visual art coverage as well as original prints and illustrations. Artist Max Oppenheimer...

"Milwaukee Harbor" is an original woodcut print by Lowell Merritt Lee. Different aspects of the milwaukee harbor come together in a collage-like fashion. Image: 6" x 5" Frame: 14.31...