Miniature Animal Prints
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Size: Miniature
Colin See-Paynton (b.1946) - Framed 20th Century Woodcut, Eider & Cod
Located in Corsham, GB
Original artist's proof print. Entitled 'Eider and Cod'. Signed and inscribed to the lower margin. Presented in crisp white mount and contemporary black frame. On paper.
Category
20th Century Animal Prints
Materials
Woodcut
Bullseye Black - Signed Silkscreen Blue Dog Print
Located in Mount Laurel, NJ
This Blue Dog work consists of a blue dog in the center of a red circle on a black background. The dog has soulful yellow eyes. This pop art animal original silkscreen print on pap...
Category
1990s Pop Art Animal Prints
Materials
Screen
'Foul Rope (Left)' — Early American Southwest Rodeo
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
William Robinson Leigh, 'Foul Rope (Left)', etching, c. 1920, edition unknown but small. Signed in pencil and signed in the plate, lower left. A superb, richly-inked impression, in dark brown ink, on buff wove Umbria paper, the full sheet with margins (1 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches); slight toning at the sheet edges, otherwise in excellent condition. Very scarce. Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed.
Image size 14 7/8 x 11 15/16 inches (378 x 303 mm); sheet size 20 3/8 x 15 3/8 inches (518 x 391 mm).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born near Falling Waters, West Virginia, on a plantation a year after the Civil War and raised in Baltimore, William Robinson Leigh (1866 - 1955) became one of the foremost painters of the American West. His career spanning some seventy-five years, Leigh created some of the most iconic depictions of the Western landscape, with admirers referring to him as ‘The Sagebrush Rembrandt.’
The son of impoverished Southern aristocrats, Leigh received his first art training at age 14 from Hugh Newell at the Maryland Institute, where he was regarded as the best student in his class. From 1883 to 1895, he studied in Europe, mainly at the Royal Academy in Munich with Ludwig Loefftz. From 1891 to 1896, he painted six cycloramas or murals in the round, a giant German panorama.
In 1896, Leigh began working as a magazine illustrator for Scribner's and Collier's Weekly Magazine in New York City. He also painted portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes.
Leigh's trips to the Southwest began in 1906 when he agreed to paint the Grand Canyon with William Simpson, Santa Fe Railway advertising manager, in exchange for free transportation West. In 1907, he completed his Grand Canyon painting, which led to more commissions and an extensive painting trip through Arizona and New Mexico. These travels inspired him to paint western subjects for the next 50 years, and his primary interests were the Hopi and Navajo Indians.
In 1910, he traveled to Wyoming, where he painted in Yellowstone Park and created sketches, many of which he later converted into large canvases such as ‘Lower Falls of the Yellowstone’ (1915) and ‘Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone’ (1911).
In 1926, he traveled to Africa at the invitation of Carl Akeley for the American Museum of Natural History, and from this experience, wrote and illustrated 'Frontiers of Enchantment: An Artist's Adventures in Africa'. In 1933, he wrote and illustrated 'The Western Pony'. His adventures were chronicled in several popular magazines, including Life, the Saturday Evening Post, and Colliers.
For many years, Grand Central Art Galleries at the Biltmore Hotel handled his work exclusively in New York. In 1953, Leigh was elected an associate member of the National Academy of Design and became a full Academician in 1955.
In March 1999, the Historical Center of Cody, Wyoming, held an exhibition of his field sketches and finished works depicting his experiences near Cody early in the century. Between 1910 and 1921, when he often painted in the Carter Mountain vicinity, these years were considered pivotal to his artistic development and devotion to the Western landscape.
Leigh's work is held in many museum collections of American Western art...
Category
1920s Realist Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
Leonor Fini - Cat - Original Etching
By Leonor Fini
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Leonor Fini - Cats - Original Engraving
Mme.Helvetius' Cats
Original etching created in 1985, Printed Signature (LF).
Conditions: excellent
Edition: 100
Support: Arches paper.
Dimensions: Paper dimensions: 44 x 28 cm
Editions: Moret, Paris.
Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century, along with Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim, Remedios Varo, and Dorothea Tanning – most of whom Fini knew well. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design (the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking), and set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. In this compellingly readable, exhaustively researched account, author Peter Webb brings Fini’s provocative art and unconventional personal life, as well as the vibrant avant-garde world in which she revolved, vividly in life.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1907 (August 30 – January 18, 1996, Paris) to Italian and Argentine parents, Leonor grew up in Trieste, Italy, raised by her strong-willed, independent mother, Malvina. She was a virtually self-taught artist, learing anatomy directly from studying cadavers in the local morgue and absorbing composition and technique from the Old Masters through books and visits to museums.
Fini’s fledging attempts at painting in Trieste let her to Milan, where she participated in her first group exhibition in 1929, and then to Paris in 1931.
Her vivacious personality and flamboyant attire instantly garnered her a spotlight in the Parisian art world and she soon developed close relationships with the leading surrealist writers and painters, including Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover for a time. The only surrealist she could not abide because of his misogyny was André Breton. Although she repeatedly exhibited with them, she never considered herself a surrealist. The American dealer Julien Levy,
very much impressed by Fini’s painting and smitten by her eccentric charms, invited her to New York in 1936, where she took part in a joint gallery exhibition with Max Ernst and met many American surrealists, including Joseph Cornell and Pavel Tchelitchew. Her work was included in MoMA’s pivotal Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, along with De Chirico, Dali, Ernst, and Yves Tanguy.
In 1939 in Paris she curated an exhibition of surrealist furniture...
Category
1980s Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
Ahead of the Game Yellow - Signed Silkscreen Print
Located in Mount Laurel, NJ
This blue Dog work consists of a solid yellow background with the head of a blue dog. The dog has soulful yellow eyes. This pop art animal original silkscreen print on paper is gua...
Category
Early 2000s Pop Art Animal Prints
Materials
Screen
'Christopher', Art Deco Lithograph, Woman Artist, Salon d'Automne, Paris, AIC
By Nura Ulreich
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A mid-century, stone lithograph titled 'Christopher' by Nura Woodson Ulreich (American, 1899-1950), created in 1943 and with certification of authenticity stamped verso. A bright and...
Category
1940s Art Deco Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper, Lithograph
Artist eaten by a wolf
Located in Manchester, GB
David Shrigley, Artist eaten by a wolf, 2009
Coloured silkscreen on paper
44.9 × 32.7 cm (17 7/10 × 12 9/10 in )
Edition of 350
David Shrigley
British artist David Shrigley is be...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Screen
Iceland or Gyr Falcon: An Original 1st Ed. Audubon Hand-colored Bird Lithograph
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original rare first edition John James Audubon hand-colored lithograph entitled "Iceland or Gyr Falcon", No. 4, Plate 19 from Audubon's "Birds of America, lithographed, pr...
Category
Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
"Aus der Tierlegende" original woodcut
By Franz Marc
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original woodcut. Catalogue reference Lankheit 831-3. Published in 1919 for Genius. Image size: 7 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (198 x 240mm). This is a very richly inked impression pri...
Category
1910s Expressionist Animal Prints
Materials
Woodcut
Max Ernst - Elektra - Lithograph
By Max Ernst
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Max Ernst - Elektra
Lithograph
1939
Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm
Signed in the plate
From XXe siècle
Unsigned and unumbered as issued
Category
1930s Surrealist Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Lithograph after Georges Braque
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Lithograph after Georges Braque
From the deluxe art review, Derrière le Mirroir
1964
Printed signature
Dimensions: 38 x 28 cm
DLM No. 148, 1964
Edition: Foundation Maeght at Saint P...
Category
1960s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Marino Marini - Rider - Original Lithograph
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Marino Marini - Rider - Original Lithograph
1955
Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm
From the art review XXe siècle
Unsigned and unumbered as issued
Category
1950s Surrealist Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Keith Haring Public Illumination 1981
By Keith Haring
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Keith Haring Public Illumination 1981:
A rare, highly collectible small pamphlet-style art magazine (measuring 4.25 x 2.75 inches), featuring a centerfold spread illustrated by Keith Haring, playfully credited under the moniker "Kip Herring."
The illustrations include some of Haring's signature early motifs including dogs, crawling babies, and figures in varying sexual positions.
A rare, early Haring collectible which quite possibly marks his first appearance in a printed publication.
Staple bound zine (art magazine), 4.25 x 2.75 inches.
Good to very good overall vintage condition; appears unused.
Unsigned from an edition of unknown.
Literature/References:
Printed Matter Inc., New York, NY
Public Illumination Magazine:
Founded by Zagreus Bowery in 1979 in New York and distinguished by its pocket-sized format, the publication rose to prominence in the underground art scene and was revered for its blatant mockery of mainstream magazines. The texts and drawings ranging from parody to absurdities. Contributions will be published exclusively under pseudonyms. By 2007, 51 issues appeared. The magazine is published irregularly and is available in the USA, Italy and Germany.
Writers and artists who have contributed include: Keith Haring, Ken Brown, Steve Dalachinsky, Michael Madore, David Sandlin...
Category
1980s Street Art Animal Prints
Materials
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
Mr. Ginguelino
Located in New York, NY
Color etching. Image Size: 8 ¼ x6.” Full margins. Signed lower right
Son of the famous publisher and etcher Auguste Delâtre,
Eugène Delâtre was to bec...
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
The Thibet Dog
Located in Columbia, MO
The Thibet Dog
1887
Etching
Category
Late 19th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
ARBORESCENSES I
Located in Aventura, FL
Hand signed with initials, dated ‘72’ and numbered. Screen printed vacuum-formed relief. Published by Pace Editions, New York. Webel 1092. Edition 55/75 (there were also ten art...
Category
1970s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper, Screen
Keith Haring Secret Pastures 1984 announcement
By Keith Haring
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Keith Haring Secret Pastures 1984:
Keith Haring illustrated oversized announcement for the historic, "Secret Pastures" show at The Brookl...
Category
1980s Pop Art Animal Prints
Materials
Offset, Lithograph
Leonor Fini - Cats - Original Etching
By Leonor Fini
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Leonor Fini - Cats - Original Engraving
Mme.Helvetius' Cats
Original etching created in 1985, Printed Signature (LF).
Conditions: excellent
Edition: 100
Support: Arches paper.
Dimensions: Paper dimensions: 44 x 28 cm
Editions: Moret, Paris.
Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century, along with Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim, Remedios Varo, and Dorothea Tanning – most of whom Fini knew well. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design (the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking), and set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. In this compellingly readable, exhaustively researched account, author Peter Webb brings Fini’s provocative art and unconventional personal life, as well as the vibrant avant-garde world in which she revolved, vividly in life.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1907 (August 30 – January 18, 1996, Paris) to Italian and Argentine parents, Leonor grew up in Trieste, Italy, raised by her strong-willed, independent mother, Malvina. She was a virtually self-taught artist, learing anatomy directly from studying cadavers in the local morgue and absorbing composition and technique from the Old Masters through books and visits to museums.
Fini’s fledging attempts at painting in Trieste let her to Milan, where she participated in her first group exhibition in 1929, and then to Paris in 1931.
Her vivacious personality and flamboyant attire instantly garnered her a spotlight in the Parisian art world and she soon developed close relationships with the leading surrealist writers and painters, including Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover for a time. The only surrealist she could not abide because of his misogyny was André Breton. Although she repeatedly exhibited with them, she never considered herself a surrealist. The American dealer Julien Levy,
very much impressed by Fini’s painting and smitten by her eccentric charms, invited her to New York in 1936, where she took part in a joint gallery exhibition with Max Ernst and met many American surrealists, including Joseph Cornell and Pavel Tchelitchew. Her work was included in MoMA’s pivotal Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, along with De Chirico, Dali, Ernst, and Yves Tanguy.
In 1939 in Paris she curated an exhibition of surrealist furniture for her childhood friend Leo Castelli for the opening of his first gallery.
Introductions to her exhibition catalogues were written by De Chirico, Ernst, and Jean Cocteau.
A predominant theme of Fini’s art is the complex relationship between the sexes, primarily the interplay between the dominant female and the passive, androgynous male. In many of her most powerful works, the female takes the form of a sphinx, often with the face of the artist. Fini was also an accomplished portraitist; among her subjects were Stanislao Lepri...
Category
1980s Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
Mike Mitchell - Super Bastards - Contemporary Artist
Located in Asheville, NC
Mike Mitchell - Super Bastards - Contemporary Artist
Each Print is Unique.
Edition Details
Year: 2019
Class: Art Print
Status: Official
Released: 0...
Category
2010s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Giclée
Contemporary Botanical Portrait. Original Print on Dibond 24/25. Luckily Alive
Located in FISTERRA, ES
This limited-edition Dibond UV print belongs to Natasha Lelenco’s Fetiches series, an artistic exploration of portraiture intertwined with organic motifs. Numbered 24 of 25, each pri...
Category
2010s Surrealist Portrait Prints
Materials
Metal
Echidna and Platypus, Australian animal monotreme antique engraving print
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Kloakentiere'
(Monotremes - echidna and platypus))
German wood-engraving, circa 1895.
240mm by 155mm (sheet)
Category
Late 19th Century Naturalistic Still-life Prints
Materials
Engraving
Le Mouton de Barbarie - Etching by Jean Charles Baquoy - 1771
Located in Roma, IT
Le Mouton de Barbarie is an etching realized by Jean Charles Baquoy in 1771.
The artwork Belongs to the suite "Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière ...
Category
1770s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
19th century color lithograph hare landscape grass animal print wildlife
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Worm-Wood Hare" is an original color lithograph by John James Audubon. It depicts three brown rabbits in a landscape. No. 18, Plate LXXXVIII, On Stone by W.E. Hitchcock.
6" x 8" ar...
Category
1840s Other Art Style Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Francois-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) Les Spitz, 2004
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Francois-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) Les Spitz, 2004
Original print (etching) hand signed in pencil by François Xavier Lalanne and untitled "Les Spitz" ("The Spitz"), in perfect cond...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Animal Prints
Materials
Paper
Marsh Hare: Original 19th Century 1st Octavo Ed. Audubon Hand-colored Lithograph
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original 19th century John James Audubon hand-colored first octavo edition lithograph entitled "Marsh Hare", No. 4, Plate XVIII, 18, from Audubon's "Quadrupeds of North America", printed and colored by Nagel & Weingaertner and published in New York in 1849. It depicts a pair of Marsh Hares/rabbits, presumably a male and a female, lying on grass, nose to nose, with plants in the background.
This antique hand-colored Audubon quadruped lithograph has a few faint spots, but the print is otherwise in very good condition. The sheet measures 7" high and 10.5" wide. The descriptive text pages, 151-156, from Audubon's original publication are included.
John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a naturalist and artist. He was initially unsuccessful financially prior to the publication of his famous work “The Birds of America”, spending time in debtor’s prison...
Category
Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Set of Four Hand Colored Humming Bird Prints
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Here are four framed hand colored humming bird species published in the early 20th century representing the original 19th century work of Scottish naturalist, Sir William Jardine. Presented under glass with marbleized mating...
Category
Early 20th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Paint, Paper
George Edwards: 18th Century Engravings of Ducks And Wading Birds
Located in Richmond, GB
George Edwards: ""A History of Uncommon Birds"", 1749-1761.
A prominent English naturalist and ornithologist, George Edwards (1694 -1773) is best known for his work, ""A Natural Hi...
Category
18th Century Animal Paintings
Materials
Engraving, Watercolor
Jean Cocteau - The Arena - Original Lithograph
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Original Lithograph by Jean Cocteau
Title: The Arena
1961
Dimensions: 38 x 28 cm
printed signature
Lithograph made for the portfolio "Gitans et Corridas" published by Socié...
Category
1960s Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Birds of Prey, English antique bird engraving print, 1879
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Birds of Prey
Wood-engraving with original colouring. 1879.
160mm by 245mm (sheet).
Key below the image. From Oliver Goldsmith's 'A History of the Earth and Animated Nature'.
Category
Late 19th Century Victorian Animal Prints
Materials
Engraving
Hibou noir perché, Picasso, Ceramic, Design, Madoura, 1950's
Located in Geneva, CH
Hibou noir perché
07.05.1957
Ed. 52/100 pcs
Red earthenware clay, engobe decoration, knife engraved
D. 44.2 cm I D. 50 cm (with frame)
Stamped, marked and numbered : Edition Picasso,...
Category
20th Century Post-War Animal Prints
Materials
Ceramic, Clay, Earthenware, Faience
Anarch to Monarch
By RISK
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Hand-Embellished Print on Archival Bamboo Paper
Signed and Numbered, Edition of 50 with 5 APs
Monarch Butterfly, Stars, Small Print, Los Angeles Graffiti Artist, Urban Street Art
Category
2010s Street Art Animal Prints
Materials
Spray Paint, Acrylic, Bamboo Paper
Surprise Mail
Located in Toronto, ON
Image Size: 7" x 5.5" Unframed
Limited Edition Etching of 25
Hand Signed by Mariko Ando
2009
Category
Early 2000s Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
Original Affiches Paul Mohr Compagnie Nationale des Papers 1932 vintage poster
Located in Spokane, WA
Original small format poster Affiches Paul Mohr, 1932. Archival linen backed in excellent condition, ready to frame. The rare Paul Mohr posters are incredibly elusive; many have had only one remaining known copy survive. Printing method: Helio-Typo or Typelo.
Before television, beautiful lithographs adorn the streets and walls of Paris and other European cities. Art for the street, art for the public. Weather and rain would destroy these works of art by renowned artists, only to be replaced.
The artist: Paul Gustave Mohr, a French Avant-garde poster designer from the Art Deco period was born Sept. 4, 1890 in Ham, France and died on April 13, 1959 in Paris. He lived most of his life in Paris, and then settled in the small town of Asnieres, France, just outside of Paris. He attended the Sorbonne University, as well as several art schools. During World War I, he was a pilot in the French Army from 1914-1917. Paul Mohr married Jeanne Levy in 1917 and they had three daughters: Helene, Genevieve, and Jacqueline.
As an artist, he designed advertising posters from 1920 to 1940. His
posters advertised Wonder cycles, Dainty cycles, Lustucru pasta, Banania sugar, Bremsit brakes, Champigneulles beer, L'Union beer, Dubonnet wine, as well as shoes and ham.
This information was provided to me by my mother, Helene Mohr Breitenbucher, who was his eldest daughter. Carol Schuler (granddaughter)
Advertising posters, the affiches of Paul Mohr. This is an original advertising poster for the affiches (posters) created by the master artist Paul Mohr (1890-1959). Archival linen backed in very good condition. No stains, no tears, no paper loss. Grade A condition. Ready to frame. Compagnie Nationale des Papier, Paris.
The crowd on the street looks up in amazement at the art deco-style images that the artist created. Images on the wall feature incredible image that this artist created such as Lustucru, Amer...
Category
1930s Art Deco Figurative Prints
Materials
Offset
Colorful Parrot: An 18th Century Hand-colored Bird Engraving by Martinet
Located in Alamo, CA
This is a hand-colored engraving of a parrot bird entitled "La Perruche-Ara, de Cayenne (Parrot)" by Francois Nicolas Martinet, plate 864 from 'Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux' in ass...
Category
1760s Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Engraving
Paul Jouve (after) - Tiger - Original Engraving
By Paul Jouve
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Paul Jouve (after) - Tiger - Engraving
19 x 14 cm
Editions Rombaldi, Paris, 1950.
Copy on velin creme de Rives
Copper engraving heightened with pochoir.
Category
1950s Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Engraving
Chow and Dandie Dinmont Puppy, Cecil Aldin 1930s puppy dog lithograph
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Chow and Dandie (Dinmont) Puppy'
Cecil Aldin dog lithograph, 1935.
Cecil Aldin was a British artist and illustrator best known for his paintings and sketches of animals, sports, a...
Category
1930s English School Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Leonor Fini, from La Grande Parade des Chats, hand signed color lithograph
By Leonor Fini
Located in Chatsworth, CA
Leonor Fini
Untitled from La Grande Parade des Chats (The Great Parade of the Cats)
Color lithograph on Arches paper
Hand signed in pencil by the artist
numbered 204/230
Published b...
Category
1970s Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Francois-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) Le Canard, 2004
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Francois-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) Le Canard, 2004
Original print (aquatint and soft varnish) hand signed in pencil by François Xavier Lalanne and untitle...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Animal Prints
Materials
Paper
Birds of Paradise, German antique natural history chromolithograph print
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Paradiesvogel'
(Birds of Paradise)
German chromolithograph, circa 1895.
240mm by 155mm (sheet)
Category
Late 19th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Max Ernst - Composition - Original Lithograph
By Max Ernst
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Max Ernst - Composition - Original Lithograph
1958
Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm
XXe siècle
Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued
Max Ernst was born in Bruhl, a place near Cologne, in Germany. He was raised in a strict Catholic family, and both of his parents were disciplinarians who were dedicated to training their children into God-fearing and talented individuals. Although his father was deaf, Ernst learned so much from him, particularly when it comes to painting. In fact, much of his early years were lived under the inspiration of his father who was also a teacher. He was the one who introduced painting to Ernst at an early age.
In 1914, Ernst attended the University of Bonn where he studied philosophy. However, he eventually dropped out of school because he was more interested in the arts. He claimed that his primary sources of interest included anything that had something to do with painting. Moreover, he became fascinated with psychology, among other subjects in school.
Primarily, Ernst's love for painting was the main reason why he became deeply interested with this craft and decided to pursue it later on in his life. During his early years, he became familiar with the works of some of the greatest artists of all time including Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh. He was also drawn to themes such as fantasy and dream imagery, which were among the common subjects of the works of Giorgio de Chirico.
During World War I, Ernst was forced to join the German Army, and he became a part of the artillery division that exposed him greatly to the drama of warfare. A soldier in the War, Ernst emerged deeply traumatized and highly critical of western culture. These charged sentiments directly fed into his vision of the modern world as irrational, an idea that became the basis of his artwork. Ernst's artistic vision, along with his humor and verve come through strongly in his Dada and Surrealists works; Ernst was a pioneer of both movements.
It was Ernst's memories of the war and his childhood that helps him create absurd, yet interesting scenes in his artworks. Soon, he took his passion for the arts seriously when he returned to Germany after the war. With Jean Arp, a poet and artist, Ernst formed a group for artists in Cologne. He also developed a close relationship with fellow artists in Paris who propagated Avant-Garde artworks.
In 1919, Ernst started creating some of his first collages, where he made use of various materials including illustrated catalogs and some manuals that produced a somewhat futuristic image. His unique masterpieces allowed Ernst to create his very own world of dreams and fantasy, which eventually helped heal his personal issues and trauma. In addition to painting and creating collages, Ernst also edited some journals. He also made a few sculptures that were rather queer in appearance.
In 1920s, influenced by the writings of psychologist Sigmund Freud, the literary, intellectual, and artistic movement called Surrealism sought a revolution against the constraints of the rational mind; and by extension, they saw the rules of a society as oppressive. Surrealism also embraces a Marxist ideology that demands an orthodox approach to history as a product of the material interaction of collective interests, and many renown Surrealism artists later on became 20th century Counterculture symbols such as Marxist Che Guevara. In 1922 Ernst moved to Paris, where the surrealists were gathering around Andre Breton. In 1923 Ernst finished Men Shall Know Nothing of This, known as the first Surrealist painting. Ernst was one of the first artists who apply The Interpretation of Dreams by Freud to investigate his deep psyche in order to explore the source of his own creativity. While turning inwards unto himself, Ernst was also tapping into the universal unconscious with its common dream imagery.
Despite his strange styles, Ernst gained quite a reputation that earned him some followers throughout his life. He even helped shape the trend of American art during the mid-century, thanks to his brilliant and extraordinary ideas that were unlike those of other artists during his time. Ernst also became friends with Peggy Guggenheim, which inspired him to develop close ties with the abstract expressionists.
When Ernst lived in Sedona, he became deeply fascinated with the Southwest Native American navajo art. In fact, the technique used in this artwork inspired him and paved the way for him to create paintings that depicted this style. Thus, Ernst became a main figure of this art technique, including the rituals and spiritual traditions included in this form of art. Pollock, aside from the other younger generations of abstract expressionists, was also inspired by sand painting of the Southwest...
Category
1960s Surrealist Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Which Occurred in My Garden, by Stan Washburn
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Medium: Etching
Edition of 100
Year: 1971
ImageSize: 16 x 11.5 inches
Signed, titled and numbered etching from the edition of 100. An humorous look at Adam and Eve surrounded by ani...
Category
1970s Contemporary Landscape Prints
Materials
Etching
Swallowtail Butterfly, Guy Allen, Limited Edition Print, Affordable Animal Art
By Guy Allen
Located in Deddington, GB
Please note the price is for the unframed original etching .
Swallowtail Butterfly is an original etching, engraved onto a copper plate, from wh...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Minimalist Still-life Prints
Materials
Gold Leaf
The Forbidden Tree, by Stan Washburn
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Medium: Etching
Edition of 90
Year: 1977
ImageSize: 4 x 4 inches
Signed, titled and numbered etching from the edition of 90. Humorous portrait of the Serpent (from Adam and Eve) on ...
Category
1970s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
Gustave Singier - Abstract Fish - Original Lithograph
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Gustave Singier - Abstract Fish - Original Lithograph
Conditions: excellent
32 x 24 cm
1955
From XXe siècle, San Lazzaro
Unsigned and unumbered as issued
Category
1950s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Reptiles, Surrealist Lithograph by Aubrey Schwartz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Aubrey Schwartz, American (1928 - 2019) - Reptiles, Year: circa 1965, Medium: Lithograph on Arches, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 16/100, Size: 18 x 15 in. (45.72 x 38.1 ...
Category
1960s Surrealist Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Cape Cross - Studio Portrait, Stallions, Champion Horse, Equine Art Print
Located in London, GB
Cape Cross, 2009 by John Reardon
Archival Pigment Print, Mounted on Aluminium, Custom framed, UV protective Museum AR Glass
This piece is part of (after) Whistlejacket - Contemporar...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment, Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photo...
Clare Halifax, K is for Koala, Limited Edition Print, Animal Print, Monogram Art
Located in Deddington, GB
Clare Halifax
K is for Koala
Limited Edition 3 colour screen print
Edition of 100
Sheet Size: H 38cm x W 37cm x 0.1cm
Sold Unframed
Hand printed by the artist onto somerset satin pap...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Animal Prints
Materials
Paper, Screen
Clare Halifax, C is for Camel, Alphabetical Art, Personalised Print, Bright Art
Located in Deddington, GB
Clare Halifax
C is for Camel
Limited Edition 3 Colour Silkscreen Print
Edition of 100
Image Size: H 35cm x W 35cm
Sheet Size: H 37cm x W 38cm x D 0.1cm
Sold Unframed
(Please note tha...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Art Deco Animal Prints
Materials
Paper, Screen
Alexander Calder Circus Reproduction Lithograph After a Drawing
Located in Surfside, FL
(after) Alexander Calder
"Calder's Circus" offset lithograph on wove paper after drawings by the artist
Published by Art in America and Perls gallery in 1964 (from drawings done in the 1930's)
these range slightly in size but they are all about 13 X 17 inches (with minor variations in size as issued.) These have never been framed. The outer folio is not included just the one lithograph.
James Sweeny from the introduction “The fame of Calder’s circus spread quickly between the years 1927 and 1930. All the Paris art world came to know it. It brought him his first great personal success. But what was more important, the circus also provided the first steps in Calder’s development as an original sculptor”
Clive Gray wrote ”A visit to the studio of Alexander Calder led to the chance discovery of some hundred masterful circus drawings completed over thirty years ago. We publish, for the first time, a choice of sixteen from that group.” With signed introduction by Miro.
These whimsical drawings, done in the style of wire sculpture, include acrobats, clowns, jugglers, trapeeze artists, an elephant, dog and lion. they are great.
Alexander Calder is widely considered to be one of the most important American sculptors of the 20th century. He is best known for his colorful, whimsical abstract public sculptures and his innovative mobiles, kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents, which embraced chance in their aesthetic. Born into a family of accomplished artists, Calder's work first gained attention in Paris in the 1930s and was soon championed by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, resulting in a retrospective exhibition in 1943. Major retrospectives were also held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1964) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1974). Calder’s work is in many permanent collections, most notably in the Whitney Museum of American Art, but also the Guggenheim Museum; the Museum of Modern Art; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Centre Georges Pompidou. He produced many large public works, including .125 (at JFK Airport, 1957), Pittsburgh (Carnegie International prize winner 1958, Pittsburgh International Airport) Spirale (UNESCO in Paris, 1958), Flamingo and Universe (both in Chicago, 1974), and Mountains and Clouds (Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 1976). Although primarily known for his sculpture, Calder was a prodigious artist with a restless creative spirit, whose diverse practice included painting and printmaking, miniatures (such as his famous Cirque Calder), children’s book illustrations, theater set design, jewelry design, tapestry and rug works, and political posters. Calder was honored by the US Postal Service with a set of five 32-cent stamps in 1998, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously in 1977, after refusing to receive it from Gerald Ford one year earlier in protest of the Vietnam War.
Calder moved to New York and enrolled at the Art Students League, studying briefly with Thomas Hart Benton, George Luks, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and John Sloan. While a student, he worked for the National Police Gazette where, in 1925, one of his assignments was sketching the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Calder became fascinated with the action of the circus, a theme that would reappear in his later work.
In 1926, Calder moved to Paris, enrolled in the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and established a studio at 22 rue Daguerre in the Montparnasse Quarter. In June 1929, while traveling by boat from Paris to New York, Calder met his future wife, Louisa James (1905-1996), grandniece of author Henry James and philosopher William James. They married in 1931. While in Paris, Calder met and became friends with a number of avant-garde artists, including Fernand Léger, Jean Arp, and Marcel Duchamp. Cirque Calder (on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at present) became popular with the Parisian avant-garde. He also invented wire sculpture, or "drawing in space," and in 1929 he had his first solo show of these sculptures in Paris at Galerie Billiet. Hi! (Two Acrobats) in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art is an early example of the artist's wire sculpture. The painter Jules Pascin, a friend of Calder's from the cafes of Montparnasse, wrote the preface to the catalog. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio in 1930, where he was impressed by the environment-as-installation, "shocked" him into fully embracing abstract art, toward which he had already been tending.
Dating from 1931, Calder’s sculptures of discrete movable parts powered by motors were christened “mobiles” by Marcel Duchamp, a French pun meaning both "motion" and "motive." At the same time, Calder was also experimenting with self-supporting, static, abstract sculptures, dubbed "stabiles" by Jean Arp in 1932 to differentiate them from mobiles.
Public commissions increasingly came his way in the 1960s. Notable examples are .125 for JFK Airport in 1957, Spirale for UNESCO in Paris 1958 and Trois disques, commissioned for Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Calder's largest sculpture at 25.7 meters high was El Sol Rojo, constructed outside the Aztec Stadium for the 1968 Summer Olympics "Cultural Olympiad" events in Mexico City. Many of his public works were commissioned by renowned architects; I.M. Pei commissioned his La Grande Voile (1966), a 25-ton, 40-foot high stabile for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Part of Calder's repertoire includes pivotal stage sets for more than a dozen theatrical productions, including Nucléa, Horizon, and most notably, Martha Graham’s Panorama (1935), a production of the Erik Satie symphonic drama Socrate (1936), and later, Works in Progress (1968).
In addition to sculptures, Calder painted throughout his career, beginning in the early 1920s. He picked up his study of printmaking in 1925, and continued to produce illustrations for books and journals.As Calder’s professional reputation expanded in the late 1940s and 1950s, so did his production of prints. Masses of lithographs based on his gouache paintings hit the market, and deluxe editions of plays, poems, and short stories illustrated with fine art prints by Calder became available for sale.
One of Calder's most celebrated and unconventional undertakings was a commission from Dallas-based Braniff International Airways to paint a full-size Douglas DC-8-62 four-engined jet as a "flying canvas."
Calder created over 2,000 pieces of jewelry over the course of his career, many of them as gifts for friends and relatives. For his lifelong friend Joan Miró, he set a shard of a broken porcelain vessel in a brass ring. Peggy Guggenheim received enormous silver mobile earrings and later commissioned a hammered silver headboard...
Category
1930s American Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Meerwasser - Aquarium, German antique underwater sea life engraving
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Meerwasser - Aquarium'
German tinted wood-engraving, circa 1895.
245mm by 305mm (sheet).
Central vertical fold as issued.
Category
Late 19th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
The Obscure Fable, by Stan Washburn
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Signed, titled and numbered etching from the edition of 120. In individual prints, and in his illustrated books, Washburn cleverly skewers human frailties with Renaissance-style engravings and tongue-in-cheek wit. This image of a rhinoceros and a lamb, hints at an imaginary fable similar to the lion and the lamb.
Stan Washburn...
Category
1970s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
'Chittering & Chattering V' Folk inspired linocut bird series in blue and white
By Lisa Houck
Located in Wellesley, MA
This is one of a series of 6 related bird prints, identical in size and each the same shade of bright blue and white, which are as commanding individually as they are in groupings. Lisa Houck is a very established New England area artist as recognized for her public installations, paintings, watercolors, textiles and mosaics as her work with linocuts and woodblock prints. At times reminiscent of Folk and Aborigine art, inspired as well by James Audubon and Hokusai, Houck is widely known for a gorgeous and elegant sensibility which is both playful and quite serious that is uniquely her own.
Lisa Houck
'Chittering and Chattering V'
Linoleum Block Print, Edition 10
11 1/2 x 11 1/2 Inches (Image Size)
Sold individually or as sets of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. These prints are unframed.
Also available is a separate series of 8 larger linoleum block prints (editions of 10 each, 35 1/4 x 23 1/4 inches image size) of very related bird themes each in a different shade of blue.
These series are also sold individually or as sets of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8.
Among the many large public art commissions the artist has completed for interior and exterior sites in Boston and nationwide in mosaic and mural format are permanent installations for The Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Children's Hospitals in Boston and Waltham, The Frieda Garcia Park, Fort Point Channel, The Cambridge Senior Center, and 4 libraries in Broward County, Florida.
LISA HOUCK
Education and Professional Affiliations:
Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: M.F.A. 1989.
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI: B.F.A. 1975.
Boston Printmakers
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA 2017
Cambridge Arts Council, Gallery 344, “A Long Walk with No Destination”, Cambridge, MA 2016
Beth Urdang Gallery, Wellesley, MA 2015
Patricia Carega Gallery: “White Line Woodcuts,” Center Sandwich, NH 2014 Rivers School, Weston, MA 2008
Bentley College: “All About the Square,” Waltham, MA 2003.
Barton-Ryan Gallery: “Improbable Botanicals and Landscapes,” Boston, MA 2000. Randall Beck Gallery: Boston, MA 1993, 1991.
Barbara Singer Fine Art: Cambridge, MA 1991.
Coyote Gallery: Cambridge, MA 1989.
Tufts University: “MFA Thesis Exhibition,” Cohen Arts Center, Medford, MA 1988. Modestino Gallery: Cambridge, MA 1987, 1986.
New England School of Art and Design: Boston, MA 1986.
Mott House: “The Comet and Other Phenomena,” Washington, DC 1986.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Arsenal Center for the Arts, “Big Print”, Watertown, MA 2016
FPAC Gallery, Fort Point Channel, “Mosaic Muse”, Boston, MA 2016
Art of Mosaic: Piecing it Together, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA 2013 National Mosaic Exhibit on Cape Cod, 2011
Fancy Plants: Bentley University, 2010
Contemporary Mosaics: Attleboro Arts Museum, 2010
Boston Children’s Museum: “I See Trees,” 2009.
Somerville Museum: “Art of Mosaic,” 2009.
Milton Academy: “Design/Build,” 2009.
Danforth Museum: Members Show, 2007
Boston Printmakers: North American Print Biennial, 2005.
Peabody Essex Museum: “In Nature’s Company,” Salem, MA 2004.
Cambridge Art Association: “Hot Colors,” (Best in Show Award), Cambridge, MA 2002. Tufts University: “Alumni Exhibition,” Aidekman Gallery, Medford, MA 2001.
Acacia Gallery: Gloucester, MA 2000.
Wiggin Gallery: “Women in Watercolor,” Boston Public Library, Boston, MA 2000.
New Art Center: “Lasting Impressions: Looking at the Land,” Newton, MA 1997.
Bernard Toale Gallery: “The Pet Show,” Boston, MA 1996.
Albers Gallery: Memphis, TN 1994, 1992,1991.
Pritam & Eames: East Hampton, NY 1992.
Boston Center for the Arts: Boston, MA 1989.
DeCordova Museum: “Explorations in Handmade Paper,” Lincoln, MA 1989.
Fuller Museum of Art: “RISD Alumni in Boston,” Brockton, MA 1989.
St. Botolph Club: Boston, MA 1988.
Danforth Museum: “Symmetry and Pattern in Art and Nature,” Framingham, MA 1986.
Brunnier Museum: “Images of the Universe,” Ames, IA 1986.
New England School of Art and Design: “A Celebration of the Return of Halley’s Comet,” Boston, MA 1985. Rose Art Museum: “Boston Printmakers,” Waltham, MA 1985.
Fuller Museum of Art: “Triennial Exhibition,” Brockton, MA 1983.
Cambridge Arts Council: “Lofty Views and Heightened Perspectives,” Cambridge, MA 1983.
The Boston Company
The Boston Public Library Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brunnier Museum, Ames, IA Coopers & Lybrand
Fidelity Investments
Fogg Art Museum
Goodwin Procter
Harvard Business School Harvard Community Health Plan
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS, NUMEROUS PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Fogg Art Museum
Boston Athenaeum
The Boston Company
The Boston Public Library
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Fidelity Investments
Goodwin Procter
Harvard Business School
Harvard Community Health Plan
Brunnier Museum, Ames, IA
Coopers & Lybrand
Herman Miller
Lahey Clinic
Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts Mutual Corporation Montgomery Watson Harza
Neiman Marcus
New England Medical Center
State Street Bank and Trust
Valley Hospital, NJ
GRANTS/PROJECTS:
Herman Miller
Lahey Clinic
Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts Mutual Corporation Montgomery Watson Harza Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Neiman Marcus
New England Medical Center
State Street Bank and Trust
Valley Hospital, NJ
“City Square with Reflecting Pool,” 6’ X 6’ mosaic for Iron Street Park in Boston. Located on the corner of A Street and Iron Street in Boston, commissioned for this new park in Boston by a private client in 2014.
Children’s Hospital, Waltham, MA: eleven-panel, oil-on-wood painting for the lobby, 2005.
Grant from Massachusetts Cultural Council, 2005. For a ceramics program in the public schools, sponsored by the Dedham Cultural Council.
John Hancock Financial Services: Frieda Garcia Park. Commission to create two mosaic murals incorporating children’s art from the community, 2004. Murals are 8’ X 10’ and 8’ x 22’.
Broward County Cultural Affairs Office/Public Art Department, Florida: Public Art Commission to create paintings and printed materials for four libraries in Broward County, 2003.
Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Jimmy Fund Clinic, Boston, MA: eight panel mosaic for the reception area. Architect: Miller, Dyer, Spears, 2003.
Massachusetts Port Authority, Logan International Airport, Terminal E, Boston, MA: Six digital reproductions of paintings. Project Coordinator: Urban Arts Institute, 2001.
”The Rare Tropical Cod,” part of the Cavalcade of Cod, a school of 5’5” fiberglass fish sculptures which were displayed throughout the city of Boston in the fall of 2000. Sponsored by Boston’s B2K Committee.
Poster and button and display banners for First Night Boston, 1998.
Grant from the City of Cambridge to create murals for the Cambridge Senior Center, 1995. Administered by the Cambridge Arts Council.
Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1994. Administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Grant from Arts on the Line, Cambridge, MA for temporary art in the subway including a 36-foot painting for the Kendall Square subway station, Cambridge, MA 1988.
Grant from the Cambridge Arts Council for a mural for the Cambridge River...
Category
2010s Folk Art Animal Prints
Materials
Linocut
Leonor Fini - Red Cats - Original Etching
By Leonor Fini
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Leonor Fini - Cats - Original Engraving
Mme.Helvetius' Cats
Original etching created in 1985, Printed Signature (LF).
Conditions: excellent
Edition: 100
Support: Arches paper.
Dimensions: Paper dimensions: 44 x 28 cm
Editions: Moret, Paris.
Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century, along with Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim, Remedios Varo, and Dorothea Tanning – most of whom Fini knew well. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design (the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking), and set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. In this compellingly readable, exhaustively researched account, author Peter Webb brings Fini’s provocative art and unconventional personal life, as well as the vibrant avant-garde world in which she revolved, vividly in life.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1907 (August 30 – January 18, 1996, Paris) to Italian and Argentine parents, Leonor grew up in Trieste, Italy, raised by her strong-willed, independent mother, Malvina. She was a virtually self-taught artist, learing anatomy directly from studying cadavers in the local morgue and absorbing composition and technique from the Old Masters through books and visits to museums.
Fini’s fledging attempts at painting in Trieste let her to Milan, where she participated in her first group exhibition in 1929, and then to Paris in 1931.
Her vivacious personality and flamboyant attire instantly garnered her a spotlight in the Parisian art world and she soon developed close relationships with the leading surrealist writers and painters, including Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover for a time. The only surrealist she could not abide because of his misogyny was André Breton. Although she repeatedly exhibited with them, she never considered herself a surrealist. The American dealer Julien Levy,
very much impressed by Fini’s painting and smitten by her eccentric charms, invited her to New York in 1936, where she took part in a joint gallery exhibition with Max Ernst and met many American surrealists, including Joseph Cornell and Pavel Tchelitchew. Her work was included in MoMA’s pivotal Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, along with De Chirico, Dali, Ernst, and Yves Tanguy.
In 1939 in Paris she curated an exhibition of surrealist furniture...
Category
1980s Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
After Georges Braque - Oiseaux - Pochoir
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
after Georges Braque
Oiseaux
Color Pochoir on Paper
Published in the deluxe art review, XXe Siecle (issue number 11 "Les nouveaux rapports de l'art et de la nature")
1958
Dimensions:...
Category
1950s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Stencil
François Xavier lalanne the spider 2003
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
François Xavier lalanne
l'araignée
the spider
lithograph
circa 2003
signed in pencil lower right
limited edition of 75 copies
from the "ordinar...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist More Art
Materials
Paper
Birds, German antique natural history chromolithograph print
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Hochzeitskleider I'
(Birds)
German chromolithograph, circa 1895.
240mm by 155mm (sheet)
Category
Late 19th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Leonor Fini - Purple Surrealist Cat - Original Etching
By Leonor Fini
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Leonor Fini - Cats - Original Engraving
Mme.Helvetius' Cats
Original etching created in 1985, Printed Signature (LF).
Conditions: excellent
Edition: 100
Support: Arches paper.
Dimensions: Paper dimensions: 44 x 28 cm
Editions: Moret, Paris.
Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century, along with Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim, Remedios Varo, and Dorothea Tanning – most of whom Fini knew well. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design (the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking), and set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. In this compellingly readable, exhaustively researched account, author Peter Webb brings Fini’s provocative art and unconventional personal life, as well as the vibrant avant-garde world in which she revolved, vividly in life.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1907 (August 30 – January 18, 1996, Paris) to Italian and Argentine parents, Leonor grew up in Trieste, Italy, raised by her strong-willed, independent mother, Malvina. She was a virtually self-taught artist, learing anatomy directly from studying cadavers in the local morgue and absorbing composition and technique from the Old Masters through books and visits to museums.
Fini’s fledging attempts at painting in Trieste let her to Milan, where she participated in her first group exhibition in 1929, and then to Paris in 1931.
Her vivacious personality and flamboyant attire instantly garnered her a spotlight in the Parisian art world and she soon developed close relationships with the leading surrealist writers and painters, including Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover for a time. The only surrealist she could not abide because of his misogyny was André Breton. Although she repeatedly exhibited with them, she never considered herself a surrealist. The American dealer Julien Levy,
very much impressed by Fini’s painting and smitten by her eccentric charms, invited her to New York in 1936, where she took part in a joint gallery exhibition with Max Ernst and met many American surrealists, including Joseph Cornell and Pavel Tchelitchew. Her work was included in MoMA’s pivotal Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, along with De Chirico, Dali, Ernst, and Yves Tanguy.
In 1939 in Paris she curated an exhibition of surrealist furniture for her childhood friend Leo Castelli for the opening of his first gallery.
Introductions to her exhibition catalogues were written by De Chirico, Ernst, and Jean Cocteau.
A predominant theme of Fini’s art is the complex relationship between the sexes, primarily the interplay between the dominant female and the passive, androgynous male. In many of her most powerful works, the female takes the form of a sphinx, often with the face of the artist. Fini was also an accomplished portraitist; among her subjects were Stanislao Lepri...
Category
1980s Modern Animal Prints
Materials
Etching
Finland Bear Hunting, aquatint engraving hunting snow print, 1813
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
'Finland Bear Hunting'
Colour aquatint by Mathew Dubourg (1786-1838) after Manschirch.
From Samuel Howitt's 'Foreign Field Sports'. Samuel Howitt was an English painter, illustrato...
Category
Early 19th Century Naturalistic Animal Prints
Materials
Aquatint