Miniature Prints and Multiples

Bretherton, James (After Rembrandt van Rijn). Christ and the Woman of Samaria Among Ruins. London: c 1775. Etching on light cream laid paper, 4 3/4...

This exquisite lithograph and pochoir by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled Femme et oiseau dans la nuit (Woman and Bird in the Night), from the album XXe Siecle, Nouvelle serie No. 8, or...

Robert Indiana Numbers: Complete Portfolio of 10 Color Silkscreens (Sheehan 46-55) bound in cloth slip case (Hand Signed, inscribed and dated by Robert Indiana on the first front end...

'Flowering Shrubs' Antique English flower botanical chromolithograph.

Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963 ) " Chèvre-pied broutant " signed and dated Jean Cocteau 1958 . marked and numbered Edition originale de jean Cocteau Atelier Madeline- jolly 4/30 (under...

Boris Lovet-Lorski, Untitled (Portrait of an African Woman), lithograph, edition 250, 1929. Signed and numbered 13 in pencil. Number 13 of Volume 2, a series of 10 lithographs publis...

Salvador DALI (1904-1969) Casanova : Snail lady, 1967 Original etching Signed in the plate On vellum Rives 38 x 28 cm (c. 14.9 x 11 inch) REFERENCES : - Catalog raisonné Field #67-...

This exquisite lithograph after Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), titled 8.10.64. XII, from the folio Le Gout du Bonheur, trois carnets d`atelier (The Taste of Happiness, Three Studio Sketc...

His series "Room" or "My carnival" evokes the fantasy of the mistress, fetishist eroticism, 5 to 7, free fantasy. Eric produces erotic art without ever biting into porn-chic always being more obsessed with aesthetics than with simulacrum. If he worships more than one of these predecessors who poured into more outrage, it is freely that he suggests to the imagination to imagine without capturing the fantasy of the viewer. The choice had been made of very high quality prints: cotton fiber base baryta paper without chlorine and high grammage (310 gr / m²), pigment inks. They carry on the back an authentication label signed by Eric Ceccarini The enhancement of this limited edition of 100 copies is ensured by the use of a unique high-quality box to keep the 12 fine art prints This is edition #1/100 Eric is a Belgian artist born in 1965. He gained a Degree in Photography from INFAC, Brussels in 1987. Since then he has been a fashion photographer working with many of the top houses. Elle, Marie-Claire, L'Oréal, Levi's, Coca Cola, Virgin, Saab, Delvaux, Lowe Lintas and Ogilvy are some of his clients. Among other distinctions, his photography for the Saab cabrio 9-3 campaign was awarded the Silver Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. Eric is set apart from many of his colleagues by his way of shunning technical artifice and working in natural light. This results in soft, velvety, almost painterly images. Nowadays in his artistic works, he captures women's essence and soul, transcending mere physical representation. Eric's "AMNIOS" series of soul portraits- the model appear in suspended animation, as if they were about to born, and full of hidden secrets. This represents a new conceptual departure for Eric, who began as a fashion photographer, moving on to classic artistic nudes...

This exquisite lithograph after Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), titled L’Ecuyere et le clown (The Equestrienne and the Clown), from Verve, Revue Artistique et Litteraire, La Comedie Humai...

Medium: original xylograph. Printed in 1956 and published in Milan by Groupe Espace for the very rare 1956-57 volume of Documenti d'Arte d'Oggi. Image size: 10 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches (26...

Screen print realized by Antonio Vangelli in the mid-20th Century. Edition of 17/30, hand signed and numbered in pencil. Includes a blue wooden frame cm. 74x53.5 Very good condition.

Medium: lithograph (after the poster). Printed in Paris in 1950 by Mourlot Freres, this lithograph faithfully reproduces the original Toulouse-Lautrec poster in a smaller-size format...

1641. Etching on cream wove paper, 5 1/16 x 7 11/16 inches (128 x 195 mm), narrow margins. Printed 19th century on a remainder which has a partially trimmed, printed image of a Virgi...

Raoul DUFY (1877-1953) Peaches and Cherries Lithograph Signed in the plate On paper 30 x 24 cm (c. 11.8 x 9.4 in) Excellent condition

This exquisite lithograph after Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), titled 8.10.64. VIII, from the folio Le Gout du Bonheur, trois carnets d`atelier (The Taste of Happiness, Three Studio Sket...

This framed original invitation celebrates the recent works of Jasper Johns, presented at Brooke Alexander Gallery. The invitation features Johns' artwork Two Ale Cans, symbolizing t...

Werner Bronkhorst, Mockney, 2025 Giclée print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks 43 x 33 cm (16.9 x 13 in) ...

James Lesesne Wells, 'Sisters', linocut, edition not stated but small, 1928. Signed, titled, and annotated 'imp' in pencil. A fine impression on off-white wove Japan paper, with wide margins (1 7/8 to 3 3/4 inches), in excellent condition. Printed by the artist. Very scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 8 3/16 x 6 3/4 inches (208 x 171 mm); sheet size 13 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches (343 x 273 mm). Exhibition and Literature: 'Narratives of African American Art and Identity: The David C. Driskell Collection,' The Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, extensive touring exhibition, 1998-2000. Collections: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution (Anacostia Community Museum). ABOUT THE ARTIST “Wells is more than an artist with a deep concern for his fellow man. He carries many of his themes a step further into an apocalyptic world, a world of revelation and shifting lights. … He works on large blocks in a bold free style. … His work has a vigor, therefore, that is not often used in the medium today.” —Jacob Kainen (painter, critic, and collector) from Richard J. Powell’s 1986 essay Phoenix Ascending: The Art of James Lesesne Wells. James Lesesne Wells was an American painter, printmaker, educator, and pioneering figure of the Harlem Renaissance, whose work established a vital connection between African heritage, modernist form, and African American cultural identity. Known for his innovative use of linoleum and woodblock printing, Wells played a key role in shaping 20th-century African American art and inspired countless students throughout his lengthy career as a teacher at Howard University. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Wells' early exposure to the arts came through church and community, where African American cultural traditions were central. He pursued formal artistic training at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (earning a B.A. in 1924), followed by studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation, where he encountered European modernists as well as traditional African sculpture, which profoundly influenced his style. Wells moved to New York in the late 1920s, swiftly immersing himself in the lively artistic and intellectual scene of Harlem. There, he became associated with artists, writers, and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance, contributing to the growth of Black cultural identity. Considered a mentor to many famed artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Wells served as director of a summer art workshop in Harlem where his assistants included Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, and Palmer Hayden...

Paper Size: 4.25 x 6 inches ( 10.795 x 15.24 cm ) Image Size: 4.25 x 6 inches ( 10.795 x 15.24 cm ) Framed: Yes Frame Size: Condition: A-: Near Mint, very light signs of handling A...

This exquisite lithograph by Henri Matisse (1869–1954), titled La Blouse Roumaine (The Romanian Blouse), from Verve, Revue Artistique et Litteraire, Vo...

This exquisite lithograph after Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), titled 8.10.64. I, from the folio Le Gout du Bonheur, trois carnets d`atelier (The Taste of Happiness, Three Studio Sketchb...

Paper Size: 13.25 x 17 inches ( 33.655 x 43.18 cm ) Image Size: 13.25 x 17 inches ( 33.655 x 43.18 cm ) Framed: Yes Frame Size: H: 14.25 x W: 18 x D: .75 in. Condition: A: Mint ...

This exquisite lithograph by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled L’Oiseau s’envole sur la zone poussée d’or sur les collines ensoleillées (The Bird Flies Over the Golden Zone on the Sunlit...

Medium: lithograph (after the poster). Printed in 1897 on smooth wove paper and published in Paris by Librairie Nilsson. Image size: 8 x 6 1/2 inches (207 x 164 mm). Sheet size: 12 1...

Etching on vélin de Rives BFK paper. Paper Size: 11.5 x 9 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Lysistrata, 1934. Published by The Limited E...

Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) - Concetto Spaziale Lithograph from 1975. Edition 371/575 (Photocopy of the colophone is included). Dimensions of work: 31 x 24 cm. Each copy of this li...

This vintage blank notecard, published by te Neues Publishing, features artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat and is a rare example of his painting titled "Hardware Store." Elegantly frame...

This exquisite lithograph after Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), titled 20.5.64. VIII, from the folio Le Gout du Bonheur, trois carnets d`atelier (The Taste of Happiness, Three Studio Sket...

Lithograph, stencil on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.4 x 9.65 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, XXe siècle, Nouvelle série N° 7...

This exquisite lithograph after Henri Matisse (1869–1954), titled Madame Matisse (Mrs. Matisse), from the album Portraits par Henri Matisse (Portraits by Henri Matisse), originates f...

Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper Size: 13 x 9.5 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné references: Cain, Julien, and Fernand Mourlot. Chagall Lit...

This exquisite lithograph by David Hockney (born 1937), titled Letter K, from the folio Hockney's Alphabet, Drawings by David Hockney, originates from the 1991 edition published by A...

This exquisite lithograph by Henri Matisse (1869–1954), titled Frontispice, Vence 1944–1948 (Frontispiece, Vence 1944–1948), from Verve, Revue Artistique et Litteraire, Vol. VI, No. ...

Paper Size: 4.25 x 6 inches ( 10.795 x 15.24 cm ) Image Size: 3.75 x 5.75 inches ( 9.525 x 14.605 cm ) Framed: Yes Frame Size: H: 17.25 x W: 13 x D: 1.25 in. Condition: A-: Near Mint, very light signs of handling Additional Details: This vintage blank...

Medium: lithograph (after the original lithograph poster). During the late 1940's and throughout the 1950's, Marc Chagall created a series of posters at the atelier of Mourlot Freres...

Portrait of Gene Autry, by Frank Romero This print was featured in “Dreamland”, the first solo exhibition of a Chicano artist at MOLAA (Museum of Latin American Art). This is the f...

This exquisite lithograph after Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), titled 8.10.64. X, from the folio Le Gout du Bonheur, trois carnets d`atelier (The Taste of Happiness, Three Studio Sketchb...

Samuel Chamberlain, 'Manhattan Old and New', drypoint, 1929, edition 100, Chamberlain and Kingsland 81. Signed, titled, and numbered '81/100' in pencil. Titled and annotated '30.00' in pencil, in the artist's hand, bottom margin. Matted to museum standards, unframed. A superb, finely-detailed impression, with selectively wiped plate tone, on heavy Rives cream wove paper; full margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/4 inches), in excellent condition. The subject of the print is the lower Manhattan cityscape just before the Depression. Image size 8 3/4 x 6 13/16 inches (222 x 173 mm); sheet size 12 3/4 x 10 inches (324 x 254 mm). Impressions of this work are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and the Zimmerli Art Museum. ABOUT THE ARTIST 'There is something about the atmospheric vibrancy of an etching which imparts a peculiar and irresistible life to architectural drawing...A copper plate offers receptive ground to the meticulously detailed drawing which so often appeals to the architect'. —Samuel Chamberlain, from the Catalogue Raisonné of his prints. Samuel V. Chamberlain (1896 - 1975), printmaker, photographer, author, and teacher, was born in Iowa. His family moved to Aberdeen, Washington in 1901, and in 1913, Chamberlain enrolled in the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studied architecture under Carl Gould. By 1915, he was enrolled in the School of Architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. With the United States' involvement in the First World War, Chamberlain sailed to France, where he volunteered in the American Field Service. In 1918, he was transferred to the United States Army to complete his tour of duty. After the war, he returned to Boston and resumed his architectural studies, which he eventually discontinued, working for a few years as a commercial artist. Chamberlain received the American Field Service Scholarship in 1923, which he used to travel to Spain, North Africa, and Italy. In 1924 he was living in Paris, where he studied lithography with Gaston Dorfinant and etching and drypoint with Edouard Léon, publishing his first etching the following year. In 1927, he studied drypoint with Malcolm Osborne...

Nicholas Panesis, 'Negro', 1934, color lithograph, edition 18. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered 8/28 in pencil. Initialed in the stone, lower right. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on buff wove paper, with margins (1 1/8 to 2 3/8 inches). Minor glue staining at the extreme sheet edges verso, where previously taped (not visible recto), otherwise in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 10 5/8 x 8 1/2 inches; (270 x 216 mm); sheet size 14 13/16 x 10 15/16 inches (376 x 278 mm). Created for the California Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project (WPA). Scarce. Impressions of this work are held in the public collections of La Salle University Art Museum (Philadelphia), U.S. General Services Administration, and Weisman Art Museum (University of Minnesota). ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in Massachusetts, Nicholas Panesis (1913-1967) studied art at Syracuse University, NY, and went on to teach ceramics at Alfred University, NY. Panesis moved to San Francisco in the early 1930s shortly before settling in Los Angeles, where he worked for different animation studios...

This limited edition print, created in 1955, is produced on thick, high-quality paper and is hand-numbered 32 out of 150 in pencil. It features a facsimile signature of the artist. T...

Linocut on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.4 x 9.65 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Catalogue raisonné references: Catalogue raisonné reference: Matis...

Etching and drypoint on heavy cream laid paper, 3 3/4 x 3 1/4 inches (96 x 83 mm), narrow margins. In very good condition with some minor surface soiling. [Björklund's second state ...

This first edition lithograph titled Acrobatics comes from Chagall's Lithographs Volume II and is catalogued as Mourlot 401. Printed in 1963 by the prestigious Mourlot Frères atelier...

This exquisite lithograph after Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), titled Mesure hermetique (Hermetic Measure), from the folio Taureaux, Lithographies de Jean Cocteau (Bulls, Lithographs by J...

Medium: lithograph (after the pencil drawing). Printed in Paris in 1952 by Mourlot Freres in an edition of 1500. The total sheet (including margins) measures 12 3/8 x 9 5/8 inches (3...

Allen Jones (b.1937) Shoe 1968 Etching 96/100 21.6 x 16.0 cm Frame: 50.5 x 40.5 cm Signed Allen Jones studied at Hornsey College of Art from 1955 to 1959 and the Royal College of Ar...

Leon Bibel, 'Unemployed Marchers', 2-color lithograph, c. 1938, edition 25. Signed, titled, and numbered '2/25' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression on off-white, wove paper, w...

This exquisite lithograph after Henri Matisse (1869–1954), titled Series L, Variation 6, originates from the rare 1943 folio Henri Matisse, Dessins, Themes et Variations. Published by Martin Fabiani, Editeur, Paris, and printed by Georges Duval, Paris, on February 27, 1943, this edition presents a suite of drawings that encapsulate Matisse’s lifelong pursuit of purity in draftsmanship and composition. Created under the artist’s supervision, each plate demonstrates Matisse’s mastery of contour and simplicity, transforming minimal gestures into harmonies of balance and grace that evoke both strength and serenity. Executed on velin pur fil paper, this lithograph measures 9.62 x 12.88 inches (24.44 x 32.72 cm). It is signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued, in accordance with the authorized 1943 publication format. Produced during wartime Paris under the direction of publisher Martin Fabiani, this folio embodies Matisse’s commitment to artistic renewal through discipline, sensitivity, and elegance. It remains a landmark in 20th-century printmaking, celebrated for the lyrical clarity and modernity of its graphic vision. Artwork Details: Artist: After Henri Matisse (1869–1954) Title: Series L, Variation 6, from Henri Matisse, Dessins, Themes et Variations, 1943 Medium: Lithograph on velin pur fil paper Dimensions: Paper size 9.62 x 12.88 inches (24.44 x 32.72 cm) Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued Date: 1943 Publisher: Martin Fabiani, Editeur, Paris Printer: Georges Duval, Paris Catalogue raisonne reference: Duthuit, Claude. Henri Matisse: Catalogue raisonne des ouvrages illustres. Editions Claude Duthuit, Paris, 1988, illustration 9 Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium Provenance: From the 1943 folio Henri Matisse, Dessins, Themes et Variations, published by Martin Fabiani, Editeur, Paris Notes: Excerpted from the 1943 folio (translated from French): "Finished printing in Paris, on February 27, 1943, at the expense of Martin Fabiani, publisher, with the help of Roger Lacouriere. Henri Matisse’s 'Themes and Variations' were printed by G. Duval and the preface of Aragon, printed by Fequet et Baudier. Justification of the draw—This folio has been printed in CML examples, all numbered, namely: X examples on Imperial Japan, numbered from I to X, signed by the artist; XX examples on Velin d’Arches, numbered from II to XXX, signed by the artist; and CMXX examples on Velin pur fil, numbered from XXXI to CML." About the Artist: Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was a French painter, draughtsman, sculptor, and printmaker whose bold use of color, fluid line, and decorative brilliance helped define modernism and Fauvism. Born in Le Cateau-Cambresis, Matisse trained at the Academie Julian and later in Paris, where his expressive palette and relaxed compositions challenged conventions of light and form. Alongside his contemporary and friendly rival Pablo Picasso, Matisse reshaped the course of 20th-century art, each artist pushing the other toward greater innovation and emotional depth. Over his career, he worked across a wide array of media—painting, cut-outs, printmaking, sculpture, and interior design—always emphasizing harmony, balance, and visual poetry. His works are in the permanent collections of leading museums globally, including the Musee d'Orsay, MoMA, the Tate, and the Centre Pompidou. The highest price ever paid for a Matisse artwork is approximately $80.75 million USD, achieved in 2018 at Christie's New York for Odalisque Couchee aux Magnolias (1923). Henri Matisse lithograph, Matisse Series L Variation 6, Matisse Dessins Themes et Variations, Matisse 1943...

Boris Lovet-Lorski, 'Untitled (Black Woman Crouching)', lithograph, edition 250, 1929. Signed and numbered 16 in pencil. Number 16 of Volume 2, a series of...

Keith Haring Lithograph 1982: Double-sided lithographic insert from the seminal spiral bound, 1982 Tony Shafrazi catalog published on the occasion of Haring's first gallery solo exhi...

'Tacsonia' Process print from Frederick William Hulme’s ‘Familiar Wild Flowers’, circa 1890. Hulme was known as a teacher and an amateur botanist. He was the Professor of Freehand ...

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOR (1841 - 1919) SUR LA PLAGE, a BERNEVAL (D.: S. 5) Drypoint on laid paper. The plate was created in c. 1892. Plate 5 3/8 x 3 3/4". Sheet 11 1/4 x 10 1/8". This...

Tableau, Japanese, limited edition lithograph, black, white, red, signed, number Shinoda's works have been collected by public galleries and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Museum and Metropolitan Museum (all in New York City), the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the British Museum in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Singapore Art Museum, the National Museum of Singapore, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, the Albright–Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. New York Times Obituary, March 3, 2021 by Margalit Fox, Alex Traub contributed reporting. Toko Shinoda, one of the foremost Japanese artists of the 20th century, whose work married the ancient serenity of calligraphy with the modernist urgency of Abstract Expressionism, died on Monday at a hospital in Tokyo. She was 107. Her death was announced by her gallerist in the United States. A painter and printmaker, Ms. Shinoda attained international renown at midcentury and remained sought after by major museums and galleries worldwide for more than five decades. Her work has been exhibited at, among other places, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the British Museum; and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. Private collectors include the Japanese imperial family. Writing about a 1998 exhibition of Ms. Shinoda’s work at a London gallery, the British newspaper The Independent called it “elegant, minimal and very, very composed,” adding, “Her roots as a calligrapher are clear, as are her connections with American art of the 1950s, but she is quite obviously a major artist in her own right.” As a painter, Ms. Shinoda worked primarily in sumi ink, a solid form of ink, made from soot pressed into sticks, that has been used in Asia for centuries. Rubbed on a wet stone to release their pigment, the sticks yield a subtle ink that, because it is quickly imbibed by paper, is strikingly ephemeral. The sumi artist must make each brush stroke with all due deliberation, as the nature of the medium precludes the possibility of reworking even a single line. “The color of the ink which is produced by this method is a very delicate one,” Ms. Shinoda told The Business Times of Singapore in 2014. “It is thus necessary to finish one’s work very quickly. So the composition must be determined in my mind before I pick up the brush. Then, as they say, the painting just falls off the brush.” Ms. Shinoda painted almost entirely in gradations of black, with occasional sepias and filmy blues. The ink sticks she used had been made for the great sumi artists of the past, some as long as 500 years ago. Her line — fluid, elegant, impeccably placed — owed much to calligraphy. She had been rigorously trained in that discipline from the time she was a child, but she had begun to push against its confines when she was still very young. Deeply influenced by American Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell, whose work she encountered when she lived in New York in the late 1950s, Ms. Shinoda shunned representation. “If I have a definite idea, why paint it?,” she asked in an interview with United Press International in 1980. “It’s already understood and accepted. A stand of bamboo is more beautiful than a painting could be. Mount Fuji is more striking than any possible imitation.” Spare and quietly powerful, making abundant use of white space, Ms. Shinoda’s paintings are done on traditional Chinese and Japanese papers, or on backgrounds of gold, silver or platinum leaf. Often asymmetrical, they can overlay a stark geometric shape with the barest calligraphic strokes. The combined effect appears to catch and hold something evanescent — “as elusive as the memory of a pleasant scent or the movement of wind,” as she said in a 1996 interview. Ms. Shinoda’s work also included lithographs; three-dimensional pieces of wood and other materials; and murals in public spaces, including a series made for the Zojoji Temple in Tokyo. The fifth of seven children of a prosperous family, Ms. Shinoda was born on March 28, 1913, in Dalian, in Manchuria, where her father, Raijiro, managed a tobacco plant. Her mother, Joko, was a homemaker. The family returned to Japan when she was a baby, settling in Gifu, midway between Kyoto and Tokyo. One of her father’s uncles, a sculptor and calligrapher, had been an official seal carver to the Meiji emperor. He conveyed his love of art and poetry to Toko’s father, who in turn passed it to Toko. “My upbringing was a very traditional one, with relatives living with my parents,” she said in the U.P.I. interview. “In a scholarly atmosphere, I grew up knowing I wanted to make these things, to be an artist.” She began studying calligraphy at 6, learning, hour by hour, impeccable mastery over line. But by the time she was a teenager, she had begun to seek an artistic outlet that she felt calligraphy, with its centuries-old conventions, could not afford. “I got tired of it and decided to try my own style,” Ms. Shinoda told Time magazine in 1983. “My father always scolded me for being naughty and departing from the traditional way, but I had to do it.” Moving to Tokyo as a young adult, Ms. Shinoda became celebrated throughout Japan as one of the country’s finest living calligraphers, at the time a signal honor for a woman. She had her first solo show in 1940, at a Tokyo gallery. During World War II, when she forsook the city for the countryside near Mount Fuji, she earned her living as a calligrapher, but by the mid-1940s she had started experimenting with abstraction. In 1954 she began to achieve renown outside Japan with her inclusion in an exhibition of Japanese calligraphy at MoMA. In 1956, she traveled to New York. At the time, unmarried Japanese women could obtain only three-month visas for travel abroad, but through zealous renewals, Ms. Shinoda managed to remain for two years. She met many of the titans of Abstract Expressionism there, and she became captivated by their work. “When I was in New York in the ’50s, I was often included in activities with those artists, people like Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Motherwell and so forth,” she said in a 1998 interview with The Business Times. “They were very generous people, and I was often invited to visit their studios, where we would share ideas and opinions on our work. It was a great experience being together with people who shared common feelings.” During this period, Ms. Shinoda’s work was sold in the United States by Betty Parsons, the New York dealer who represented Pollock, Rothko and many of their contemporaries. Returning to Japan, Ms. Shinoda began to fuse calligraphy and the Expressionist aesthetic in earnest. The result was, in the words of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland in 1997, “an art of elegant simplicity and high drama.” Among Ms. Shinoda’s many honors, she was depicted, in 2016, on a Japanese postage stamp. She is the only Japanese artist to be so honored during her lifetime. No immediate family members survive. When she was quite young and determined to pursue a life making art, Ms. Shinoda made the decision to forgo the path that seemed foreordained for women of her generation. “I never married and have no children,” she told The Japan Times in 2017. “And I suppose that it sounds strange to think that my paintings are in place of them — of course they are not the same thing at all. But I do say, when paintings that I have made years ago are brought back into my consciousness, it seems like an old friend, or even a part of me, has come back to see me.” Works of a Woman's Hand Toko Shinoda bases new abstractions on ancient calligraphy Down a winding side street in the Aoyama district, western Tokyo. into a chunky white apartment building, then up in an elevator small enough to make a handful of Western passengers friends or enemies for life. At the end of a hall on the fourth floor, to the right, stands a plain brown door. To be admitted is to go through the looking glass. Sayonara today. Hello (Konichiwa) yesterday and tomorrow. Toko Shinoda, 70, lives and works here. She can be, when she chooses, on e of Japans foremost calligraphers, master of an intricate manner of writing that traces its lines back some 3,000 years to ancient China. She is also an avant-garde artist of international renown, whose abstract paintings and lithographs rest in museums around the world. These diverse talents do not seem to belong in the same epoch. Yet they have somehow converged in this diminutive woman who appears in her tiny foyer, offering slippers and ritual bows of greeting. She looks like someone too proper to chip a teacup, never mind revolutionize an old and hallowed art form She wears a blue and white kimono of her own design. Its patterns, she explains, are from Edo, meaning the period of the Tokugawa shoguns, before her city was renamed Tokyo in 1868. Her black hair is pulled back from her face, which is virtually free of lines and wrinkles. except for the gold-rimmed spectacles perched low on her nose (this visionary is apparently nearsighted). Shinoda could have stepped directly from a 19th century Meji print. Her surroundings convey a similar sense of old aesthetics, a retreat in the midst of a modern, frenetic city. The noise of the heavy traffic on a nearby elevated highway sounds at this height like distant surf. delicate bamboo shades filter the daylight. The color arrangement is restful: low ceilings of exposed wood, off-white walls, pastel rugs of blue, green and gray. It all feels so quintessentially Japanese that Shinoda’s opening remarks come as a surprise. She points out (through a translator) that she was not born in Japan at all but in Darien, Manchuria. Her father had been posted there to manage a tobacco company under the aegis of the occupying Japanese forces, which seized the region from Russia in 1905. She says,”People born in foreign places are very free in their thinking, not restricted” But since her family went back to Japan in 1915, when she was two, she could hardly remember much about a liberated childhood? She answers,”I think that if my mother had remained in Japan, she would have been an ordinary Japanese housewife. Going to Manchuria, she was able to assert her own personality, and that left its mark on me.” Evidently so. She wears her obi low on the hips, masculine style. The Porcelain aloofness she displays in photographs shatters in person. Her speech is forceful, her expression animated and her laugh both throaty and infectious. The hand she brings to her mouth to cover her amusement (a traditional female gesture of modesty) does not stand a chance. Her father also made a strong impression on the fifth of his seven children:”He came from a very old family, and he was quite strict in some ways and quite liberal in others.” He owned one of the first three bicycles ever imported to Japan and tinkered with it constantly He also decided that his little daughter would undergo rigorous training in a procrustean antiquity. “I was forced to study from age six on to learn calligraphy,” Shinoda says, The young girl dutifully memorized and copied the accepted models. In one sense, her father had pushed her in a promising direction, one of the few professional fields in Japan open to females. Included among the ancient terms that had evolved around calligraphy was onnade, or woman's writing. Heresy lay ahead. By the time she was 15, she had already been through nine years of intensive discipline, “I got tired of it and decided to try my own style. My father always scolded me for being naughty and departing from the traditional way, but I had to do it.” She produces a brush and a piece of paper to demonstrate the nature of her rebellion. “This is kawa, the accepted calligraphic character for river,” she says, deftly sketching three short vertical strokes. “But I wanted to use more than three lines to show the force of the river.” Her brush flows across the white page, leaving a recognizable river behind, also flowing.” The simple kawa in the traditional language was not enough for me. I wanted to find a new symbol to express the word river.” Her conviction grew that ink could convey the ineffable, the feeling, "as she says, of wind blowing softly.” Another demonstration. She goes to the sliding wooden door of an anteroom and disappears in back of it; the only trace of her is a triangular swatch of the right sleeve of her kimono, which she has arranged for that purpose. A realization dawns. The task of this artist is to paint that three sided pattern so that the invisible woman attached to it will be manifest to all viewers. Gen, painted especially for TIME, shows Shinoda’s theory in practice. She calls the work “my conception of Japan in visual terms.” A dark swath at the left, punctuated by red, stands for history. In the center sits a Chinese character gen, which means in the present or actuality. A blank pattern at the right suggests an unknown future. Once out of school, Shinoda struck off on a path significantly at odds with her culture. She recognized marriage for what it could mean to her career (“a restriction”) and decided against it. There was a living to be earned by doing traditional calligraphy:she used her free time to paint her variations. In 1940 a Tokyo gallery exhibited her work. (Fourteen years would pass before she got a second show.)War came, and bad times for nearly everyone, including the aspiring artist , who retreated to a rural area near Mount Fuji and traded her kimonos for eggs. In 1954 Shinoda’s work was included in a group exhibit at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. Two years later, she overcame bureaucratic obstacles to visit the U.S.. Unmarried Japanese women are allowed visas for only three months, patiently applying for two-month extensions, one at a time, Shinoda managed to travel the country for two years. She pulls out a scrapbook from this period. Leafing through it, she suddenly raises a hand and touches her cheek:”How young I looked!” An inspection is called for. The woman in the grainy, yellowing newspaper photograph could easily be the on e sitting in this room. Told this, she nods and smiles. No translation necessary. Her sojourn in the U.S. proved to be crucial in the recognition and development of Shinoda’s art. Celebrities such as actor Charles Laughton and John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet bought her paintings and spread the good word. She also saw the works of the abstract expressionists, then the rage of the New York City art world, and realized that these Western artists, coming out of an utterly different tradition, were struggling toward the same goal that had obsessed her. Once she was back home, her work slowly made her famous. Although Shinoda has used many materials (fabric, stainless steel, ceramics, cement), brush and ink remain her principal means of expression. She had said, “As long as I am devoted to the creation of new forms, I can draw even with muddy water.” Fortunately, she does not have to. She points with evident pride to her ink stone, a velvety black slab of rock, with an indented basin, that is roughly a foot across and two feet long. It is more than 300 years old. Every working morning, Shinoda pours about a third of a pint of water into it, then selects an ink stick from her extensive collection, some dating back to China’s Ming dynasty. Pressing stick against stone, she begins rubbing. Slowly, the dried ink dissolves in the water and becomes ready for the brush. So two batches of sumi (India ink) are exactly alike; something old, something new. She uses color sparingly. Her clear preference is black and all its gradations. “In some paintings, sumi expresses blue better than blue.” It is time to go downstairs to the living quarters. A niece, divorced and her daughter,10,stay here with Shinoda; the artist who felt forced to renounce family and domesticity at the outset of her career seems welcome to it now. Sake is offered, poured into small cedar boxes and happily accepted. Hold carefully. Drink from a corner. Ambrosial. And just right for the surroundings and the hostess. A conservative renegade; a liberal traditionalist; a woman steeped in the male-dominated conventions that she consistently opposed. Her trail blazing accomplishments are analogous to Picasso’s. When she says goodbye, she bows. --by Paul Gray...

Tracey Emin Every Bodies Been There (signed twice), 1998 Lithograph on paper Underneath that existing plate signature, Tracey Emin has, exceptionally hand signed and dated the work f...

Dale Nichols, 'Partners', lithograph, edition 250, 1950. Signed in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (7/8 to 1 5/8 inches); tw...

Werner Bronkhorst, Walk On Water, 2025 Giclée print on heavyweight 395gsm matte Canson Infinity PhotoArt ProCanvas, made with long-lasting Epson archival inks 43 x 33 cm (16.9 x 13...

Tracey Emin I Can Still Love, 2012 Home made Inkjet Print 11 7/10 × 16 1/2 inches Limited Edition Rare Edition of approx. 150 (unnumbered) Hand signed and dated 2012 with the red Em...

Ian Hugo, 'Together', from the portfolio 'Ten Engravings'. engraving, 1946, edition 50. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '22/50' in pencil. A fine impression, with delicate overall plate tone, on cream wove paper, the full sheet with wide margins (2 7/8 to 5 1/2 inches), in excellent condition. With the blind stamp 'madeleine-claude jobrack EDITIONS', in the bottom right margin. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 5 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches (149 x 124 mm); sheet size 15 x 11 1/8 inches (381 x 283 mm). Collection: Indianapolis Museum of Art. Ian Hugo originally created "Ten Engravings" in 1945 and the portfolio included a foreword by his partner and collaborator, Anais Nin. In 1978, Hugo republished the portfolio with Madeleine-Claude Jobrack, an American master printmaker who studied under Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17, Paris, and with Johnny Friedlaender. When Jobrack returned to the States she managed the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Studio in New York before opening her own printing studio, Madeleine-Claude Jobrak Editions. “The sign of the true artist is one who creates a complete universe, invents new plants, new animals, new figures to transfer to us a new vision of the universe in which dream and reality fuse. Ian Hugo's plants have eyes, the birds have the delicacy of dragonflies, their feathers have the shape of fans. Humor is apparent in every gesture. He uses a fine spider web to give a feeling of flight, speed, lightness. The body of a woman reveals the structure of a leaf, a plant. Wings are moving in a world unified by mythological themes. This is an animated world, humorous and levitating, elusive and decorative, which by its unique forms and shapes gives us the sensation of a rebirth, a liberation from the usual, the familiar, a visit to a new planet.” —Anais Nin, from the forward to the portfolio ‘Ten Engravings’ ABOUT THE ARTIST Ian Hugo was born Hugh Parker Guiler in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 15, 1898. His childhood was spent in Puerto Rico—a "tropical paradise," the memory of which stayed with him and surfaced in both his engravings and his films. He attended school in Scotland and graduated from Columbia University where he studied economics and literature. Hugo was working with the National City Bank when he met and married author Anais Nin in 1923. The couple moved to Paris the following year, where Nin's diary and Guiler's artistic aspirations flowered. Guiler feared his business associates would not understand his interests in art and music, let alone those of his wife, so he began a second, creative life as Ian Hugo. Ian and Anais moved to New York in 1939. The following year he took up engraving and etching, working at Stanley William Hayter’s experimental printmaking workshop Atelier 17, established at the New School for Social Research. Hugo began producing surreal images often used to illustrate Nin's books. For Nin, his unwavering love and financial support were indispensable—Hugo was the "fixed center, core... my home, my refuge" (Sept. 16, 1937, Nearer the Moon, The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin, 1937-!939). Fictionalized portraits of Higo and Nin appear in Philip Kaufman's 1990 film drama of a literary love triangle, Henry & June. Inspired by comments that viewers saw motion in his engravings, Hugo took up filmmaking. He asked the avant-garde filmmaker Sasha Hammid for instruction but was told, "Use the camera yourself, make your own mistakes, make your own style." Hugo embarked on an exploration of the film medium as a vehicle to delve into his dreams, his unconscious, and his memories. Without a specific plan, He would collect resonant images, then reorder or superimpose them, seeking a sense of self-connection through the poetic juxtapositions he created. These intuitive explorations resembled the mystical evocations of his engravings, which he described in 1946 as "hieroglyphs of a language in which our unconscious is trying to convey important, urgent messages." In the underwater world of his film ‘Bells of Atlantis,’ the light originates from the world above the surface; it is otherworldly, out of place, yet essential. In ‘Jazz of Lights,’ the street lights of Times Square become in Nin's words, "an ephemeral flow of sensations." This flow that she also calls "phantasmagorical" had a crucial impact on Stan Brakhage, who said that without Jazz of Lights (1954), "there would have been no Anticipation of the Night" his autobiographical film which ushered in a new era of experimental modernist filmmaking. Hugo lived the last two decades of his life in a New York apartment high above street level. In the evenings, surrounded by an electrically illuminated man...

Bedroom at Arles is an offset lithograph by Roy Lichtenstein, from a portfolio of six prints published by the Guggenheim Museum, now out of print. In this witty reinterpretation of V...