Ernst Haeckel

Art Forms in Nature (Plate 80 - Pentremites) — 1899 Celebration of Natural Forms

1899

Ernst Haeckel, 'Art Forms in Nature' (Plate 56 - Calanus), color lithograph, 1899. Signed and titled in typeset, upper left. Titled 'Tafel 56 — Calanus'...

Ernst Haeckel, 'Art Forms in Nature' (Plate 79 - Basiliscus), offset lithograph, 1899. Signed and titled in typeset, upper left. Titled 'Tafel 79 — Basi...

Ernst Haeckel, 'Art Forms in Nature' (Plate 49 - Heliactis), offset lithograph, 1899. Signed and titled in typeset, upper left. Titled 'Tafel 49 — Helia...

Samella Sanders Lewis, 'The House of Shango', lithograph, 1992, edition 60. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '31/60' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on Arches cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 1/4 to 3 1/2 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 24 x 18 inches (610 x 457 mm); sheet size 30 inches x 22 1/4 inches (762 x 565 mm). Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THIS WORK “The title of this piece is an unmistakable harkening to African roots. Shango is a religious practice with origins in Yoruba (Nigerian) belief, deifying a god of thunder by the same name. Shango has been adopted in the Caribbean, most notably in Trinidad and Tobago, a fact that underscores the importance of transnationalism to Samella Lewis’s piece. Her work often grapples with issues of race in the U.S., and The House of Shango is no exception. Through a reliance on the gradual transformation of Shango—one that took place across continents and time—Lewis’s piece forms a powerful link between black Americans and their African and Caribbean counterparts. The figure depicted in the piece appears to emerge, quite literally, from the house of Shango. Given the roots and transformative process of the religion, The House of Shango can draw attention to the historical intersections to which black American culture is indebted.” —Laura Woods, Scripps College, Ruth Chander Williamson Gallery, Collection Highlights, 2018 ABOUT THE ARTIST Samella Lewis’ lifelong career as an artist, art historian, critic, curator, collector, and advocate of African American art has helped empower generations of artists in the United States and worldwide, earning her the designation “the Godmother of African American art.” Born and raised in Jim Crow era New Orleans, Lewis began her art education at Dillard University in 1941, transferring to Hampton University in Virginia, where she earned her B. A. and master's degrees. She completed her master's and a doctorate in art history and cultural anthropology at Ohio State University in 1951, becoming the first female African American to earn a doctorate in fine art and art history. Lewis taught art at Morgan State University while completing her doctorate. She became the first Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Florida A&M University in 1953. That same year Lewis also became the first African American to convene the National Conference of African American artists held at Florida A&M University. She was a professor at the State University of New York, California State University, Long Beach, and at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Lewis co-founded, with Bernie Casey, the Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Los Angeles in 1970. In 1973, she served on the selection committee for the exhibition BLACKS: USA: 1973 held at the New York Cultural Center. Samella Lewis's 1969 catalog 'Black Artists on Art', featured accomplished black artists typically overlooked in mainstream art galleries. She said of the book, "I wanted to make a chronology of African American artists, and artists of African descent, to document our history. The historians weren't doing it. It was really about the movement." From the 1960s through the 1970s, her work, which included lithographs, linocuts, and serigraphs, reflected her concerns with the values of human dignity, democracy, and freedom of expression. Between 1969 and 70, Lewis and E.J. Montgomery were consultants for a groundbreaking exhibition at the Oakland Public L designed to create greater awareness of African American history and art. Lewis was the founder of the International Review of African American Art in 1975. In 1976, she founded the Museum of African-American Art with a group of artistic, academic, business, and community leaders in Los Angeles, California. Lewis, the museum’s senior curator, organized exhibitions and developed new ways of educating the public about African American art. She celebrated African American art as an 'art of experience’ inspired by the artists’ lives. And she espoused the concept of African American art as an 'art of tradition', urging museums to explore the African roots of African American art. In 1984, Lewis produced an extensive monograph on Elizabeth Catlett, her beloved mentor at Dillard University. Lewis has been collecting art since 1942, focusing primarily on the WPA era and work created during the Harlem Renaissance. Pieces from her collection were acquired by the Hampton University Museum in Virginia, the world’s earliest collection of African American fine art...

Robert Riggs, 'Psychopathic Ward', 2-color lithograph, c. 1940, edition c. 50, Beall 60, Bassham 78. Signed, titled, and numbered '14' in pencil. Signed in the stone, lower right. A ...

Anton Schutz, 'Delaware Bridge' (Delaware, New Jersey), etching, c. 1927. Signed in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, with skillfully wiped plate tone, on BFK Rives, cream wove paper, the full sheet with margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/8 inches), in excellent condition. Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 11 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches (302 x 225 mm); sheet size 15 7/8 x 12 1/4 inches (403 x 311 mm). ABOUT THIS IMAGE The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River...

A masked performer gestures his hands, wearing bright green garb, a long hat, and jaunty black shoes with white socks. Hockney paints in loose strokes of color: garnet, sapphire, bright yellow, and emerald green. This vintage David Hockney...

This vintage exhibition poster reproduces The Boy Hidden in an Egg by David Hockney from his Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, 1969. A shirtless young man curls up inside a dark grey speckled egg, as a small bird looks on. The poster was produced in 1981 to commemorate Hockney’s 1970 exhibition at Galerie Der Spiegel...

Kitaj’s drawing is of a fisherman in profile, wearing a sou’wester: a collapsible rain hat. The image is a wry portrait, ostensibly of Albert Blake Dick, ...

Vintage David Hockney poster for the XIV 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo published as part of the official 1984 Olympic Fine Art Posters Series. The Olympic Committee commissioned 15 ...

Shading in bright turquoise above a Southwestern style thunderbird Kilim rug adorns this original exhibition poster for David Hockney's 1969 show at Andre Emmerich, New York. This po...

Printed by Petersburg Press for their exhibition of David Hockney prints and drawings at the 1981 Chicago Art Fair, this beautiful poster reproduces Hockney’s drawing Celia Wearing C...