Francesco Clemente

Geography West

1992

"Mlle Landsberg" (grade planche, pl. 16), 1914 Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) Signed and Numbered Lower Right Edition 12/15 Image size: 7 7/8 x 4 5/16 inches Sheet size: 17 11/16 x 12 1/2 inches With frame: 19 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches Henri Matisse came from a family who were of Flemish origin and lived near the Belgian border. At eight o'clock on the evening of December 31, 1869, he was born in his grandparents' home in the town of Le Cateau in the cheerless far north of France. His father was a self-made seed merchant who was a mixture of determination and tightly coiled tension. Henri had no clear idea of what he wanted to do with his life. He was a twenty-year-old law clerk convalescing from appendicitis when he first began to paint, using a box of colors given to him by his mother. Little more than a year later, in 1890, he had abandoned law and was studying art in Paris. The classes consisted of drawing from plaster casts and nude models and of copying paintings in the Louvre. He soon rebelled against the school's conservative atmosphere; he replaced the dark tones of his earliest works with brighter colors that reflected his awareness of Impressionism. Matisse was also a violinist; he took an odd pride in the notion that if his painting eye failed, he could support his family by fiddling on the streets of Paris. Henri found a girlfriend while studying art, and he fathered a daughter, Marguerite, by her in 1894. In 1898 he married another woman, Amelie Parayre. She adopted the beloved Marguerite; they eventually had two sons, Jean, a sculptor and Pierre who became an eminent art dealer. Relations between Matisse and his wife were often strained. He often dallied with other women, and they finally separated in 1939 over a model who had been hired as a companion for Mme. Matisse. She was Madame Lydia, and after Mme. Matisse left, she remained with Matisse until he died. Matisse spent the summer of 1905 working with Andre Derain in the small Mediterranean seaport of Collioure. They began using bright and dissonant colors. When they and their colleagues exhibited together, they caused a sensation. The critics and the public considered their paintings to be so crude and so roughly crafted that the group became known as Les Fauves (the wild beasts). By 1907, Matisse moved on from the concerns of Fauvism and turned his attention to studies of the human figure. He had begun to sculpt a few years earlier. In 1910, when he saw an exhibition of Islamic art, he was fascinated with the multiple patterned areas and adapted the decorative universe of the miniatures to his interiors. As a continuation of his interest in the "exotic", Matisse made extended trips to Morocco in 1912 and 1913. At the end of 1917, Matisse moved to Nice; he would spend part of each year there for the remainder of his life. A meticulous dandy, he wore a light tweed jacket amd a tie when he painted. He never used a palette, but instead squeezed his colors on to plain white kitchen dishes...

Dame Laura Knight "The Circus Dressing Room" 1925 Etching Ed. 20 Signed Lower Right Image Size: approx. 14 x 10 inches Framed Size: approx. 23.5 x 17.75 inches An English impressio...

20th century figurative etching print coloured with watercolour by Polish artist Leszek Rozga. Print depicts three followers of Judaism with star of David above them. Artwork is quit...

"Alter Ego" - Original Watercolor Hand-Painted Etching on Paper - 35/120 Edition Variable In this highly detailed hand painted etching, artist Claus Sievert (American, 1949-2009) depicts a clown gazing into a handheld brass mirror holding a mask with matching face paint. The clown sits in what appears to be a dressing room surrounded with various costumes. This etching is uniquely hand painted in watercolor and gouache. The clown's eyes are hand drawn with added details throughout the face and hair. Signed, numbered, and titled along the bottom edge of paper, "35/120 E.V. "Alter Ego" Claus Sievert" Presented in a new white mat with foam core backing. Mat size: 24"H x 20"W Paper size: 18.38"H x 15"W Image, Claus Sievert, (American, 1949–2009) nicknamed “The Tree Guy," was a German-born American printmaker and illustrator, who studied etching in an art college in Brunswick, Germany, in 1971. He began his career as an art teacher in Germany, teaching printmaking, art history, advertising design, and visual communication, and became a full-time artist in 1981. Sievert created limited-edition etchings from copper plates and a hand-turned press which he then individually hand-colored. Sievert’s work won awards, illustrated a children’s book by Leo Tolstoy, was commissioned by the Sierra Club and Golden Gate National Recreation Area to illustrate their publications, and he had his images published in several calendars. He was known for his prints highlighting forms and the beauty of nature. His art was also featured in Ansel Adams Gallery, Muir Woods...