Watercolor Figurative Prints

Il Corso is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a remarkable quality of strokes and brilliant ...

The Capitol is a beautiful lot of two hand-watercolored lithographs realized by an Italian artist of the XIX century. It represents the incredible landscape of the communal site of t...

The Capitol is a beautiful lot of two hand-watercolored lithographs realized by an Italian artist of the XIX century and later watercolored. It represents ...

La vision de l'ange is an original pencil pastel and watercolor on paper by Emile Deschler. Dated on the lower right. Very good conditions. Emile Deschler (France, 1910 - 1991) was ...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

The present hand-colored lithograph is one of several decorative images of flower-filled vases published by Nathaniel Currier. This example contains roses, tulips, forget-me-nots, and others all within a vase with gold eagle head handles and an image of a beautiful young woman the belly. 16 x 11 inches, artwork 22.5 x 18.25 inches, frame Entitled bottom center Signed in the stone, lower left "Lith. and Pub. by N. Currier" Inscribed lower right "152 Nassau St. Cor. of Spruce N.Y." Copyrighted bottom center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1848 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." with the number 249 Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting, housed in a lemon gold moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT. Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parce...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

ALLIER, Paul. Les Quatre Saisons. Estampes par Paul Alier. Folio. 11 x 14" Four lovely pochoir designs of the Four Seasons [Automme, L'Hiver, L...

Price is for one framed print. Prints sold individually. Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised ...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...

Katie Eleanor, ‘Your Hand, Your Tongue III’, 2017 Hand-coloured portrait of a regal monarch, immobilised in marble, her reigning celebrated the blooms she becomes entwined in. The characterisation is inspired by visual depictions of Lady Macbeth, in particular, John Singer Sargent’s 1889 portrait of actress Ellen Terry. Taken from The Sialia Marbles, a series of portraits containing ephemeral human sculptures taken between 2016-19. Together these works act as tales contained in a fictional sculpture hall, in direct reaction to Andre Malraux’s 1947 Le Musee Imaginaire (Museum Without Walls). Original title: 'Your Hand, Your Tongue’, 2017 Hand-coloured Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemuhle Photorag 40.5 x 30.5 cm Unique Series: The Sialia Marbles Signed and dated on verso "I’m not a sculptor, but I wanted to construct my own stories. Photographers have often used sculpture in order to challenge our idea of a “sculptural” body or object, by casting them in a two-dimensional light. I love playing with perception. A lot of my work is influenced by the nineteenth century—the pictorialist movement for instance. When photography was a new experiment, people would play around with perception tricks—Victorian paper theaters...

Handcoloured portrait of otherworldly lovers, immobilised in marble, dancing in blooming meadows. A whimsical tale of adoration, Ursa and her spiritual partner take visual cues from Titania and Bottom in Dieterle and Reinhartd’s 1936 interpretation of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Taken from The Sialia Marbles, a series of portraits containing ephemeral human sculptures taken between 2016-19. Together these works act as tales contained in a fictional sculpture hall, in direct reaction to Andre Malraux’s 1947 Le Musee Imaginaire (Museum Without Walls). Original title: URSA LOVES YOU, 2017 Hand-coloured Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemuhle Photorag 40.5 x 30.5 cm Unique Series: The Sialia Marbles Signed and dated on verso "I’m not a sculptor, but I wanted to construct my own stories. Photographers have often used sculpture in order to challenge our idea of a “sculptural” body or object, by casting them in a two-dimensional light. I love playing with perception. A lot of my work is influenced by the nineteenth century—the pictorialist movement for instance. When photography was a new experiment, people would play around with perception tricks—Victorian paper theaters...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...

Katie Eleanor, ‘Your Hand, Your Tongue’, 2017 Hand-coloured portrait of a regal monarch, immobilised in marble, her reigning celebrated the blooms she becomes entwined in. The characterisation is inspired by visual depictions of Lady Macbeth, in particular, John Singer Sargent’s 1889 portrait of actress Ellen Terry. Taken from The Sialia Marbles, a series of portraits containing ephemeral human sculptures taken between 2016-19. Together these works act as tales contained in a fictional sculpture hall, in direct reaction to Andre Malraux’s 1947 Le Musee Imaginaire (Museum Without Walls). Original title: 'Your Hand, Your Tongue’, 2017 Hand-coloured Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemuhle Photorag 40.5 x 30.5 cm Unique Series: The Sialia Marbles Signed and dated on verso "I’m not a sculptor, but I wanted to construct my own stories. Photographers have often used sculpture in order to challenge our idea of a “sculptural” body or object, by casting them in a two-dimensional light. I love playing with perception. A lot of my work is influenced by the nineteenth century—the pictorialist movement for instance. When photography was a new experiment, people would play around with perception tricks—Victorian paper theaters...

Hand-coloured portrait of nymph Daphne, immobilised in marble, as she is transformed into a laurel tree. Birthed in Greek Mythology, Daphne is associated with bodies of freshwater and is an unwilling object of the god Apollo...

PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED ITEM. MORE EXAMPLES AVAILABLE Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, present...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...

This is an exceptional edition that the artist has dedicated to various subjects of bullfighting. Salvador Aulestia published several books on the subject, and his drawings are consi...

This is a very rare litograph made by Salvador Aulestia. Only 15 were printed and signed by the artist. Particularly unique is a second partial signature on the upper side of the pap...

Salvador Aulestia produce an important exhibition dedicated to the music composer Giuseppe Verdi. The exhibition was in tour in several important locati...

The Christ was a recurring image in Salvador Aulestia's artistic path. This is a particular two color litograph in a vertical format that was attached to a bigger red cardboard to fi...

In this lithograph we can find several fundamental stylistic points of the work of the maestro Salvador Aulestia. The subject of the Christ is presented in figure, but accompanied by...

ERTÉ (Romain de Tirtoff) 1892-1990 St. Petersburg 1892-1990 (Russian/French) Title: A Star of Hollywood II Une Etoile de Hollywood II, ca.1920s Technique: Original Hand Signed Gou...

This is a limited edition (21" x 29”) archival pigment print, of an original watercolor and graphite piece, with hand embellished details on print by LA based artist. Hand painted wa...

The rich blue color bursts from the page in Georges Braque Untitled (Fleur Tombe), 1962, overtaking the black lettering and white background. Drawn onto the title page of the book “Braque Le goût de notre temps” by Albert Skira this hand applied watercolor is striking. In several strong stokes, a flower is presented with its blue petals seeming to float down the page until almost reaching the bottom.  The delicate blue touches the page which in turn lights up with brilliant flowers. The petals are slightly smudged, and you can see the brushstrokes that Braque applied to the page. PArt of what makes this unique watercolor so wonderful is that the viewer can so clearly see and feel the hand of the artist. Caught in between the flower and falling petals is the black hand...

Katie Eleanor, St Medard and the Devil II, 2019 Handcoloured portrait of a devil creature, immobilised in marble, inspired by the tale of St Medard. Purchasing on his rock, he lovin...

In Acts 2:3 of the Bible, flaming tongues lap at the disciples, conferring upon them the ability to speak languages not their own. These fiery tongues have signified the power of speech, persuasion, and the ability to preach to the masses. Ingrid Bachmann’s tongues in Pinocchio’s Dilemma are glossy as if sugarcoated and boiled into hard candies—a crystallization process. They are the only of her works that people have tried to lick. Alternately seductive and repulsive, they wag mechanically at eye-level, emitting a small wind-up machine language of their own. The tongue gives the impression an attempt to tell, a revealing of secrets. On the opposing side of the room, a rod extends slowly from a hole in the wall, inching out, then back in. Pinocchio’s nose is an instantly recognizable stand-in for lies, liars, fakes. Pinocchio originated as the protagonist of a 19th-century children’s book by the Italian writer Carlo Collodi, and was most famously adapted by The Walt Disney Company. The pre-Disney Pinocchio is unruly, violent and mischievous; his story was originally intended to be a tragedy in which the marionette is hung from an oak tree branch by his enemies. Angry Work contains a latent violence—that which is found in childhood games, stories, myths, novels, and in the tools of the everyday. Two 14-foot-long knitting needles—domestic weaponry—lean as dead as stones, cool and silent, against the wall. These weighted objects commune with three bronze tongues, pre-vocalizations, embalmed. Bronze is a silent material. Two drawings invoke Cassandra, who was promised the gift of prophecy by Apollo. When Apollo appeared to her, she refused his sexual advances. In some iterations of the story, Apollo appeared as a wolf surrounded by mice and spat on her tongue. She awoke with a taste on her tongue. Maybe metallic, maybe red. She had been granted the gift of prophecy, with one condition: no one would believe her. This burdened us with one of the earliest models of hysteria—speaking in tongues, speaking marred truths. Bachmann maintains that Angry Work is not limited to women’s anger, or to personal anger. It’s about generalized anger. “The red world And corresponding red breezes.” [1] A cloud of anger, hints of red. An amorphous unknown. “The Airborne Toxic Event” [2] that encapsulates truth, lies, histories repeated, struggle, strife, shock, grappling and anger, anger, anger. I am told that The Angry Machine weighs 400 pounds and emits a mechanized hum. It will be fenced in, for the protection of both viewers and itself. It will not perform on demand, but at scheduled intervals, only occasionally. It has a projectile that is red. Red is the memory of a children’s game, trying to avoid hitting yourself, to avoid the smack of something against your skin. Red is interiority: the tongue, cheeks, throat and kisses. One can “see red” in a fit of rage. Red is blood, and red is romance — “roses being burned alive.” [3] [1] Anne Carson...

Untitled (egg) By Nicolas Party Nicolas Party is a Swiss-born contemporary artist celebrated for his vibrant and visually striking works that span painting, drawing, and installat...

Artist : Jolynn Reigeluth Title : These Are My Legs Materials : Etching, collage and watercolor Date : 2015 Dimensions : 18" x 13" in. Jolynn Reigeluth is an artist and freelance Gr...

Artist : Jolynn Reigeluth Title : The Charmers Materials : Etching, collage and watercolor Date : 2017 Dimensions : 20" x 15" in. Jolynn Reigeluth is an artist and freelance Graphic...

Artist : Jolynn Reigeluth Title : Forbidden Fruit: Adam Materials : Etching, collage and watercolor Date : 2018 Dimensions : 19" x 13" in. Jolynn Reig...

Artist : Jolynn Reigeluth Title : It's for the Birds Materials : Collagraph, collage and watercolor Date : 2019 Dimensions : 13" x 18" in. Jolynn Reigeluth is an artist and freelanc...

Artist : Jolynn Reigeluth Title : Woe to You Materials : Collagraph, collage and watercolor Date : 2018 Dimensions : 15" x 12" in. Jolynn Reigeluth is an artist and freelance Graphi...