Paul César Helleu

Mme. Helleu by the Fireplace

Circa 1895.

"The Bridge" is a drypoint by Frank Benson created in 1923. Printed in an edition of 150 this impression is signed in pencil, lower left. The image size is 13 1/2 x 10 5/8" (34.2 x 26.8 cm) and sheet size 16 1/2 x 13 1/16" (41.8 x 33.3 cm). FRANK W. BENSON (1862-1951) Frank Weston Benson, well known for his American impressionist paintings, also produced an incredible body of prints - etchings, drypoints, and a few lithographs. Born and raised on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Benson, a natural outdoorsman, grew up sailing, fishing, and hunting. From a young age, he was fascinated with drawing and birding – this keen interest continued throughout his life. His first art instruction was with Otto Grundman at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and then in 1883 in Paris at the Academie Julian where he studied the rigorous ‘ecole des beaux arts’ approach to drawing and painting for two years. During the early 1880’s Seymour Haden visited Boston giving a series of lectures on etching. This introduction to the European etching...

Peter Milton created this etching and engraving entitled “GARDEN WITH HENRY” in 1993. It is signed, titled, dated, and inscribed “153/250” in pencil under the image. The printed image size is 9.5 x 12 inches and the paper size is 15.5 x 18 inches. The inspiration for this piece came from the Henry James novella “The Aspern Papers” and clearly depicts the Venetian setting. The American-British author Henry James (1843-1916) wrote “The Aspern Papers” first published in 1888. Peter Milton was born in Pennsylvania in 1930. He studied for two years at the Virginia Military Institute...

THE GAMESTERS and THE FORTUNE TELLER. A wonderful pair of color printed mezzotint engravings after paintings by the Rev. Matthew William Peters, R....

Contemporary artist Peter Milton created this etching and engraving entitled "Interiors VI: Soundings" in 1989. The printed image size is 29 7/8 x 23 13/16 and paper size is 36 x 29 inches. This impression is signed, dated, and titled in pencil and inscribed “93/175” – the 93 impression of 175. “I do love to draw. I feel that I am being granted membership in the Brotherhood of Merlin, conjuring forth some apparition. As a drawing develops, I sense a vague presence coming more and more into focus, something in a white fog emerging and becoming increasingly palpable.” – P. Milton, “The primacy of touch. The Drawings of Peter Milton” “Working in layers, Milton begins with drawings based on people and places, with nods to Western art history and culture. He is a master of the appropriated image, a term that may conjure Andy Warhol and his Pop Art comrades. But Milton steps further back in history, avoiding the Pop sense of cool advertising and popular culture references. Instead, a broader cultural past is tapped through historical photographs of key players, architecture, and locales, which he reinvents by hand. He adds content drawn from his life as an avid reader – always with multiple possible interpretations – thus incorporating deeper meaning in his cinematic worlds. Elements of Greek mythology, classical music, art history, and history coalesce in his images, which embrace the messiness, sorrow, and elation that is life. One is hard-pressed to imagine a more erudite, skilled, passionate, and cheeky soul." – T. L. Johnson and A. Shafer Peter Milton was born in Pennsylvania in 1930. He studied for two years at the Virginia Military Institute...

“HIDDEN CITIES III : CONTINUUM” Contemporary artist Peter Milton created this etching and engraving in 2006. The printed image size is 24 x 37 inches and the paper size 32 x 45 inc...

Emilio Sanchez (1921-1999) created this color lithograph entitled “TIENDECITAS” in 1967. This impression is signed, titled, and inscribed “21/50” in pencil. The printed image size 15 x 23.13 inches (38 x 58.8 cm) and paper size 20.75 x 29 3/8 inches (53 x 74.5 cm). Printed in an edition of 50. Stamped on verso "Estate of Emilio Sanchez." “Best known for his architectural paintings and lithographs, Emilio Sanchez (1921-1999) explored the effects of light and shadow to emphasize the abstract geometry of his subjects. His artwork encompasses his Cuban heritage...

Sportsmen. 1908. Etching and drypoint. Exsteens 271.i/ii. 11 1/4 x 5 3/4 (sheet 17 3/8 x 12 1/4). Series: Les Bars. From the first state edition of 30 proofs with the remarque sketch...

"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...

Etching with drypoint on cream wove paper, 11 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches (297 x 347 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil and numbered 32/40, lower margin. Minor mat tone and several small lo...

Artist: Louis LeGrand (French, 1863-1951) Title: "La Loge (The Lodge)" Portfolio: Gazette des Beaux-Arts *Issued unsigned, though signed by LeGrand in the plat...

Les Poules de Lyora by Lélia Pissarro (b. 1963) Drypoint and watercolour on paper 21.5 x 26.5 cm (8 ¹/₂ x 10 ³/₈ inches) Signed lower left, Lélia Pissarro Numbered lower right, 10/15...

Image size: 8.6x13.9 cm. Original drypoint on Chine Appliqué realized by Matisse in 1929 in an edition of only 25 prints. Signed and numbered in pencil lower right. Excellent conditi...