Philip Reisman

Judaica Etching Passover Seder Scene WPA Artist

Here for your consideration is a wonderful original etching on archival paper by the well known American artist, Ralph Fabri. Strong impression; signed in pencil by the artist lower right margin. Titled and dated bottom left of the sheet “1947-Americana”. Condition of the etching is excellent. Top corner of sheet and bottom right corner of sheet have tiny creases. Not visible, under the mat. Sheet size is 12 by 15 inches. Image size is 8 by 9.75 inches. Matted but not framed. Provenance: A Long Island, New York collector. Painter and printmaker, commercial artist, writer, and teacher, Ralph Fabri was born Fabri Reszo in Hungary in 1894. He was educated in Budapest, first studying architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology from 1912 to 1914. He then enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, from which he graduated in 1918 with a Professor's Diploma (M.A.) "for teaching drawing, painting and geometry – including descriptive and projective geometry – in schools of higher education." Fabri arrived in New York City in 1921 and soon adopted the anglicized version of his name, Ralph Fabri. He began doing commercial design work and during the academic year of 1923/24 was enrolled as an evening student at the National Academy of Design. After becoming an American citizen in 1927, he traveled extensively in Europe. Upon returning to New York that same year, Fabri decided his financial situation was stable enough to allow him to focus his attention on fine art. During the Great Depression, Fabri's already inadequate portrait commissions and art sales further declined and he returned to commercial work. He established a workshop known as the Ralph Fabri Studios, that designed theatrical and movie sets, window displays, and retail interiors. But Fabri found the workshop dirty and distasteful, and eventually was able to concentrate on advertising work which could be done from home. The largest clients for his pen and ink drawings were The Stamp and Album Co. of America, Inc. (for which he designed covers for stamp albums and produced illustrations for envelopes housing sets of stamps sold to collectors), Geographica Map Co., and Joseph H. Cohen & Sons (for whom he designed and illustrated mail order catalogs). Another source of income during this period was the design and construction of an addition to "Iroki," Theodore Dreiser...

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