Head Figurative Prints
to
451
1,280
446
385
160
126
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
869
393
174
126
113
86
70
36
29
22
11
5
2
64
55
48
36
34
168
245
1,599
392
20
43
153
108
107
147
148
297
156
76
146
1,688
623
84
26,898
14,762
10,579
9,062
7,770
6,995
4,605
4,168
2,404
2,033
1,916
1,864
1,659
1,471
1,457
1,445
1,432
1,285
1,206
1,104
886
693
321
176
158
251
1,068
1,036
996
Art Subject: Head
Andy Warhol, Für die Grünen - Screenprint from 1980, Pop Art
By Andy Warhol
Located in Hamburg, DE
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
Andy Warhol für die Grünen, 1980
Medium: Screenprint on paper (election poster)
Dimensions: 101 x 77 cm
Edition size unknown: Not signed, not numbered
Publish...
Category
20th Century Pop Art Portrait Prints
Materials
Screen
A La Plage (At the Beach), framed hand signed lithograph
Located in Aventura, FL
Lithograph in black on pale green panel on white Rives paper. Hand signed lower right by Salvador Dali. Hand numbered LXXVII/CXX lower left. Artwork size: 20 x 28 inches. Frame ...
Category
1970s Surrealist Nude Prints
Materials
Paper, Lithograph
$3,712 Sale Price
25% Off
Nova Zemla - Etching by Johannes Janssonius - 1650s
Located in Roma, IT
Nova Zemla is an ancient map realized in 1650 by Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664).
Good conditions.
From Atlantis majoris quinta pars, Orbem maritimum [Novus Atlas, volume V: carte ...
Category
1650s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Toilettes de Mme Bréant-Castel - Etching - 1876
Located in Roma, IT
Toilettes de Mme Bréant-Castel, from La Mode Illustrée is a modern artwork realized in 1876.
Mixed colored etching and collages on paper. Fabric miniatures of dresses were added to ...
Category
1870s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching, Mixed Media
The New Pupil /// Antique Modern Female Artist Etching Child Children Figurative
By Eileen Soper
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Eileen Alice Soper (English, 1905-1990)
Title: "The New Pupil"
*Signed by Soper in pencil lower right
Year: 1925
Medium: Original Etching on unbranded white wove paper
Limite...
Category
1920s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching, Intaglio
Commerzienrat's Daughter - Original Offset and Lithograph by George Grosz - 1923
By George Grosz
Located in Roma, IT
Commerzienrat's daughter from Ecce Homo is an original offset and lithograph, realized by George Grosz.
The artwork is the plate n. 48 from the portfolio Ecce Homo, published betw...
Category
1920s Expressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph, Offset
S. Petrus - Vintage Advertising Lithograph by A. Terzi - 1900 ca.
Located in Roma, IT
Image dimensions: 26x18.2 cm.
S. Petrus is a beautiful colored lithograph on cardboard, realized by the Polish illustrator Franz Laskoff and printed aro...
Category
Early 1900s Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
The Pupil - Original Drawing - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Venus Goddess is an original Drawing in pencil on ivory-colored paper realized by An anonymous artist in the early 20th century.
Good conditions.
The artwork is represented through...
Category
Early 20th Century Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Pencil, Pastel
The Prophet Daniel in the Lions' Den
By Marc Chagall
Located in OPOLE, PL
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - The Prophet Daniel in the Lions' Den
Lithograph from 1956.
Dimensions of work: 35 x 26 cm.
Publisher: Tériade, Paris.
Reference: Mourlot 142.
On the re...
Category
1950s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Aquarius - Etching by Charles De la Haye - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Aquarius is an original etchingon paper realized by Charles De la Haye after Andrea Stech, in the 18th century.
Signed on the plate on the lower.
Good condit...
Category
18th Century Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Pearls and Emeralds
By Erté
Located in Washington, DC
Artist: Erté
Title: Pearls and Emeralds
Medium: Embossed serigraph
Year: 1990
Edition: 265/300
Sheet Size: 41 3/4" x 29 1/4"
Image Size: 35 1/4" x 23 1/4"
Signature: Stamped signature
Category
1990s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
Sumida Haru - Kakutai - Woodcut by Utagawa Yoshitaki - 1860
Located in Roma, IT
Sumida haru - kakutai is an original artwork realized in 1860 by Utagawa Yoshitaki (April 13, 1841 – June 28, 1899) also known as Ichiyosai Yoshitaki.
Two Chuban from a Triptych.
M...
Category
1860s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
THE COUPLE Signed Lithograph, Art Deco Couple Portrait, 1920’s Flapper Fashion
By Robin Morris
Located in Union City, NJ
THE COUPLE by the woman artist Robin Morris, is an original hand drawn limited edition lithograph printed using hand lithography techniques on archival Arches paper, 100% acid free. THE COUPLE is a modern Art Deco styled portrait of a sophisticated, elegantly dressed urban couple formally poses for their portrait, an attractive woman with her short blonde bob hairstyle is seated wearing a fashionable purple and magenta ensemble and 1920's style flapper hat...
Category
1980s Art Deco Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Les Étudians de Paris - Original Lithograph by Paul Gavarni - 1847
Located in Roma, IT
Amusing original colored lithograph with pouchoir details.
Beautiful satiric illustration by the French draftsman Paul Gavarni (alias Guillaume Sulpice Chevalier, 1804- 1866). Plate 2, from the series Les Étudians de Paris, Bauger, Paris, 1847, Imp. d'Aubert and Cie. Signed on plate on lower-right.
With the printed capture: "Ma chère, comment peux tu sopporter un homme qui pipe toute la journee dans des horreurs de machine comme ça...
Category
1840s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Nude Burden - Original Zincography by Mino Maccari - 1970s
By Mino Maccari
Located in Roma, IT
Nude Burden is an original zincography artwork realized by Mino Maccari.
Included a white Passepartout: 49 x 34
The state of preservation is very good.
The artwork represents a ma...
Category
1970s Figurative Prints
Materials
Engraving
Sleeping Man - Etching + Pencil Drawing - Late 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Seeping Man is an etching on paper realized by Francois Blaise (1825-). Signed on the plate, with the same drawing in pencil on the rear, with an inscription on the lower center.
Th...
Category
Late 19th Century Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Pencil, Etching
The Bubble Blower
Located in New York, NY
Known for their work in painting, photography, sculpture, and film, McDermott & McGough comprises visual artists David McDermott and Peter McGough, who formed their partnership on th...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints
Materials
Photogravure
$1,600 Sale Price
46% Off
The Horse and the Dancer - Etching by Theodore Stravinsky - 1932
Located in Roma, IT
The Horse and the Dancer is an original etching realized by Théodore Strawinsky in 1932. Hand signed and dated in pencil on the lower right margin, edition of 15 prints. Very good co...
Category
1930s Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Le Bal - Etching by Marie Laurencin - 1927
Located in Roma, IT
Third state. Published in general catalogue "Marie Laurencin" by Daniel Marchesseau, Kyuryudo,Tokyo, 1981, Number.127, pp.141.
Rare etching in near perfect conditions.
This artwork ...
Category
1920s Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Guitar Player - Original Etching by F. Bonvin - 1861
Located in Roma, IT
Guitar Player is an original print, realized in 1861 by the French artist François Bonvin.
Black and white etching on paper. The artwork is attached o...
Category
1860s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
$414 Sale Price
20% Off
Symbols Devil
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali
TITLE: Symbols Devil
MEDIUM: Etching
SIGNED: Hand Signed
PUBLISHER: EGI/Vanguard Studios (Beverly Hills)
EDITION NUMBER: 26/150
MEASUREMENTS: 16" x 16"
...
Category
1970s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Bacchus and the Nymphs - Original Lithograph by Ferdinand Bac - 1922
Located in Roma, IT
Bacchus and the Nymphs is an original modern artwork realized by Ferdinand Bac (1859 - 1952) in 1922.
Signed and dated on plate on the lower right corner: F. Bac 1922.
Original Lit...
Category
1920s Art Nouveau Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
18th Century Native Floridians Etching
Located in San Francisco, CA
Mid 18th century etching of native Floridians probably used for a book. Very good condition for its age. Etching measures 7 1/2 inches high by 5 3/4 inches wide. The beautiful custom...
Category
1750s Realist Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Marilyn Monroe Pink Teal No.5 Oversize Pop Art
By BATIK
Located in London, GB
Marilyn Monroe Pink Teal No.5
by BATIK
Archival pigment pop art print signed & limited edition.
paper size 30 x 30" inches / 76 x 76 cm
signed and numbered by the artist on front ...
Category
2010s Pop Art Portrait Prints
Materials
Color, Archival Pigment
Ballet und Pantomime "Groteske", plate #22.
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Walter Schnackenberg’s style changed several times during his long and successful career. Having studied in Munich, the artist traveled often to Paris where he fell under the spell of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s colorful and sensuous posters depicting theatrical and decadent subjects. Schnackenberg became a regular contributor of similar compositions to the German magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus before devoting himself to the design of stage scenery and costumes. In the artist’s theatrical work, his mastery of form, ornamentation, and Orientalism became increasingly evident. He excelled at combining fluid Art Nouveau outlines, with spiky Expressionist passages, and the postures and patterns of the mysterious East.
In his later years, Schnackenberg explored the unconscious, using surreal subject matter and paler colors that plainly portrayed dreams and visions, some imbued with political connotations. His drawings, illustrations, folio prints, and posters are highly sought today for their exceedingly imaginative qualities, enchanting subject matter, and arresting use of color.
SCHNACKENBERG BALLET UND PANTOMIME...
Category
1920s Art Deco Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
A very Prophetical and Pathetical Allegory - Lithograph by J. Doyle - 1831
By John Doyle
Located in Roma, IT
From the series Political Sketches.
John Doyle (1797-1868) was one of the most famous and prolific illustrator of the 19th century in Europe who was born in Ireland and active in Lo...
Category
1830s Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Portrait - Original Charcoal Drawing by Hélène Vogt - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait is an original xilography print realized by Hélène Vogt. with the stamp” Atelier Hélène Vogt" On the lower rear.
The state of preservation of the artwork is very good.
Sh...
Category
1970s Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
Toulouse-Lautrec, Composition, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Dessinateur (after)
Located in Southampton, NY
Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper size: 12.25 x 9.25 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Dessinateur,...
Category
1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$716 Sale Price
20% Off
Toulouse-Lautrec, Composition, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Dessinateur (after)
Located in Southampton, NY
Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper size: 12.25 x 9.25 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Dessinateur,...
Category
1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$716 Sale Price
20% Off
Toulouse-Lautrec, Composition, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Dessinateur (after)
Located in Southampton, NY
Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper size: 12.25 x 9.25 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Dessinateur,...
Category
1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$716 Sale Price
20% Off
Untitled, 1971
Located in Wien, 9
- Plate 118 from the Suite 156
- edition 48/50
- stamp signature
- dated in the plate 17.5.71
- cat. raisonné Bloch 1973; cat. raisonné Baer 1982
Category
1970s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
"Seated Woman Semi-nude" by Gustav Klimt - Original Print from Courtesans Folio
By Gustav Klimt
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Plate #2 from Gustav Klimt's 1907 "Dialogues of the Courtesans" portfolio, consisting of 15 collotypes on cream japon paper. The drawings in this folio are said to be studies for Klimt's well-known Water Serpents paintings...
Category
Early 1900s Vienna Secession Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
"Song of Breezes"
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Lilian Shao, China. "Song of Breezes", 1990
Limited edition Serigraph printed on paper. Hand signed by the artist in pencil on the lower right and the edition number 183/275 on the l...
Category
Late 20th Century Figurative Prints
Materials
Color
Headdress
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, in the full swing of the Surrealist movement....
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Basquiat Boxing Poster 1997
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Basquiat boxing poster 1997:
This rare double-sided 1997 Basquiat boxing poster was published on occasion of the 1990s exhibition, “Jean-Michel Basquiat Works and Portraits” at Parco...
Category
1990s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
Materials
Lithograph, Offset
Faces
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, in the full swing of the Surrealist movement....
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching
Lady in a Fur Cloak.
Located in New York, NY
Original pochoir process print (hand-colored stencil). Paris, ca. 1925. Displayed in a custom silver giltwood frame.
Category
1920s Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
H.O. Miethke Das Werk folio "Water Snakes II" collotype print
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Water Snakes II, no. 9 from the fourth installment of Das Werk Gustav Klimts
The last painting Klimt exhibited with the Secession before resigning, Water ...
Category
Early 1900s Vienna Secession Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
Yoshitomo Nara - Little Bunny in the Box
Located in Central, HK
Yoshitomo Nara
Little Bunny in the Box, 2023
Screenprint on paper
20 3/10 × 14 3/10 in 51.5 × 36.4 cm
Category
2010s Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
20th century color lithograph figurative print male subjects sketch scene signed
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Le Portrait Equestre" is an original color lithograph by Claude Weisbuch. This piece depicts a number of figures in black robes looking at horses. The a...
Category
1970s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Disney: Donald Duck (custom framed hand signed serigraph)
By Peter Max
Located in Aventura, FL
Serigraph in colors on paper. Hand signed lower right by Peter Max. Hand numbered 60/500 lower left. Sheet size: 16 x 14 inches. Custom framed as pictured. White frame and matt...
Category
1990s Pop Art Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper, Screen
$1,365 Sale Price
30% Off
Collection of Various Black and White and Colour Woodcuts
Located in Roma, IT
Original editorial soft cover with dowel on front plate. Nice collection of original fine woodcuts of the Utagawa school, partially coloured, including illustrations of Japanese thea...
Category
Early 19th Century Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
David (Poèmes, #18)
By Marc Chagall
Located in Greenwich, CT
David is a woodcut on paper from Marc Chagall's Poèmes portfolio, published in 1968. The image size is 13 x 10 inches and the art is framed in an ornate, gold-tone frame. Unsigned as...
Category
20th Century Modern Prints and Multiples
Materials
Paper, Woodcut
Shunga: Twelve Signs of the Zodiac - Goat
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Shunga: Twelve Signs of the Zodiac - Goat
Color woodcut with gauffrage (embossing)
Unsigned (as usual)
Format: Shikishiban
Publisher: Privately produced
Unusually well preserved with the fugitive blue still intact
Image size: 5-1/8 x 5-3/4"
Sheet size: 5 3/8 x 6 1/4"
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Japanese name, the surname is Isoda.
Isoda Koryūsai (礒田 湖龍斎, 1735–1790) was a Japanese ukiyo-e print designer and painter active from 1769 to 1790.
Life and career
Koryūsai was born in 1735 and worked as a samurai in the service of the Tsuchiya clan. He became a masterless rōnin after the death of the head of the clan and moved to Edo (modern Tokyo) where he settled near Ryōgoku Bridge in the Yagenbori area. He became a print designer there under the art name Haruhiro in 1769, at first making samurai-themed designs. The ukiyo-e print master Harunobu died in 1770, and about that time Koryūsai began making prints in a similar style of life in the pleasure districts.
Koryūsai was a prolific designer of individual prints and print series,[1] most of which appeared between 1769 and 1881.
In 1782, Koryūsai applied for and received the Buddhist honour hokkyō ("Bridge of the Law") from the imperial court and thereafter used the title as part of his signature. His output slowed from this time, though he continued to design prints until his death in 1790.
Works
Koryūsai created a total of 2,500 known designs, or an average of four a week. According to art historian Allen Hockley, "Koryūsai may ... have been the most productive artist of the eighteenth century".
The series Models for Fashion: New Designs as Fresh Young Leaves (Hinagata wakana no hatsumoyō, 1776–1781) ran for 140 prints, the longest known ukiyo-e print series of beauties. He designed at least 350 hashira-e pillar prints, numerous kachō-e bird-and-flower prints, a great number of shunga erotic prints, and others. Ninety of his nikuhitsu-ga paintings are known, making him one of the most productive painters of the period.
Legacy
Despite Koryūsai's productivity and popularity—both in his time and amongst later collectors—his work has attracted little scholarship. The first ukiyo-e histories written in the West in the 19th century elevated certain artists as exemplars; Koryūsai's work came to be seen as too indebted to Harunobu, who died in 1770, and inferior to that of Kiyonaga, whose peak period came in the 1880s. An example is Woldemar von Seidlitz's Geschichte des japanischen Farbenholzschnittes ("History of Japanese colour prints", 1897), the most popular of the early ukiyo-e histories, which paints Koryūsai as a successor to Harunobu and a rival of Kiyonaga in the 1770s who slipped into mediocrity and imitation of his rival by the end of the decade.[5] Interest lay mainly in the details of Koryūsai's life—a samurai who received court honours was unusual in the proletarian world of ukiyo-e. In 2021, contemporary woodblock printmaker David Bull...
Category
1770s Other Art Style Figurative Prints
Materials
Woodcut
Calder, Composition, A Bestiary (after)
Located in Southampton, NY
Letterpress printing on spécialement fabriqué Curtis Rag vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.5 x 9.1875 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, A Best...
Category
1950s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$956 Sale Price
20% Off
"Balcony" 1938 WPA Print Mid 20th Century American Broadway Theatre Modernism
By Leon Bibel
Located in New York, NY
"Balcony" 1938 WPA Print Mid 20th Century American Broadway Theatre Modernism.
Silk screen on paper, 15” x 20". Numbered 15/20 lower left. Pencil si...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper, Screen
Saint George and Dragon, Gold Asian inspired mixed media and gold leaf on paper
Located in Dallas, TX
Saint George - "The Rider and the Dragon" is a dynamic, strong and elegant work of art featuring a Hero on horseback fighting a dragon. The artist paints on gold leaf. This is a uniq...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Materials
Gold Leaf
"Girl in the Garden" Copper Plate Heliogravure
Located in Palm Beach, FL
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death. In that 100 years time, the art world’s esteem of this important artist has proved fickle. It has shifted from extolling his artistic merits during his lifetime to showing something of a feigned disdain- more reflective of the world political order than a true change of heart for Hodler’s work. After years of Hodler being all but a footnote in the annals of art history and generally ignored, finally, the pendulum has righted itself once again. Recent retrospective exhibitions in Europe and the United States have indicated not only a joyful rediscovery of Hodler’s art but a firm conviction that his work and world view hold particular relevance today. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is not only a collection of printed work reflecting the best of all of his painted work created up to 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I, the portfolio itself is an encapsulation of Hodler’s ethos, Parallelisme.
Hodler developed his philosophy of Parallelisme as a unifying approach to art which strips away detail in search of harmony. By means of abstraction, symmetry and repetition, Hodler sought ways to depict Nature’s essence and her fundamental, universal order. He believed these universal laws governing the natural, observable world extend to the spiritual realm. Symbolist in nature with Romantic undertones, his works are equally portraits of these universal concepts and feelings governing all life as they are a visual portrait in the formal sense. Whether his subject is a solitary tree, a moment in battle, mortal fear, despair, the awe inspired by a vast mountain range, a tender moment or even the collective conviction in a belief, Hodler unveils this guiding principle of Parallelisme.
Several aspects of Hodler’s portfolio reinforce his tenets of Parallelisme. The Table of Contents clearly preferences a harmonious design over detail. The two columns, consisting of twenty lines each, list the images by order of appearance using their German titles. The abbreviated titles are somewhat cryptic in that they obscure the identities of the sitters. Like the image Hodler presents, they are distillations of the sitter without any extraneous details. This shortening was also done in an effort to maintain a harmonious symmetry of the Table of Contents, themselves, and keep titles to a one-line limit. The twenty-fourth title: “Bildnis des Schweizerischen Gesandten C.” was so long, even with abbreviation, that it required two lines; so, for the sake of maintaining symmetry, the fortieth title: “Bauernmadchen” was omitted from the list. This explains why the images are not numbered. Hodler’s reasoning is not purely esoteric. Symmetry and pattern reach beyond mere formal design principles. Finding sameness and imposing it over disorder goes to the root of Hodler’s identity and his art. A Swiss native, Hodler was bi-lingual and spoke German and French. Each printed image, even number forty, have titles in both of Hodler’s languages. Certainly, there was a market for Hodler’s work among francophones and this inclusion may have been a polite gesture to that end; however, this is the only place in the portfolio which includes French. With German titles at the lower left of each image, Hodler’s name at bottom center and corresponding French titles at the lower right of each image, there is a harmony and symmetry woven into all aspects of the portfolio. This holds true for the page design, as it applies to each printed image and as it describes the Swiss artist himself. Seen in this light, Hodler’s portfolio of printed work is the epitome of Hodler’s Parallelisme. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS is also one of the most significant documents to best tell the story of how Hodler, from Switzerland, became caught between political cross-hairs and how the changing tides of nations directly impacted the artist during his lifetime as well as the accessibility of his art for generations to come.
The Munich-based publisher of the portfolio, R. Piper & Co., Verlag, plays a crucial role in this story. Publishing on a wide range of subjects from philosophy and world religion to music, literature and the visual arts; the publisher’s breadth of inquiry within any one genre was equal in scope. Their marketing strategy to publish multiple works on Hodler offers great insight as to what a hot commodity Hodler was at that time. R.Piper & Co.’s Almanach, which they published in 1914 in commemoration of their first ten years in business, clearly illustrates the rapid succession- strategically calculated for achieving the deepest and broadest impact - in which they released three works on Hodler to hit the market by the close of 1914. DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS was their premier publication. It preceded C.A. Loosli’s Die Zeichnungen Ferdinand Hodlers, a print portfolio after 50 drawings by Hodler which was released in Autumn of 1914 at the mid-level price-point of 75-150 Marks; and a third less expensive collection of prints after original works by Hodler, which had not been included in either of the first two portfolios, was released at the end of that year entitled Ferdinand Hodler by Dr. Ewald Bender.
The title and timing of DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS' debut leaves little doubt as to the connection it has with another avant-garde portfolio of art prints, Das Werk Gustav Klimts, released in 5 installments from 1908 -1914 by Galerie Miethke in Vienna. Hodler, himself, was involved in Klimt’s ground-breaking project. As the owner of Klimt’s 1901 painting, “Judith with the Head of Holifernes” which appears as the ninth collotype print in the second installment of Das Werk Gustav Klimts, Hodler was obliged to grant access of the painting to the art printers in Vienna for them to create the collotype sometime before 1908. Hodler had been previously invited in 1904 to take part in what would be the last exhibition of the Vienna Secession before Klimt and others associated with Galerie Miethke broke away. In an interview that same year, Hodler indicated that he respected and was impressed by Klimt. Hodler’s esteem for Klimt went beyond the art itself; he emulated Klimt’s method aimed at increasing his market reach and appeal to a wider audience by creating a print portfolio of his painted work. By 1914, Hodler and his publisher had the benefit of hindsight to learn from Klimt’s Das Werk publication.
Responding to the sluggish sales of Klimt’s expensive endeavor, Hodler’s publisher devised the same diversified 1-2-3 strategy for selling Hodler’s Das Werk portfolio as they did with regards to all three works on Hodler they published that year. For their premium tier of DAS WERKS FERDINAND HODLERS, R. Piper & Co. issued an exclusive Museum quality edition of 15 examples on which Hodler signed each page. At a cost of 600 Marks, this was generally on par with Klimt’s asking price of 600 Kronen for his Das Werk portfolio. A middle-tiered Preferred edition of 30, costing somewhat less and with Hodler’s signature only on the Title Page, was also available. The General edition, targeting the largest audience with its much more affordable price of 150 Marks, is distinguishable by its smaller size.
Rather than use the subscription format Miethke had chosen for Klimt’s portfolios which proved to have had its challenges, R. Piper & Co. employed a different strategy. In addition to instantly gratifying the buyer with all 40 of the prints comprising DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS and the choice among three price points, they advertised in German journals a fourth possibility of ordering single prints from them directly. These printed images are easily discernible from the three complete folio editions. The paper size of the single purchased images is of the larger format like the Museum and Preferred editions, measuring 65 h x 50 w cm; however, the paper itself is the same copper print paper used in the General edition and then mounted on poster board. The publishing house positioned itself to be a direct retailer of Hodler’s art. They astutely recognized the potential for profitability and the importance, therefore, of having proprietary control over his graphic works.
R. Piper & Co. owned the exclusive printing rights to Hodler’s best work found in their three publications dating from 1914. That same year, a competing publication out of Weimar entitled Ferdinand Hodler: Ein Deutungsversuch von Hans Muhlestein appeared. Its author, a young scholar, expressed his frustration with the limited availability of printable work by Hodler. In his Author’s Note on page 19, dated Easter, 1914, Muhlestein confirms that the publisher of Hodler’s three works from that same year owned the exclusive reproductive rights to Hodler’s printed original work. He goes further to explain that even after offering to pay to use certain of those images in his book, the publisher refused. Clearly, a lot of jockeying for position in what was perceived as a hot market was occurring in 1914.
Instead, their timing couldn’t have been more ill-fated, and what began with such high hopes suddenly found a much different market amid a hostile climate. The onset of WWI directly impacted sales. Many, including Ferdinand Hodler, publicly protested the September invasion by Germany of France in which the Reims Cathedral, re-built in the 13th century, was shelled, destroying priceless stained glass and statuary and burning off the iron roof and badly damaging its wooden interior. Thomas Gaehtgens, Director of the Getty Research Institute describes how the bombing of Reims Cathedral triggered blindingly powerful and deeply-felt ultra-nationalistic responses: “The event profoundly shocked French intellectuals, who for the most part had an intense admiration for German literature, music and art. By relying on press accounts and abstracting from the visual propagandistic content, they were unable to interpret the siege of Reims without turning away from German culture in disgust. Similarly, the German intelligentsia and bourgeoisie were also shocked to find themselves described as vandals and barbarians. Ninety-three writers, scientists, university professors, and artists signed a protest, directed against the French insults, that defended the actions of the German army.”
In similar fashion, a flurry of open letters published in German newspapers and journals as well as telegrams and postcards sent directly to Hodler following his outcry in support of Reims reflected the collectively critical reaction to Hodler’s position. Loosli documents that among the list of telegrams Hodler received was one from none other than his publisher in Germany, R.Piper & Co. Allegiances were questioned. The market for Hodler in Germany immediately softened. Matters worsened for the publisher beyond the German backlash to Hodler and his loss of appeal in the home market; with the war in full swing until 1918, there was little chance a German publisher would have much interest coming from outside of Germany and Austria. Following the war and Hodler’s death in 1918, the economy in Germany continued to spiral out and just 5 years later, hyper-inflation had rendered its currency worthless vis-a-vis its value in the pre-war years. Like the economy, Hodler’s reputation was slow to find currency in these difficult times. Even many French art fans had turned sour on Hodler as they considered his long-standing relationship in German and Austrian art circles. Thus, the portfolio’s rarity in Hodler’s lifetime and, consequently, the availability of these printed images from DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS since his death has been scarce.
In many ways, Hodler and his portfolios were casualties of war. Thwarted from their intended purpose of reaching a wide audience and show-casing Parallelisme, Hodler’s unique approach to art, this important, undated work has been both elusive and shrouded in mystery. Perhaps DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS was left undated as a means of affirming the timelessness of Hodler’s art. Digging back into the past, Hodler’s contemporaries, like R. Piper, C.A. Loosli and Hans Muhlestein, indeed provide the keys to unequivocally clarify what has largely been mired in obscurity. Just after Hodler’s death, the May, 1918 issue of the Burlington Review ran a small column which opined hope for better access to R.Piper & Co.’s DAS WERK FERDINAND HODLERS; 100 years later, it is finally possible. Hodler’s voice rings out through these printed works. Once more, his modern approach to depicting portraits, landscapes and grand scale scenes of Swiss history speak to us of what is universal. Engaging with any one of these images is the chance to connect to Hodler’s vision and his world view- weltanschauung in German, vision du monde in French- however one expresses these concepts through language, its message embedded in his work is the same: “We differ from one another, but we are like each other even more. What unifies us is greater and more powerful than what divides us.” Today, Hodler’s art couldn’t be more timely.
FERDINAND HODLER (SWISS, 1853-1918) explored Parallelisme through figurative poses evocative of music, dance and ritual. His images of sex, night, desertion and death as well as his many landscapes exploring the universal longing for harmony with Nature are unique and important works embodying a Symbolist paradigm. Truly a Modern Master, Hodler’s influence can be felt in the work of Gustav Klimt and Kolomon Moser and subsequent Expressionist artists such as Egon Schiele. He was born into an impoverished family in Bern, Switzerland in 1853. His entire family succumbed to tuberculosis, and he was orphaned by the age of 13, the only surviving child among his 13 siblings. In the absence of family, the influence and guidance which his art instructors provided Hodler was foundational and profound. Hodler began formal studies in 1872 at the Geneva School of Design. Under Barthelemy Menn, Hodler was drawn to the ordered beauty of Euclidian geometry and Durer’s fundamentals of human proportion that proved to be guiding principles informing his art throughout his life.
By the 1880s, Hodler began to enjoy some recognition for his work which put him on a new path towards stability. Remaining in Geneva, he became assistant to the well-known muralist, Edouard Castres. Following his first solo show in 1885, Hodler’s work took on a Symbolist quality. He frequently associated with a group of Swiss Symbolist...
Category
1910s Symbolist Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
BLACKGLAMA (JUDY GARLAND) FS II.351
By Andy Warhol
Located in Aventura, FL
From the "ADS" portfolio. Screen print on lenox museum board Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Edition PP 5/5 (There is a main edition of Edition of 190, 30 AP, 5 PP, 5 EP, 1...
Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Prints
Materials
Board, Screen
Patitcha
Located in London, GB
Henri Matisse
Patitcha
1947
Aquatint on BFK Rives paper, Edition of 25
Paper size: 55.5 x 38 cms (22 x 15 ins)
Image size: 34.9 x 27.6 cm (13 3/4 x 10 7/8 ins)
HM15405
Selected Coll...
Category
1940s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Aquatint
$100,000
E. Strache, Handzeichnungen folio, "Kneeling Female Nude" Collotype plate
Located in Palm Beach, FL
after Egon Schiele (1890 – 1918), AUSTRIA
“ART CANNOT BE MODERN, ART IS PRIMORDIALLY ETERNAL.” -SCHIELE
Defiantly iconoclastic in life and art, Egon Schiele is esteemed for his mas...
Category
1920s Vienna Secession Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
April
Located in Greenwich, CT
April is an expertly crafted, embossed serigraph on paper with foil stamping and an image size of 27 x 22 inches. From the edition of 650, the art is numbered 296/300 and estate-stam...
Category
20th Century Art Deco Prints and Multiples
Materials
Paper, Screen
'Portrait of a Young Woman' original Hollar engraving after Hans Holbein
Located in Milwaukee, WI
In this print, Wenceslaus Hollar presents a portrait of an unidentified woman, copying a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger. The identity of the sitter is a mystery: formerly, the portrait was believed to be of Catherine of Aragon, and the National Portrait Gallery in London identifies her as Queen Mary I...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Prints
Materials
Engraving
Original “In Singapore’s Chinese Quarter” Swedish silent movie poster, on linen
Located in Spokane, WA
Original vintage Swedish movie poster, 1921 lithograph. Step back into the glamour and intrigue of early 1920s cinema with this **original Swedish movie poster** for *I Singapores ki...
Category
1920s Art Deco Figurative Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Cosa si vede fuori
Located in Malmo, SE
Publisher GKM.
Unframed.
Edition of 140 ex.
Signed by the artist.
Free shipment worldwide.
Adami is the maestro of the unadulterated line,” writes the Swedish poet Lasse Söderberg i...
Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
$1,647 Sale Price
26% Off
"Marilyn Crying Diamond (Hollywood Pink)" hand-pulled screen print on linen
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Marilyn Crying Diamond (Hollywood Pink)" acrylic, oil-based ink and diamond dust hand-pulled screen print on linen by artist Russell Young. Dep...
Category
2010s Contemporary Portrait Prints
Materials
Linen, Ink, Screen
Le Jardin de la Musique II, Screenprint by Hailan Gong
Located in Long Island City, NY
Le Jardin de la Musique II
Hailan Gong, Chinese
Date: circa 1990
Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition of 100
Size: 30 in. x 24 in. (76.2 cm x 60.96 cm)
Category
1990s Figurative Prints
Materials
Screen
UNTITLED (TWO CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WITH BRICKS
Located in Portland, ME
Abramovitz, Albert (American, born Latvia, 1879-1963).
UNTITLED (TWO CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WITH BRICKS).
Linoleum cut on wove paper, c. 1930s.
Si...
Category
1930s Figurative Prints
Materials
Linocut
"Dying Woman" Copper Plate Heliogravure
Located in Palm Beach, FL
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death. In that 100 years time, the art world’s esteem of this important artist has proved fickle. It has shifted from extol...
Category
1910s Symbolist Figurative Prints
Materials
Paper
The Mythology Narcissus
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali
TITLE: The Mythology Narcissus
MEDIUM: Etching
SIGNED: Hand Signed
PUBLISHER: Pierre Argillet, Paris
EDITION NUMBER: XXXI/C
MEASUREMENTS: 18" x 30"
YEAR...
Category
1960s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Materials
Etching





