Lithograph Landscape Prints

Lithograph in colors on vélin Exhibition Fine Art Cartridge paper. Paper Size: 12.75 x 9.75 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the folio, Hockney's ...

Marquette Lighthouse is a well known landmark for anyone who has visited the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! This is signed by the artist Leo Kuschel who liv...

Lithograph in colors on vélin Exhibition Fine Art Cartridge paper. Paper Size: 12.75 x 9.75 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the folio, Hockney's ...

Lithograph on vélin Sarrió paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition, with centerfold, as issued. Notes: From the folio, Tapís De Tarragona, il·lustracions, Joan Miró...

Lithograph on vélin Sarrió paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition, with centerfold, as issued. Notes: From the folio, Tapís De Tarragona, il·lustracions, Joan Miró...

A 1930 lithograph on paper by artist Raoul Varin, titled "The First House Built in Chicago". Provenance: Arthur Ackerman & Son, Inc., Chicago, IL - Printed in 1930. Artwork size: ...

Landscape is a beautiful original lithograph on cardboard, realized by the Italian artist Giovanni Omiccioli (Rome, 1901-1975) in 1971. Signed and dated in pencil, on the lower margin. In very good conditions, except for some minor holes on edges, the colors are incredibly bright. Numbered on the lower left margin, 88/90 prints. Giovanni Omiccioli was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the Scuola romana with a dynamic paintwork representing soccer games and sports scenes. Having joined the Scuola Romana movement, in 1928, Omiccioli collaborated especially with Mario Mafai...

Lithograph on vélin paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From Derrière le miroir, Hommage à Aimé et Marguerite Maeght, N° 137, 1963. Publish...

Spring Fever Ronald Julius Christensen, American (1923–1999) Date: 1980 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 295 Size: 42 x 29.5 in. (106.68 x 74.93 cm)

A 1930 lithograph in colors on paper by artist Raoul Varin, titled "Chicago in 1779 (Then Called Eschikago)". Archivally matted to 20" x 24 5/8". Provenance: Arthur Ackerman & Son...

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Protect Our Children Ver. II Year: 2002 Edition: 500/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on archival paper Size: 13.81 x 17.12 inches Condition: Excel...

Claude Tabet, French (1924 - 1979) - Du Descendant les Marches. Year: circa 1975, Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 250, Size: 3...

Ed: 28/300 Paper glue to cardboard American frame in brown and golden wood 145 x 83.5 x 3.7 cm

"L'Entree en scene (The Emergence)" is a color lithograph after a 1961 original piece by Rene Magritte. A transparent bird flies over the ocean. The body of this bird shows through it a clean light sky with fluffy clouds. The view around the bird is instead the dark night, stars shine at the top of the scene. Clouds blow by and the waves are turbulent. Art: 12.13 x 9.75 in Frame: 22.75 x 20.38 in René-François-Ghislain Magritte was born November 21, 1898, in Lessines, Belgium and died on August 15, 1967 in Brussels. He is one of the most important surrealist artists. Through his art, Magritte creates humor and mystery with juxtapositions and shocking irregularities. Some of his hallmark motifs include the bourgeois “little man,” bowler hats, apples, hidden faces, and contradictory texts. René Magritte’s father was a tailor and his mother was a miller. Tragedy struck Magritte’s life when his mother committed suicide when he was only fourteen. Magritte and his two brothers were thereafter raised by their grandmother. Magritte studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts from 1916 to 1918. After graduating he worked as a wallpaper designer and in advertisement. It was during this period that he married Georgette Berger, whom he had known since they were teenagers. In 1926, René Magritte signed a contract with the Brussels Art Gallery, which allowed him to quit his other jobs and focus completely on creating art. A year later he had his first solo show at the Galerie la Centaurie in Brussels. At this show Magritte exhibited what is today thought of as his first surrealist piece, The Lost Jockey, painted in 1926. In this work a jockey and his steed run across a theater stage, curtains parted on either side. Throughout the scene, there are trees with trunks shaped somewhat like chess pawns with musical scores running vertically up their sides and branches sticking out from all angles. Critics did not enjoy this style of art; it was new, different, and took critical thought to understand, but The Lost Jockey was only the first of many surrealist artworks Magritte would paint. Because of the bad press in Brussels, René and Georgette moved to Paris in 1927, with the hope that this center of avant-garde art would bring him success and recognition. In Paris, he was able to become friends with many other surrealists, including André Breton and Paul Éluard. They were able to learn from and inspire one another, pushing the Surrealist movement further forward. It was also in Paris that Magritte decided to add text to some of his pieces, which was one of the elements that made his artwork stand out. In 1929, he painted one of his most famous oil works: The Treachery of Images. This is the eye-catching piece centered on a pipe. Below the pipe is written “Ceci n’est pas un pipe,” which translates to “This is not a pipe.” This simple sentence upset many critics of the time, for of course it was a pipe. Magritte replied that it was not a pipe, but a representation of a pipe. One could not use this oil on canvas as a pipe, to fill it with tobacco and smoke it. Thus, it was not a pipe. In 1930, Magritte and Georgette moved back to Brussels. Though they would travel to his exhibitions elsewhere, their home going forward would always be in Brussels. Magritte had his first American exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York City in 1936 and his first show in England two years later in 1938 at The London Gallery...

Boatmen - Eight Scenic Spots Along Sumida River is a modern print realized in the Mid-20th Century. Mixed colored lithograph after a woodcut realized by the great Japanese artist Ut...

Lighthouses are unique to decorate with to create a look that is comforting as well as historical. This painting by Michigan artist Leo Kuschel is of the 3...

Medium: Lithograph on grand vélin Renage filigrané à la marque de l'éditeur paper. Year: 1951 Paper Size: 12.5 x 9.5 inches; image size: 10.24 x 7.48 inches Inscription: Signed in th...

Lithograph in colors on vélin Exhibition Fine Art Cartridge paper. Paper Size: 12.75 x 9.75 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the folio, Hockney's ...

Artist: Ronald Julius Christensen – American (1923-1999) Title: Moon Mist Year: circa 1980 Medium: Color Lithograph on BFK Rives paper Image size: 21 x 27.5 inches. Sheet size: 22.5 x 30 inches Signature: Signed lower right Edition size: 295 This one: 240/295 Condition: Good Unframed This exceptional vivid lithograph is by noted artist Ronald Julius Christensen (1923-1999). It makes use of vivid colors and bold strokes. The print is in good, never-framed condition with a faint crease in the upper right margin and a faint stain 4" x 1/2" in the upper left margin, both far from the image. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, Ronald Christensen established a fine-art career as a printmaker, painter and muralist in Boston where he had studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Art and the Vesper George School of Art. He became a teacher in Color Theory at the New England School of Art in Boston in 1963. Exhibition venues included the National Academy of Design (1965) and the Rhode Island Art...

S. Angelo dei Lombardi is an original lithograph on paper realized by Giuseppe Megna. Hand-signed on the lower right and numbered on the lower left in pencil, edition of 187/200 pri...

"Shooting on the Prairie" is an original hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives. It depicts a hunter shooting at fowl in an open field. 8 1/2" x 12 1/2" art 20 1/4" x 23 3/4" frame 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...

Artist: Wayne Ensrud, American (1934 - ) Title: Comogli Italy Year: 1982 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 300, HC Image Size: 21.5 x 28 inches Size: ...

This naturalistic lithograph in warm earthly colors Lake was made by Mario Sportelli in 1970. It is a hand-signed artist's proof. Excellent condition.

Copyright New York Graphic Society, Inc. Printed in Switzerland. Measures 39 x 25.5 inches and is unframed. The piece is in Good/Fair Condition-wrinkling/discoloration consistent wit...

Italian State Railways is an original artwork realized in the early century by Aleardo Terzi. Mixed colored lithograph. A vintage affiche depicting Ita...

Riding is an original print realized by an Anonymous artists of the 19th Century. Mixed colored lithograph. Good conditions except for some prepared rips. This lithograph represen...

"La Bataille de l'Argonne (The Battle of Argonne)" is a color lithograph after the original 1959 painting by Rene Magritte. The landscape is shrouded by the mist of twilight. A cresc...

THE WHITE HOUSE FELLOWS is a rare fine art poster by the renowned American Pop artist, Peter Max. THE WHITE HOUSE FELLOWS was created in 1995 in celebration of 30 Years of The White ...

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Heart on Blends Year: 2005 Edition: 500/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Lustro Saxony paper Size: 10 x 8 inches Condition: Excellent Inscriptio...

Walking in Snowy Winter is a modern print realized in the Mid-20th Century. Mixed colored lithograph after a woodcut realized by the great Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige in the 1...

THE LOOKOUT is an original hand drawn lithograph by the American woman artist Sally Caldwell-Fisher, printed using hand lithography techniques on archival Arches paper 100% acid free. THE LOOKOUT depicts a quiet boating scene with a young woman dressed in a long, Victorian style navy blue skirt, white blouse and navy neck scarf solidly standing aboard her sailboat gazing out toward the viewer. Ms. Caldwell-Fisher presents a nostalgic look back at New England life portraying a Victorian era female sailor on her sailboat floating on still water, surrounded by peaceful blue skies. THE LOOKOUT evokes a wistful affection for the past with its classic coloration of blues, beige, brown, yellow ochre, black, touches red and white. THE LOOKOUT captures a moment of tranquility while boating during the earlier era of a New England summer season delightfully expressed by the talented American woman artist, Sally Caldwell Fisher. Print size - 16.5 x 9.5 inches, unframed, mint condition, pencil signed by Sally Caldwell-Fisher Sally Caldwell-Fisher was born in Philadelphia 1951, raised in Michigan. She graduated from the University of Michigan and started selling her artwork. Upon moving to New England in the early seventies, she immediately fell in love with its natural beauty - a beauty of contrasts; the granite and dark pines, the fields of snow, and the sparkling sea. It quickly became Caldwell-Fisher's passion to paint New England life in its variety and harmony with nature. Sally Caldwell Fisher portrays in her images a world brimming with charm and simplicity. Attracted to the whimsical, she illustrates everyday life in rural...

General View of the Island of Philae, Nubia Subscription and first edition lithographs in stock Full plate: 151 Presented in a acid free mount £2080 Scroll down for more information....

This one is a metallic silver gray color. Menashe Kadishman was born in Tel-Aviv in 1932. He is a Graduate of St. Martin's School of Art, University of London Studies with Anthony Ca...

Medium: Lithograph on vélin paper, mounted on vélin paper backing sheet, as issued. Year: 1954 Paper Size: 12 x 9.25 inches; image size: 10.24 x 7.87 inches Inscription: Signed in th...

Archangel is an original modern artwork realized in Germany in the first half of the 19th Century. Original B/W Lithograph on Ivory Paper. Inscripted on the lower margin in Capit...

Héliogravure, collotype vélin paper. Paper Size: 18.23 x 17.32 inches; image size: 10.94 x 11.69 inches. Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the f...

“THE SHADOW OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE” Emilio Sanchez (1921-1999) created this color lithograph entitled “Shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge” in 1988. The image size is 21.38 x 30.50 inche...

Richard Florsheim created this color lithograph entitled “Incandescent City” in 1960 in an edition of 35 pieces. This impression is signed and inscribed “34/35.” It is in good condit...

Bastille Day Paris is an original hand drawn lithograph by the French artist Urbain Huchet depicting a lively French street celebration on Bastille Day, the July 14th French national...

Artist: Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) Title: Street Scene (L.18) Year: 1969 Medium: Lithograph on Arches paper Edition: 69/100, plus proofs Size: 22.25 x 30 inches Condition: Excellen...

Michael Schofield created "The Four Seasons" . This is a limited edition lithograph (Artist Proof) of the Summer Season. (282/800) It is also remarqued. It may be purchased alone fo...

To see our other original vintage travel posters, many of which have skiing subjects, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See a...

The Mediterranean Garden is a beautiful original lithograph on cardboard, realized by the Italian artist Giovanni Omiccioli (Rome, 1901-1975) in 1...

Landscape is a beautiful lithograph realized by the Italian artist Giuseppe Zancan (Turin, January 14, 1936 - Turin, June 8, 2016). Hand-signed in pencil on the lower right margin and signed on plate. Numbered on the lower right in pencil, copy 72 from an edition of 100 prints. Good conditions. This contemporary artwork represents a poetical landscape created through quick and confident short strokes, in well-balanced composition. Giuseppe Zancan (Turin, January 14, 1936 - Turin, June 8, 2016), was an Italian journalist and artist, His first personal exhibition of engravings dates from this period, in 1967, ordered at the L’Arte Antica gallery in Turin. These were engravings closely related to the work of Beppi Zancan's ideal teacher, Rembradt. In 1971 he exhibited again at the Ancient Art of Turin and at the Cabinet of Prints in Milan and in 1974 at the Casino of Sanremo. In 1974, he became a professional journalist and, in 1975, he was entrusted with the direction of Il Mago, one of the most important Italian comic...

Kloster Braunau is an original modern artwork realized in the first half of the 19th Century. Original B/W Lithograph on Ivory Paper. Inscripted on the lower margin in Capital Let...

Artist: Perez, Enoc Title: Puerto Rico 1N Date: 2016 Medium: Photogravures with hand coloring Unframed Dimensions: 25" x 32" Signature: Signed Editi...

Limited edition of 100 prints, numbered and hand signed.

Cyprus is an original modern artwork realized in the mid-19th Century. Original B/W Lithograph on Ivory Paper. Inscripted on the lower margin in Capital Letters: Cyprus Hauptstad...

The Queen's Staircase is an original modern artwork realized in 1836 by the French artist François Alexandre Pernot (1793-1865). Original Lithograph on paper. The sheet is glued on ...

Landscape is an original lithograph on cardboard, realized by Mario Sportelli. The state of preservation is very good. Hand-signed on the lower right Artist's proof. Sheet dimens...

This charming beach image by the American painter, printmaker, photographer and stage designer David Salle evokes the joy to be found in a serene day by the ocean. The print was publ...

Kameya - Tea House Lithography by Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando Hiroshige) Print in Good Condition Measures 12.5 in x 19 in

Artist: Rene Magritte (after) Title: La Traversée Difficile Year of Original: 1968 Year of Printing: 1968 Medium: Lithograph, signed 'F.M' by Fernand Mourlot in pencil Edition: 350 ...

To see our other original vintage travel posters, many of which are from Switzerland, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or sen...

Garibald's House is an original lithograph realized by an anonymous artist of the 19th Century. In good condition. Passpartout: 34 x 49 cm. Image Dimensions: 15.5 x 13 cm. The ar...

This splendid lithograph De Rue de l'Hotel De Ville is part of the series of prints dedicated to views of the city of Geneva, engraved by the Italian artist Antonio Fontanesi. The s...

Reginald Marsh (1898-1954), Switch Engines, Erie Yards, Jersey City, Stone No. 3, lithograph, 1948, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Sasowsky 30, o...

The Golden Gate Lithograph on wove paper watermarked GC, 1940 Signed in pencil by the artist (see photo) Publisher: Associated American Artists Edition: 189, unnumbered The image depicts The Golden Gate Bridge which connects San Francisco and Marin County, California References And Exhibitions: Illustrated: Adams, The Sensuous Life of Adolf Dehn, Fig. 13.17, page 324 Reference: L & O 325 AAA Index 391 Adolf Dehn, American Watercolorist and Printmaker, 1895-1968 Adolf Dehn was an artist who achieved extraordinary artistic heights, but in a very particular artistic sphere—not so much in oil painting as in watercolor and lithography. Long recognized as a master by serious print collectors, he is gradually gaining recognition as a notable and influential figure in the overall history of American art. In the 19th century, with the invention of the rotary press, which made possible enormous print runs, and the development of the popular, mass-market magazines, newspaper and magazine illustration developed into an artistic realm of its own, often surprisingly divorced from the world of museums and art exhibitions, and today remains surprisingly overlooked by most art historians. Dehn in many regards was an outgrowth of this world, although in an unusual way, since as a young man he produced most of his illustrative work not for popular magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post, but rather for radical journals, such as The Masses or The Liberator, or artistic “little magazines” such as The Dial. This background established the foundation of his outlook, and led later to his unique and distinctive contribution to American graphic art. If there’s a distinctive quality to his work, it was his skill in introducing unusual tonal and textural effects into his work, particularly in printmaking but also in watercolor. Jackson Pollock seems to have been one of many notable artists who were influenced by his techniques. Early Years, 1895-1922 For an artist largely remembered for scenes of Vienna and Paris, Adolf Dehn’s background was a surprising one. Born in Waterville, Minnesota, on November 22, 1895, Dehn was the descendent of farmers who had emigrated from Germany and homesteaded in the region, initially in a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. Adolf’s father, Arthur Clark Dehn, was a hunter and trapper who took pride that he had no boss but himself, and who had little use for art. Indeed, during Adolf’s boyhood the walls of his bedroom and the space under his bed were filled with the pelts of mink, muskrats and skunks that his father had killed, skinned and stretched on drying boards. It was Adolf’s mother, Emilie Haas Dehn, a faithful member of the German Lutheran Evangelical Church, who encouraged his interest in art, which became apparent early in childhood. Both parents were ardent socialists, and supporters of Eugene Debs. In many ways Dehn’s later artistic achievement was clearly a reaction against the grinding rural poverty of his childhood. After graduating from high school in 1914 at the age of 19—an age not unusual in farming communities at the time, where school attendance was often irregular—Dehn attended the Minneapolis School of Art from 1914 to 1917, whose character followed strongly reflected that of its director, Munich-trained Robert Kohler, an artistic conservative but a social radical. There Dehn joined a group of students who went on to nationally significant careers, including Wanda Gag (later author of best-selling children’s books); John Flanagan (a sculptor notable for his use of direct carving) Harry Gottlieb (a notable social realist and member of the Woodstock Art Colony), Elizabeth Olds (a printmaker and administrator for the WPA), Arnold Blanch (landscape, still-life and figure painter, and member of the Woodstock group), Lucille Lunquist, later Lucille Blanch (also a gifted painter and founder of the Woodstock art colony), and Johan Egilrud (who stayed in Minneapolis and became a journalist and poet). Adolf became particularly close to Wanda Gag (1893-1946), with whom he established an intense but platonic relationship. Two years older than he, Gag was the daughter of a Bohemian artist and decorator, Anton Gag, who had died in 1908. After her husband died, Wanda’s mother, Lizzi Gag, became a helpless invalid, so Wanda was entrusted with the task of raising and financially supporting her six younger siblings. This endowed her with toughness and an independent streak, but nonetheless, when she met Dehn, Wanda was Victorian and conventional in her artistic taste and social values. Dehn was more socially radical, and introduced her to radical ideas about politics and free love, as well as to socialist publications such as The Masses and The Appeal to Reason. Never very interested in oil painting, in Minneapolis Dehn focused on caricature and illustration--often of a humorous or politically radical character. In 1917 both Dehn and Wanda won scholarships to attend the Art Students League, and consequently, in the fall of that year both moved to New York. Dehn’s art education, however, ended in the summer of 1918, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when he was drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Unwilling to fight, he applied for status as a conscientious objector, but was first imprisoned, then segregated in semi-imprisonment with other Pacifists, until the war ended. The abuse he suffered at this time may well explain his later withdrawal from taking political stands or making art of an overtly political nature. After his release from the army, Dehn returned to New York where he fell under the spell of the radical cartoonist Boardman Robinson and produced his first lithographs. He also finally consummated his sexual relationship with Wanda Gag. The Years in Europe: 1922-1929 In September of 1921, however, he abruptly departed for Europe, arriving in Paris and then moving on to Vienna. There in the winter of 1922 he fell in love with a Russian dancer, Mura Zipperovitch, ending his seven-year relationship with Wanda Gag. He and Mura were married in 1926. It was also in Vienna that he produced his first notable artistic work. Influenced by European artists such as Jules Pascin and Georg Grosz, Dehn began producing drawings of people in cafes, streets, and parks, which while mostly executed in his studio, were based on spontaneous life studies and have an expressive, sometimes almost childishly wandering quality of line. The mixture of sophistication and naiveté in these drawings was new to American audiences, as was the raciness of their subject matter, which often featured pleasure-seekers, prostitutes or scenes of sexual dalliance, presented with a strong element of caricature. Some of these drawings contain an element of social criticism, reminiscent of that found in the work of George Grosz, although Dehn’s work tended to focus on humorous commentary rather than savagely attacking his subjects or making a partisan political statement. Many Americans, including some who had originally been supporters of Dehn such as Boardman Robinson, were shocked by these European drawings, although George Grocz (who became a friend of the artist in this period) admired them, and recognized that Dehn could also bring a new vision to America subject matter. As he told Dehn: “You will do things in America which haven’t been done, which need to be done, which only you can do—as far at least as I know America.” A key factor in Dehn’s artistic evolution at this time was his association with Scofield Thayer...