15th Century and Earlier Prints and Multiples

Artist: (after) Johann Daniel Preissler (German, 1666-1737) Title: "Aurora sive Tempus Matutinum; Der Wohl und Übel angewandte Morgen (Dawn or Morning Time; The Morning Used for Better or For Worse)" Portfolio: Die Vier Tageszeiten (The Four Times of Day) Year: 1723 Medium: Original Etching and Engraving on laid paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: likely Johann Balthasar Probst, Augsburg, Germany Publisher: Jeremias Wolff (Erben), Augsburg, Germany Reference: Le Blanc No. 255, 38; Nagler No. 23 Sheet size: 22.57" x 16.38" Image size: 17.75" x 14" Condition: Soft handling creases, folds, and scattered faint areas of discoloration to sheet. Three tears skillfully repaired from verso. Has been professionally stored away for decades. It is otherwise a strong impression in good condition with full margins Extremely rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Aspen, CO. Engraved by German artist Johann Balthasar Probst (1673-1750) after a drawing by German artist Johann Daniel Preissler (1666-1737). Comes from Preissler's 1723 "Die Vier Tageszeiten (The Four Times of Day)" portfolio of four etchings and engravings. Printed from one copper plate in one color: black. Descriptions of the portrayed image are printed in Latin and German. Biography: Johann Daniel Preissler, or Preisler (1666–1737) was a German painter and director of Nuremberg's Academy of Fine Arts. He was a notable member of a German artistic family, originating in Bohemia. His children included Johann Justin Preissler (1698–1771), Georg Martin Preisler (1700–1754), Barbara Helena Preisler (1707–1758; married to Oeding), Johan Martin Preisler (1715–1794), and Valentin Daniel Preisler (1717–1765), all in their time renowned artists. Most notable for his portraits, nudes and history paintings, Johann Daniel Preissler also produced drawings and frescoes. He was particularly known beyond his native Nuremberg for his "Die durch Theorie erfundene Practic", a sequence of works on art theory – the individual works were translated into several other languages and served as textbooks for students such as the Swiss Salomon Gessner...

After Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto Copper plate engraving with hand coloring on cream laid paper with the Arms of France watermark (a crown in shield topped by a fleur-de-lys and the letters GR), 22 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (576 x 400 mm), wide to full margins. Multiple vertical and horizontal creases from folding and rolling; none appear to be particularly hard, there is however some associated cockeling. While there is some minor mat tone visible around the perimeter of the sheet, the extensive handcoloring remains extremely fresh and saturated in the intended areas. There are edge tears at each the right and left sheet edge (outside of the image area) due to an improper effort to mount the sheet to a mat. Otherwise in very good condition with all issues being consistent with age. The print is wrongly titled "The South East Prospect of Westminster Bridge...

"Thirsty: the appearance of a town geisha in the Ansei era" - Woodblock on Paper From the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners" (Fuzoku sanjuniso) Lively woodblock of a...

Charles Turzak, 'North Bank of the Chicago River', color woodcut, c. 1935, edition 50. Signed and titled in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, with...

Andreani, Andrea, after Andrea Mantegna The Triumph of Caesar: Plate IV of IX 1599. Chiaroscuro woodcut in colors printed from four blocks on laid paper in dark brown, grey, and thr...

GUSTAVE BAUMANN (1881 – 1971) THE WAGON SHOP, 1910 (Chamberlain 24) Color woodcut signed in pencil. Unnumbed from an edition 100 as published in the Hills o’ Brown...

"Lady Holding a Baby" - Woodblock Print on Laid Rice Paper Elegant woodcut print by Stephen White (American, b. 1939). In an early example of White's signature style, a stylized, mi...

An 18th century view of the first permanent water fountain in London. London: J.Boydell, 1753. Engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on white laid paper, laid down to a modern...

Lynd Ward, 'Madman's Drum, Plate 41', wood engraving, 1930, edition small. Signed in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on off-white tissue-thin Japan paper; the full sheet with margins (1 5/8 to 2 1/2 inches); a small paper blemish in the upper right margin, away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition. A scarce, artist-printed, hand-signed proof impression before the published edition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches (140 x 95 mm); sheet size 9 5/8 x 7 1/8 inches (244 x 181 mm). From Lynd Ward’s book of illustrations without words, 'Madman’s Drum', Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, 1930. Reproduced in 'Storyteller Without Words, the Wood Engravings of Lynd Ward', Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1974. ABOUT THE ARTIST Lynd Ward is acknowledged as one of America’s foremost wood engravers and book illustrators of the first half of the twentieth century. His innovative use of narrative printmaking as a stand-alone storytelling vehicle was uniquely successful in reaching a broad audience. The powerful psychological intensity of his work, celebrated for its dynamic design, technical precision, and compelling dramatic content, finds resonance in the literature of Poe, Melville, and Hawthorne. Like these classic American writers, Ward was concerned with the themes of man’s inner struggles and the role of the subconscious in determining his destiny. An artist of social conscience during the Great Depression and World War II, he infused his graphic images with his unique brand of social realism, deftly portraying the problems that challenged the ideals of American society. The son of a Methodist preacher, Lynd Ward, moved from Chicago to Massachusetts at an early age. He graduated from the Teachers College of Columbia University, New York, in 1926, where he studied illustration and graphic arts. He married May Yonge McNeer in 1936 and left for Europe for their honeymoon in Eastern Europe. After four months, they settled in Leipzig, where Ward studied at the National Academy of Graphic Arts and Bookmaking. Inspired by Belgian expressionist artist Frans Masereel's graphic novel ‘The Sun,’ and another graphic novel by the German artist Otto Nückel, ‘Destiny,’ he determined to create his own "wordless" novel. Upon his return to America, Ward completed his first book, ‘God's Man: A Novel in Woodcuts,’ published in 1929. ‘Gods’ Man’ was a great success for its author and publisher and was reprinted four times in 1930, including a British edition. This book and several which followed it, ‘Madman’s Drum,’ 1930, ‘Wild Pilgrimage...

Adoration of the Shepherds after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640), engraved by Pierre-Franois Basan (French, 1723-1797), engraving, c. 1750, in black on ivory laid paper, 282 x 200 mm., with small margins. In very good condition. A fine proof impression, before letters. A draft printing of letters is visible, lower left, below image: “P P Rubens inv.”; lower right: “F. Basan excudit”. Basan’s engraving after Rubens may be modeled after another engraving of the Adoration after Rubens by Theodor Galle (1571-1633), which appeared as an illustration to the 1618 reprint of 1616 edition of “Missale Romanum...

The print 'Jones Island' is something of a self portrait. In the image, an artist stands before and easel, depicting the docks and buildings on the coast. The title indicates that this is Jones Island in Milwaukee, the peninsula along Lake Michigan that today is home to largely industrial buildings. The buildings and figures in the print suggest that this might be a view of the last of the Kashubian or German immigrant settlements on the peninsula before they were evicted in the 1940s to make way for the development of the harbor. The artist in the image thus acts as a documentarian of these peoples. The careful line-work of the woodblock engraving adds a sense of expressionism to the scene, leaving the figures and buildings looking distraught and dirty, though the image nonetheless falls into the Social Realist category that dominated American artists during the Great Depression. This print was published in 1936 as part of the Wisconsin Artists' Calendar for the year 1937, which included 52 original, hand-made prints – one for each week of the year. 6 x 5 inches, image 10 x 7.13 inches, sheet 13.43 x 12.43 inches, frame Signed "GS" in the print block,upper left Entitled "Jones Island" lower left (covered by matting) Inscribed "Wood Engraving" lower center (covered by matting) Artist name "Gerrit V. Sinclair" lower right (covered by matting) Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and museum glass, all housed in a silver gilded moulding. Gerrit Sinclair studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1910 - 1915, under Vanderpoel, Norton, and Walcott. In World War I, he served in the Army Ambulance Corps and later recorded his experiences in a series of oil paintings. He taught in Minneapolis before arriving in Milwaukee in 1920 to become a member of the original faculty of the Layton School of Art. He was also a member of the Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors. Sinclair's paintings and drawings were executed in a lyrical, representational style, usually expressing a mood rather than a narrative. His paintings reveal a great sensitivity for color and atmosphere. His subject matter focused on cityscapes, industrial valleys, and working-class neighborhoods, captured from eye-level. A decade before the popularity of Regionalism, Sinclair's strong interest in the community was reflected not only in his paintings, but also in his encouragement to students to return to their communities as artists and teachers. Joseph Friebert...

SADAO WATANABE (Japanese 1913-1996) JONAH, 1959 Color stencil, signed, numbered and dated in white ink. Sheet, 25 5/8 x 22 5/8 inches. Edition: 44/50. Good color and generally good ...