Pig Still-life Prints

Leonard Merchant's mezzotint, "Snail in Cup" is inscribed for fellow artist, Fritz Eichenberg. While a student at the Central School for Arts and Crafts in London, a young Leonard Marchant found an engraving rocker in a cupboard and proceeded to turn himself into a master of the painstaking art of mezzotinting. Marchant, who has died in Shrewsbury aged 70, grew up in Simonstown, the Royal Navy's enclave in South Africa. Though his first job was as a parliamentary messenger, he taught himself to paint and, aged 19, was given a one-man show in Cape Town. Fired by this success, he left for England to study painting and, he claimed, to escape the stifling home atmosphere created by his Catholic mother and aunts. (His father was killed in the second world war.) Without contacts in London, he phoned Jacob Epstein, whose recommendation resulted in a grant to study briefly at the Central School. It was later, when studying full-time at the Central, that he saw the mezzotints of the Japanese master, Yozo Hamaguchi, in a London gallery. He was hooked. Creating a mezzotint is tedious in the extreme. The copper plate must first be prepared with a "rocker" which roughens the surface. A plate may be "rocked" 30 or 40 times. The rough texture is then reduced with a burnisher and a scraper, allowing the print a range of tones from velvety black through the greys to white. Marchant's plates could be months in the making. But the technical demands were the least of his worries. In its 18th- and 19th-century heyday, mezzotint was solely a reproductive medium, for copying masters such as Reynolds and Turner. The development of photography rendered it unfashionable, and by the 1960s the technique, known as la manière anglaise, was a bygone medium. Marchant, by now a teacher in printmaking at the Central, began to create original mezzotints with a colleague, Radavan Kraguly. A perfectionist, he seemed to revel in the straitjacket procedure. Perhaps it was the metaphor of bringing darkness out of light that appealed to this straight-talking, sometimes sombre, man, who would suddenly relax and light up like a gleaming hue on one of his prints. His work was of squares and triangles with the occasional cat, black and ominous, and carefully arranged still lifes, featuring plants, a seed pod, a pot he might have bought at auction to celebrate the sale of a print. There were one-man shows, notably at the Bankside Gallery. He sold well at the Royal Academy summer exhibition, was a Florence Biennale prizewinner, spent a fellowship year at the British School in Rome, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. But making mezzotints was not a paying job. Marchant and his South African wife...

Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 39; Unidentified tree with moth, caterpillar and pupa. The Netherlands: 1705....

Printed in 1965 by Franz Hanfstaengl in Munich, Germany. The Marini bears the printer's blind stamp just below the bottom left-hand corner of the image, which reads "Hansfstaengldru...

Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 6; Thistle and Moths. The Netherlands: 1705. Engraving with hand coloring in w...

Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 26; Cocoa plant, caterpillar, pupa, and butterflies. The Netherlands: 1705. En...

[ Bird of Paradise] La Pie de paradise, vue par derriere , No.21, Paris 1801-1806 [Astrapia nigra]. Color-printed engraving with hand-coloring. French botanical and zoological illustrator Jacques Barraband (1767-1809) was known as one of the finest ornithological artists of his time .He is best known for his watercolors and engravings that were commissioned by François LeVaillant, French explorer, naturalist, zoological collector , noted ornithologist and author. Levaillant’s Histoire naturelle des perroquets (1801-05) and his Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis (Birds of Paradise, 1801-06), both of which Barraband contributed to, are still considered some of the most beautiful bird books of all times because of their exceptional scientific accuracy, rich color and detail. The Astrapia nigra is a Bird of Paradise that inhabits the Vogelkop Peninsula of West Papua...

Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With one 1.5 inch inch tear across the area of the top-left corner, well outside of image area. Handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: CXXI, CXXII, CXXIII, & CXXIV. MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation. Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...

Artist: Hunt Slonem Title: Lobster Year: 1980 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 250; AP 30 Image: 19 x 19 inches Paper Size: 22 x 30 inches

Regal Chief Michael Knigin, American (1942–2011) Date: 1979 Screenprint, signed, numbered, dated, and titled in pencil Edition of AP Image Size: 18 x 25.5 inches Size: 21.5 x 29.5 in...

Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: LIV, LV, LVI, & LVII. MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation. Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...

Jack Beal Frogs and Toad, 1971 Hand signed in pencil by Jack Beal, annotated AP One-color lithograph proofed by hand and pulled by machine from a zinc plate on Arches buff paper with deckled edges at the Shorewood Bank Street Atelier Stamped, hand numbered AP, aside from the regular edition of 150 Stamped on reverse: COPYRIGHT © 1971 BY JACK BEAL, bears blind stamp 18 × 24 inches Unframed 18 x 24 inches Stamped on reverse: COPYRIGHT © 1971 BY JACK BEAL, bears distinctive blind stamp of publisher (shown) Publisher: David Godine, Center for Constitutional Rights, Washington, D.C. Jack Beal's "Frogs and Toads" is a classic example of protest art from the early 1970s - the most influential era until today. This historic graphic was created for the legendary portfolio "CONSPIRACY: the Artist as Witness", to raise money for the legal defense of the Chicago 8 - a group of anti-Vietnam War activists indicted by President Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell for conspiring to riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (1968 was also the year Bobby Kennedy was killed and American casualties in Vietnam exceeded 30,000.) The eight demonstrators included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. (The eighth activist, Bobby Seale, was severed from the case and sentenced to four years for contempt after being handcuffed, shackled to a chair and gagged.) Although Abbie Hoffman would later joke that these radicals couldn't even agree on lunch, the jury convicted them of conspiracy, with one juror proclaiming the demonstrators "should have been shot down by the police." All of the convictions were ultimately overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. This lithograph has fine provenance: it comes directly from the original Portfolio: "Conspiracy The Artist as Witness" which also featured works by Alexander Calder, Nancy Spero and Leon Golub, Romare Bearden Sol Lewitt, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenburg, Larry Poons, Peter Saul, Raphael Soyer and Frank Stella - as well as this one by Jack Beal. It was originally housed in an elegant cloth case, accompanied by a colophon page. This is the first time since 1971 that this important work has been removed from the original portfolio case for sale. It is becoming increasingly scarce because so many from this edition are in the permanent collections of major museums and institutions worldwide. Jack Beal wrote a special message about this work on the Portfolio's colophon page. It says, "In 1956, shortly after Sondra and I moved to New York, two friends were arrested and jailed for protesting air-raid drills. From them and their friends came our education. This work is dedicated to them and their families. "In Memory of Patricia McClure Daw and AL Uhrie" - This print was made for their children. Jack Beal Biography: Early in his career Walter Henry “Jack” Beal Jr. painted abstract expressionist canvases, because he believed it was “the only valid way to paint.” By the early 1960s he totally altered his approach and fully repudiated abstraction. Turning to representation, he painted narrative and figurative subjects, often enhanced by bright colors and dramatic perspectives. Beal was born in Richmond, Virginia, and from 1950 to 1953 he attended the Norfolk Division of William and Mary College Polytechnic Institute, (now Old Dominion University) where he studied biology and anatomy. Shifting gears, he sought art training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he focused on drawing, and met his wife, artist Sondra Freckelton. His art history instructor encouraged her students to paint in the manner of established artists, and to that end he frequented the Institute’s galleries. For Beal this was significant: “Until I saw pictures of real quality I had tended to think of painting as just so much self-indulgent smearing around, but when I saw masterpieces by Cézanne and Matisse, and other painters of similar stature, I was bowled over; suddenly I realized the force of art.” After spending three years (1953–1956) at the Art Institute, Beal concluded his studies there without getting a terminal degree, thinking it was only useful if he wanted to teach, which, at the time, he did not. He also took courses at the University of Chicago in 1955 and 1956. During this period he married Freckelton, a fellow student and sculptor who began her career working in wood and plastic. Together they moved to New York’s SoHo District before its transformation from a wasteland of sweatshops and small factories into an arts district. They were active with the Artist Tenants Association which was instrumental in getting zoning laws changed so that artists could live and work in the well-lit lofts. Embracing what came to be called “New Realism,” Beal initially painted an occasional landscape as well as earthy-toned still lifes which consisted of jumbled collections filled with personal objects. His signature style started with a series of female nudes—all modeled by Freckelton—based on Greek mythology. These were large canvases with flat paint surfaces, dramatic foreshortening, and unusual perspectives. He further enlivened them with vivid colors, stark lighting, and dynamic patterns derived from textiles and overstuffed furniture. He stopped painting nudes after two episodes. The first came as he was loading a canvas of his naked wife onto a truck in lower Manhattan; several laborers walked by and started to fondle and kiss the painting. On the one hand he felt his wife had been violated, while on the other he was pleased that his realism was so convincing. The second occurred after a solo exhibition in Chicago at which the reception had been sponsored by Playboy magazine. A few days later he was approached by a publicist and asked if Playboy bunnies could be photographed in front of his paintings. He refused. Some portrait commissions came Beal’s way, but he preferred only portraying friends. More significant were four large murals on the History of Labor in America, the 20th Century: Technology (1975), which he undertook for the headquarters of the United States Department of Labor in Washington. Following a historical timeline, the themes were: colonization, settlement, nineteenth century industry, and twentieth century technology. The unveiling ceremony was attended by government officials and Joan Mondale, an arts advocate and wife of the vice-president. The reviewer for the Washington Post wrote enthusiastically: “They’re heartfelt and they’re big (each is 12 feet square). Their many costumed actors (the Indian, the trapper, the scientist, the hardhat, the capitalist in striped pants, the union maid, etc.) strike dramatic poses in dramatic settings (a seaside wood at dawn, an outdoor blacksmith’s forge, a 19th-century mill, a 20th-century lab). The lighting is theatrical. Beal’s compositions, with their swooping curves and bunched diagonals, are as complicated as his interwoven plots.” To accomplish the murals Beal assembled a team of assistants and models, much in the manner of Renaissance masters, which included artist friends and Freckelton. who by then was painting brightly colorful still lifes. A second mural commission ensued from New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority for two twenty-foot long installations for the Times Square Interborough Rapid Transit Company subway station. Beal’s designs for The Return of Spring (installed in 2001, three days after the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, DC and Philadelphia) and The Onset of Winter (installed in 2005), Beal captured the appearance of his models in an oil painting made to the scale of the intended mosaic. A collaboration with Miotto Mosaics, the canvases were shipped to the Travisanutto Workshop, in Spilimbergo, Italy, where craftsmen fabricated the design to glass mosaics. The Return of Spring depicted construction workers and other New Yorkers in front of a subway kiosk and an outdoor produce market and in The Onset of Winter, a crowd watches a film crew recording a woman entering the subway as snow falls against the city’s skyline. Harkening back to some of his early nudes based on Greek myth, Persephone, goddess of fertility and wife of Hades, appears in both. The symbolism is pertinent, since she spent six months each year below ground. Although he disparaged teaching early on, Beal and Freckelton offered four summertime workshops on their farm in Oneonta, New York. He was an instructor at the New York Academy of Art, a graduate art school he helped to establish in 1982. Returning to Virginia, he taught at Hollins College...

Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 58; Ice Cream Bean Plant, Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly and Caterpillar with Mot...