International Fine Print Dealers Association Art

WILLIAM HOGRATH (1767- 1764) THE BATHOS / Tail Piece 1764 (Paulson 1989: 216 I/I Paulson 1965/70: 216 I/I) Engraving Plate 12 7/8 x 13 3/8, sheet 17 ¾ x 18 ¾ Designed & Engrav’d by Wm Hogarth at left and Published according to Act of Parliam’t March 3, 1764 at right. Good condition on thick laid paper Small bit of tape on the left & right sheet edges small stan lower sheet edge all on recto. This Hogarth’s last print is fascinating as it is prophacy about death. Various institutions have interesting commentaries - to wit: Chicago Art Institute: Hogarth created The Bathos toward the end of his life. It is considered one of the bleakest artworks of the 18th century because it depicts the Apocalypse without an afterlife. The Angel of Death even collapses in exhaustion after having destroyed the world. In his hand is an execution decree and around him lies a mass of broken objects. Princeton: Hogarth’s last print, The Bathos,….. is filled with all manner of images denoting the end of life as we know it. Entry no. 216 in Ronald Paulson’s catalogue raisonne Hogarth’s Graphic Works, 3rd revised edition says “This print is the culmination of such pessimistic images . . . . [taking] his general composition, the configuration of objects, and some of the particular items, from Dürer’s engraving, Melancholia; but he also recalls Salvator Rosa’s Democritus in Meditation (which derives from Dürer’s print) with a scroll at the bottom of the etching: ‘Democritus the mocker of all things, confounded by the ending of All Things’ (Antal, p.168).” Newfields (Indianapolis Museum of Art): Hogarth intended this engraving to serve as the tailpiece to bound volumes of his collected engravings and, appropriately, it proved to be his last engraving. Father Time has died and his last will and testament has been witnessed by the three Fates. He is surrounded by a landscape of death, decay, and ruin. Hogarth aimed this print at dealers in “dark” Old Masters paintings who promoted the idea that ruins evoked sublime feelings in viewers—a sentiment, Hogarth wrote, that was reducing the world to ruin. British Caricature...

Original stone lithograph with hand-coloring from "Birds of North America." First Octavo Edition, by John James Audubon. Plate 383. Philadelphia, J.T. Bowen, ca. 1839-44.

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Traghetto, etching and drypoint, 1879-80, signed with the butterfly on the tab and inscribed “imp”. Reference: Kennedy 19...

Irving Place Burlesque Etching, 1930 Unsigned (as usual for the Whitney edition) Numbered in pencil lower left Blind stamp of the Whitney Museum (WM) lower right From: Reginald Marsh...

Baby, Baby Etching & aquatint printed in colors, 1991 Signed, dated, titled & numbered in pencil (see photos) Edition: 35 (4/35) plus 10 AP Condition: Excellent, colors fresh Image/...

Zena Kavin, 'Judgment of Souls', lithograph, c. 1935, edition 20. Signed, titled, and numbered '17/20' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, with full marg...

Kollwitz, Kathe. TOD UND FRAU (DEATH AND WOMAN). Knesebeck 107, State VII; Klipstein 103. Line etching, drypoint, sandpaper, soft ground with imprint of granulated tone paper and Zie...

Bernard Brussel-Smith, 'City Scene II', wood engraving, 1949, artist's proof, edition 100. Signed, titled, and annotated 'A.P.' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on whit...

XXe Siecle, No. 34, Mai 1970 Color lithograph, 1970 Unsigned (as usual for XXeme Siecle edition) From: XXe Siecle, Volume 34, 1970 Published by G. di San Lazzaro for A. Maeght, Paris...

Reginald Marsh, 'A Morning in May', etching, 1936, edition 100 (Whitney, 1969), Sasowsky 169. Unsigned as published; numbered '89/100' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, ...

FRANCES H. GEARHART and Sisters (THE GEARHARTS) SEA TREASURES...

Original chromolithograph teaching chart by Heinrich Jung G. Ton Koch, and F. Quentell. Darmstadt, Verlag Frommann & Morian, circa 1902.

Robert Rauschenberg Autobiography, 1968 Three panel offset lithograph on three sheets of paper 66 1/4 x 48 3/4 inches each Ed. 2000, unsigned Unframed Can be displayed horizontally o...

James Allen, 'Spiderboy', 1937, etching, edition 40, Ryan 86. Signed in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream laid paper, with full margins (1 1/4 to 2 7/8 inches). A s...

ANTON REFREGIER (1905 – 1979) DISCOVERY OF GOLD, 1949. Color serigraph. Signed and numbered in pencil, edition of 90. Image 23 ¼ x 21 ¾" Large sheet, 29 3/4 x 25 ¼”. Printed title...

Provenance: Marina Picasso Estate, her number verso Purchased from Jan Krugier Gallery, NY References And Exhibitions: Georges Bloch, Picasso: Catalogue de l'oeuvre grave et lith...

James McBey. 1931. Drypoint. 8 7/8 x 5 7/8 (sheet 11 1/2 x 9 ). An extremely rich impression with drypoint burr, printed by the artist on cream wove paper. Signed in the plate lower ...

The Venetian Mast. 1879-80. Etching and drypoint. Kennedy catalog 195 state .vi; Glasgow catalog 219 state x/xii. 13 3/8 x 6 3/8. Glasgow records 53 impressions. A fine, atmospheric...

(Mazell, Peter). THE COMMON BUZZARD after Charles Collins. Engraving with hand-coloring, c. 1766. A plate from The British Zoology, London 1777. Titled in the plate, top, and with th...

Théodore Géricault and Eugène Lami, 'Mazeppa' from the series 'Oeuvres de Lord Byron', lithograph, 1823, 2nd state of 3, Delteil 94. Rendered by Thé...

Original pochoir process print. Paris, Galerie Lutetia, circa 1920.

Original stone lithograph with hand-coloring from "Birds of North America." First Octavo Edition, by John James Audubon. Plate 422. Philadelphia, J.T. Bowen, ca. 1839-44. Custom fr...

FRANCISCO de GOYA y LUCIENTES (1746 -1828) OBSEQUIO á el MAESTRO (‘A gift for the master’) Plate 47 from the 1st edition of Los Caprichos (Blas, ...

Stephen Harty, Untitled (Bird Abstraction), gouache, 1953. Signed and dated lower left. A fine, meticulously rendered, mid-century, modernist gouache painting, with fresh colors on 1...

John Melville Kelly, 'Mokihana (Hawaii)', drypoint, 1946. Signed, titled, and annotated 'No 5' in pencil. A superb, finely nuanced impression, in dark brown ink, on cream wove Japan ...

Niklaus Troxler. Silkscreen Don Pullen Quartet Willisau 1978 Schweizer Plakat des Jahres. The pianist’s powerful play changes the colors of the American Flag. Award: Swiss Poster of...

Lyonel Feininger, 'Da-Da I' also titled by the artist 'Der Abgott' (The Idol), woodcut, 1918, a proof impression. Prasse W91. Signed in pencil and annotated '1876', the artist’s inv...

HENRI MATISSE (French 1869-1954) LE REPOSE du MODELE 1922 . (Duthuit 416) Original lithograph, FIRST STATE, on Chine volant paper BEFORE image was reduced at the left edge. An uns...

Henri Pierre Fortier, Untitled (Autumn Landscape), gouache, c. 1940s. Signed in ink. Inscribed 'To my Friend CLINTON R. MULFORD'. A fine, painterly watercolor, with rich, layered colors, on heavy dark brown drawing paper with approximately 1/4 inch margins; an unfinished figurative sketch...

PAUL GAUGUIN (French 1848 - 1903) DEAUX FEMMES MAORIES ACCROUPIES. 1894-5 (Kornfield 26: Guerin 87 ) Zincograph (Lithograph) on smooth, cream imitation Japan paper, edition 200. Pu...

The So-Called Tempio della Tosse, Near Tivoli. Interior Upright (Veduta interna del Tempio della Tosse) "Temple of the Cough" Etching, 1764 Signed in the plate From: Vedute di Roma...

REYNOLD WEIDENAAR (1915 - 1985) THE BURRO STATION, 1946, Etching and drypoint on paper, Signed and titled in pencil from an edition of unknown size. Plate: 17" x 13": Sheet: 20.75" x 15.75". One of a pair of large format Mexican etchings...

Eric Gill, 'Naked Girl in Spray, Head Thrown Back to Left, Four Leaves' and 'Naked Girl in Spray, Head Upright, Hands Over Head', wood engraving, 1930, edit...

Fritz Eichenberg, 'The Aquarium', wood engraving, 1933, edition 200. Signed and titled in pencil. Initialed in the block, lower right. A superb, richly-inked impression, on pale yel...

JEAN-BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT (1876 - 1875) PAYSAGE D’ ITALIE 1866 (Melot 7 iii/iii) Etching, plate 6 ¼ x 9 inches, Third state after the removal of the text but before the random scr...

Arthur Ernest Becher, 'Early Spring', oil, 1950. Signed and dated, lower right. A fine impressionist landscape, with fresh colors, on heavy illustration board, in very good, original condition, without inpainting. Framed in a period, 3 inch wide wood frame. Image size: 17 5/8 x 20 1/2 inches; outside frame dimensions: 23 3/4 x 26 5/8 inches. ABOUT THE ARTIST Arthur Ernst Becher was a painter and an illustrator of books and magazines. Born in Freiberg, Germany, he emigrated with his parents at the age of six to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a fine artist, he was known for his rural New York landscapes and historical scenes including Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He received early training from F.W. Heine and Robert Schade...

Mädchen am Fenster. 1906-08. Color lithograph printed on smooth card stock. Full margins. Tipped into a later presentaion folder, signed by the artist in pencil, on the recto. Published by the Wiener Werkstätte, Vienna, with the printed postcard text on verso. Among Kokoschka's earliest prints were a series of 14 postcards, the current work and the following lot that he produced for the Wiener Werkstätte. Wingler/Welz 4. Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits...

Richard Florsheim created this color lithograph entitled “Warf-Side” in 1962 in an edition of 60 pieces. This impression is signed and inscribed “Trial Proof” and printed at the Mour...

George Rogers, 'Sculpturegraph' (Black, Gray, and Silver), color sculpturegraph, edition 40, 1984. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '25/40' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked, pain...

Untitled (Surrealist rendering of Pyramids at Giza with alligator) watecolor and gouache on paper, 1960 Unsigned Beni Kosh estate stamp No. 717 verso, unsigned. (see photo) Condition: Minor condition issues minor folds Not objectionable Image/Sheet size: 18 1/4 x 24 inches Provenance: Estate of the Artist Bingham Vance, Shaker Heights...

Shulman, Morris (American, 1912-1978). UNTITLED. Casein on paper, circa 1951. Signed, lower left. 14 1/2 x 21 3/4 inches, framed to 23 x 30 inches. In excellent condition. Shulman st...

Robert Vale Faro, 'Kaf With', color lithograph, 1945, edition 15. Signed, dated, titled and numbered '84' and '6/15' in pen, recto. Titled, numbered '#84' and '6/15' and dated '7/22/...

Pintori, Giovanni. Olivetti. 1967. 2nd printing. 1st Printing 1946. Offset Lithograph. Rare Giovanni Pintori (1912 – 1999) was an Italian graphic designer and painter. His most famous works are the advertisement posters for Olivetti typewriters...

Terrell James Insomnia's Green Ledge, 2022 Oil on canvas 66 x 66 in (167.6 x 167.6 cm)

Helios Gomez, 'El Dictador (The Dictator)', letterpress, 1929-1930. Signed in the matrix, lower right and numbered '3', upper left corner. Letterpress relief print after the original drawing, with text in black ink on buff, wove paper; the full sheet with margins. Slight toning at the sheet edges, otherwise in very good condition. From the vintage suite of 23 numbered prints, titled in five languages with Spanish verses in linotype. Matted to museum standards, unframed. As published in 'Días de Ira' (Days of Wrath), a portfolio of 23 drawings and poems on the “Spanish White Terror” by Spanish artist Helios Gómez, his first publication. Accompanied by an introduction by the 'Socialist International' and with a foreword by Romain Rolland. Printed in Berlín in 1930. Image size 7 3/4 x 5 5/8 inches; sheet size 12 7/8 x 9 3/8 inches. ABOUT THE ARTIST "Free art from representational conventions and make it live from its own dynamism; make the spectator feel the emotion of an idea thanks to pure abstract plastic art: that is, in short, my artistic aspiration... I wanted to touch the people through art". — Helios Gómez. Helios Gómez (1905–1956) was born in Triana, Seville, into a working-class Calé (gypsy) family. He received his training at the Seville Industrial Arts and Crafts School and the Cartuja factory as a painter and decorator of ceramics. His initial works were published in the anarchist Páginas Libres, and he illustrated books by local authors like Rafael Laffon and Felipe Alaiz. In 1925, he showcased his work for the first time at the Kursaal in Seville, followed by exhibitions in Madrid at the Ateneo and in Barcelona at the Dalmau Gallery the subsequent year. Gómez became increasingly aware of the need for political change, aligning himself with anarchist groups and committing to express his political beliefs through his art, writing, and speeches. His artistic career allowed him some acceptance in broader Spanish society, which still primarily viewed Romani identity as acceptable only through creative expression. Unfortunately, anti-Romani sentiment persisted, reflected in critical reviews and media coverage. His early illustrations for anarchist writer Felipe Alaiz and exhibitions at radical spaces like Café Kursaal marked the beginning of his activism. In 1927, due to his political involvement, he had to flee Spain and travel across Western Europe, connecting with avant-garde art movements and the labor movement. This experience significantly influenced his work, which incorporated elements of cubism, expressionism, and futurism. Upon returning to Spain in 1930, he settled in Barcelona and collaborated as a printmaker with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. Gómez later renounced anarchism and joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), believing that the international communist movement was the most effectively organized force opposing the rise of fascism. He participated in communist rallies and was imprisoned in Barcelona's Model prison. During the Spanish Civil War, he fought with the Communist Party. He gave an interview to the leftist magazine Crónica, where he spoke about the anti-fascist cause and praised the Soviet Union for its integration of Romani people. By 1938, he had rejoined the anarchist movement and worked on the design of the newspaper El Frente. After fleeing the country during the Nationalists' Catalonia Offensive, he was interned in French concentration camps. In the aftermath of the war, as details of the Romani Holocaust started to emerge, he embraced his Romani identity more openly, especially after his imprisonment under the Franco dictatorship. He spent time in Model prison from 1945 to 1946 and again from 1948 to 1954, during which he focused on writing. He produced two essays, including one on Romani art...

Anonymous, Japanese Kimono Fabric Design, color woodcut, c. 1930. A superb impression, with fresh colors, fine graduations, and metallic gold motifs, on ...

TallerOr Screen print printed on "card board" (cream poster board), 1968 Signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 150 (54/150), plus 11 for the Vasarely Fou...

Gottlieb, Adolph (American, 1903-1974). TWO BARS. Color lithograph, 1969. Edition of 100, Signed and dated, and numbered 11/100, all in pencil. Exhibition label, verso. 29 1/2 x 21. ...

Lou Barlow (Louis Breslow), 'On the Beach' (Coney Island) wood engraving, c. 1937, edition c. 25. Signed and titled in pencil. Stamped 'FEDERAL ART PROJECT NYC WPA' in the bottom left margin. A fine, richly-inked impression, with all the fine lines printing clearly, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 1/2 to 3 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Scarce. Image size 11 x 8 1/8 inches; sheet size 16 x 11 3/8 inches. Created during the Great Depression for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Federal Art Project, New York City. Impressions of this work are in the permanent collections of the Amon Carter Museum of Art, Illinois State Museum, and the New York Public Library. ABOUT THE IMAGE Due to Coney Island's proximity to Manhattan, Brooklyn, and other New York boroughs, it began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s. Most of the vacationers were wealthy and went by carriage roads and steamship services that reduced travel time from a formerly half-day journey to two hours. By the late 1870s, the development of Coney Island's amusement park attractions and hotels drew people from all social classes. When the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company electrified the steam railroads and connected Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge at the beginning of the 20th century, Coney Island turned rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day-trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City's tenements. In 1915, the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line, and the opening of the Stillwell Avenue station in 1919 ushered in Coney Island's busiest era. On the peak summer days, over a million people would travel to Coney Island. In 1937, New York City purchased a 400-foot-wide strip of land along the shoreline to allow the boardwalk to be moved 300 feet inland. At this point, Coney Island was so crowded on summer weekends that parks commissioner Robert Moses...

Red to Green Portal Aquatint, 1979 Signed and dated in pencil lower right (see photo) Edition: 95 (84/95), see photo Provenance: U.S. Representative James A. Leach, retired Condition...

image size: 12 x 9 inches William Wegman is a renowned photographer famous for his unique and artistic photographs of Weimaraner puppies. His approach to is far from conventional, ...

HAROLD LUKENS DOOLTTLE (1883 - 1974) WESTERN GRANDEUR c. 1945 Aquatint, signed titled and dedicated. Image 9 ¾ x 13 5/8 inches. Large full sheet with deckle edges 15 ½ x 19 inches...

Stanley William Hayter, 'Feu sous L'eau (Fire Under Water)', color engraving, soft-ground etching and scorper with yellow silkscreen, 1955, edition 50 plus 10 artist proofs, Black & Moorhead 221. Signed, titled 'Fire Under Water', dated and annotated 'Essai' in pencil. Dedicated in the artist’s hand 'for Adja & Dove WH Bill 17–5–55' in the top margin. A superb, richly inked impression with fresh colors, on heavy, cream wove paper; wide margins (2 1/2 to 3 7/8 inches), in excellent condition. One of 10 artist’s proofs. Image size 10 3/16 x 7 inches; sheet size 18 1/8 x 12 1/4 inches. Matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THIS WORK In 1950 Hayter returned to Paris and reopened Atelier 17. Works such as 'Fire Under Water' reveal newfound influences, such as that of the Ardèche area of southern France, where he acquired a house in 1951 and frequently visited. Hayter took great interest in the flowing Escoutay River, an experience that parallels the artist and co-director of Atelier 17 Krishna Reddy’s interest in depicting water. While some forms in this print evoke the natural world, the palette of contrasting tones of purple, yellow, black, and white reflects Hayter’s belief in using color intuitively to express emotions and evoke feelings. The sharp white relief lines from the paper and the textural effects realized through soft-ground etching operate in tandem with the sweeping curves and bold colors to give the composition a sense of vitality and dynamism. —edited from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Published by 'La Jeune Gravure Contemporaine', Paris. Impressions of this work are in the following collections: British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art. ABOUT THE ARTIST Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988) was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century, Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris, now known as Atelier Contrepoint. Among the artists he is credited with influencing are Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, and Marc Chagall. The hallmark of the workshop was its egalitarian structure, breaking sharply with the traditional French engraving studios by insisting on a cooperative approach to labor and technical discoveries. In 1929 Hayter was introduced to Surrealism by Yves Tanguy and André Masson, who, with other Surrealists, worked with Hayter at Atelier 17. The often violent imagery of Hayter’s Surrealist period was stimulated in part by his passionate response to the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Fascism. He organized portfolios of graphic works to raise funds for the Spanish cause, including Solidarité (Paris, 1938), a portfolio of seven prints, one of them by Picasso. Hayter frequently exhibited with the Surrealists during the 1930s but left the movement when Paul Eluard was expelled. Eluard’s poem Facile Proie (1939) was written in response to a set of Hayter’s engravings. Other writers with whom Hayter collaborated included Samuel Beckett and Georges Hugnet. Hayter joined the exile of the Parisian avant-garde in 1939, moving with his second wife, the American sculptor Helen Phillips...

Charles Quest, 'Underwater', 1948, chiaroscuro wood engraving, edition 12. Signed, titled, dated and numbered '3/12' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, in dark brown and warm black, on off-white wove paper, with full margins (5/8 to 1 1/2 inch), in excellent condition. Scarce. ABOUT THE ARTIST Charles Quest, painter, printmaker, and fine art instructor, worked in various mediums, including mosaic, stained glass, mural painting, and sculpture. Quest grew up in St. Louis, his talent evident as a teenager when he began copying the works of masters such as Michelangelo on his bedroom walls. He studied at the Washington University School of Fine Arts, where he later taught from 1944 to 1971. He traveled to Europe after his graduation in 1929 and studied at La Grande Chaumière and Academie Colarossi, Paris, continuing to draw inspiration from the works of the Old Masters. After returning to St. Louis, Quest received several commissions to paint murals in public buildings, schools, and churches, including one from Joseph Cardinal Ritter, to paint a replica of Velasquez's Crucifixion over the main altar of the Old Cathedral in St. Louis. Quest soon became interested in the woodcut medium, which he learned through his study of J. J. Lankes' A Woodcut Manual (1932) and Paul Landacre's articles in American Artist magazine ‘since no artists in St. Louis were working in wood’ at that time. Quest also revealed that for him, wood cutting and engraving were ‘more enjoyable than any other means of expression.’ In the late 1940s, his graphic works began attracting critical attention—several of his woodcuts won prizes and were acquired by major American and European museums. His wood engraving entitled ‘Lovers’ was included in the American Federation of Art's traveling print exhibition in 1947. Two years later, Quest's two prize-winning prints, ‘Still Life with Grindstone’ and ‘Break Forth into Singing’, were exhibited in major American museums in a traveling show organized by the Philadelphia Print Club. His work was included in the Chicago Art Institute's exhibition, ‘Woodcut Through Six Centuries’, and the print ‘Still Life with Vise’ was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1951 he was invited by artist-Curator Jacob Kainen to exhibit thirty wood engravings and color woodcuts in a one-person show at the Smithsonian's National Museum (now known as the American History Museum). Kainen's press release praised the ‘technical refinement’ of Quest's work: ‘He obtains a great variety of textural effects through the use of the graver, and these dense or transparent grays are set off against whites or blacks to achieve sparkling results. His work has the handsome qualities characteristic of the craftsman and designer.’ At the time of the Smithsonian exhibition, Quest's work was represented by three New York galleries in addition to one in his home town. He had won 38 prizes, and his prints were in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Chicago Art Institute, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In cooperation with the Art in Embassies program, his color woodcuts were displayed at the American Embassy in Paris in 1951. Recognition at home came in 1955 with his first solo exhibition in St. Louis. Press coverage of the show heralded the ‘growth of graphic arts toward rivaling painting and sculpture as a major independent medium’. An exhibition of his prints at the Bethesda Art Gallery in 1983 attracted Curator Emeritus Joseph A. Haller, S.J., who began purchasing his work for Georgetown University's collection. In 1990 Georgetown University Library's Special Collections Division was the recipient of a large body of Quest's work, including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, stained glass, and his archive of correspondence and professional memorabilia. These extensive holdings, including some 260 of his fine prints, provide a rich opportunity for further study and appreciation of this versatile and not-to-be-forgotten mid-Western American artist...

Double Personage Color lithograph, 1975 (?) Unsigned (as issued) Edition: Large Edition Limited, (estimated to be approximately 2000) Published in: XXe Siecle, No. 52, Juin 1979 Published: G. di San Lazzaro Printer: Mourlot Imprimeur, Paris, France Reference: Lam-Tonneau-Ryckelynck L7513 Condition: Excellent, fresh colors Traces of glue residue along margin edge where it was bound in the book Image/sheet size: 12 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches Wilfredo Lam (1902-1982) Biography Wifredo Lam was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, on December 8, 1902. He was the eighth child born to Lam-Yam―born in Canton around 1820, an immigrant to the Americas in 1860―and to Ana Serafina Catilla―born in 1862 in Cuba of mixed African and Spanish ancestry. The luxuriant nature of Sagua la Grande had a strong impact on Lam from early childhood. One night in 1907, he was startled by the strange shadows cast on the wall of his bedroom of a bat in flight. He often recounted the incident as his first magnificent awakening to another dimension to existence. In 1916, Lam and part of his family settled in Havana. He was enrolled in the Escuela Profesional de Pintura y Escultura, Academia de San Alejandro, where he remained a student until 1923. This period, with exhibitions at the Salón de Bellas artes, was determinant in his choice to become a painter. In 1923, the municipality of Sagua la Grande awarded him a grant to study in Europe and by the autumn of that year, at the age of twenty-one, he left the country for Spain. His time in Spain―initially intended as a short stay on his way to Paris―lasted 14 years. In Madrid, he was exposed to the ideas and movements of modern art. He spent long hours at the Archeological Museum and the Prado. He studied the great masters of Spanish painting, Velázquez and Goya, but felt particularly drawn to the works of Bosch and Bruegel the Elder. In 1931, his first wife, Eva (Sébastiana Piriz) and their son Wilfredo Victor died of tuberculosis. The terrible suffering he endured led to numerous paintings of mother and child. Lam found solace in the company of his Spanish friends and made contact with several political organizations. In 1936, with the help of his friend Faustino Cordón, he joined the Republican forces in their fight against Franco. He designed anti-Fascist posters and took part in the struggle by working in a munitions factory. The violence of the struggle inspired his painting La Guerra Civil. In 1938, Lam left Spain for Paris. Shortly before leaving, he met Helena Holzer, who would become his wife in 1944. His meeting Picasso in his studio on the Rue des Grands Augustins proved decisive. Picasso introduced his new “cousin” to his painter, poet and art critic friends, Braque, Matisse, Miró, Léger, Eluard, Leiris, Tzara, Kahnweiler, Zervos. Lam also met Pierre Loeb, the owner of the Galerie Pierre in Paris, which hosted Lam’s first solo exhibition in 1939. Shortly before the Germans arrived, Lam left Paris for Bordeaux and then Marseille, where many of his friends, for the most part surrealists, had gathered around André Breton in the Villa Air Bel: Pierre Mabille, René Char, Max Ernst, Victor Brauner, Oscar Domínguez, André Masson, Benjamin Péret. In the Villa Air Bel, a meeting place for creativity and experimentation, Lam worked and produced, most notably, a series of ink drawings that set the tone for what would become his signature style of hybrid figures, a vocabulary he would develop more fully during his years in Cuba from 1941 to 1947. In January and February 1941, Lam illustrated Breton’s poem Fata Morgana which was censored by the Vichy government. On March 25, Lam and Helena Holzer embarked on the “Capitaine Paul Lemerle” headed for Martinique, in the company of some 300 other artists and intellectuals―André Breton and Claude Lévi-Strauss among them. Upon arrival, the passengers were interred at Trois Îles. It was during this forced passage in Martinique and before leaving for Cuba that Lam and Aimé Césaire met for the first time to become life-long friends. Newly settled in his native land after almost twenty years, Lam delved deeper into his artistic investigations, finding nourishment for his ideas in the surroundings of his childhood and youth. His sister Eloisa, whom he was closest to, explained to him in much detail the workings of Afro-Cuban rituals and he began attending ritual ceremonies with some of his friends. This contact with Afro-Cuban culture brought new impetus to his art. He painted over one hundred canvases, most notably La Jungla, making the year 1942 his most productive of this period. Over the next few years, a number of exhibitions followed in the United States, at the Institute of Modern Art of Boston, at the MoMA of New York, at the Galerie Pierre Matisse, where La Jungla was presented and created a scandal. In 1946, Lam and Helena travel to Haiti and attend voodoo ceremonies in the company of Pierre Mabille and André Breton. Talking about his experience in Haiti, Lam said, “It is often assumed that my work took its final form in Haiti, but my stay there, like the trips I made to Venezuela, Colombia or to the Brazilian Mato Grosso only broadened its scope. I could have been a good painter from the School of Paris, but I felt like a snail out of its shell. What really broadened my painting is the presence of African poetry.” Picasso_Lam_Vallauris_1954_vignette Wifredo Lam et Pablo Picasso, Vallauris, 1954 Lam then went on to New York where he renewed contact with Marcel Duchamp and made new acquaintances: Jeanne Reynal, James Johnson Sweeney, Arshile Gorky, John Cage, Roger Wilcox, Mercedes Matter, Ian Hugo, Jesse Fernández, John Cage, Sonia Sekula and Yves Tanguy. By the end of the 1940s, Lam divided his time between Europe, Havana and New York, where they stayed with Pierre and Teeny Matisse...

A drypoint and aquatint by artist Sylvia Plimack Mangold.

Two early 20th-century Vienna Secessionist, male nude cornice drawings. Graphite on pale blue/grey wove drawing paper, spot glued by the artist to ...

Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge, 'Peking '25', woodblock print, published 1926. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated 'No 124' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh, undiminished colors; the full sheet, in excellent condition. Watanabe 6 mm seal, lower right, indicating an impression printed between 1945 and 1957. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Image size 9 5/8 x 14 5/16 inches; sheet size 10 7/16 x 15 3/8 inches. ABOUT THE IMAGE A 'paifang', also known as a 'pailou', is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. It has been theorized that the paifang gate architecture was influenced by Buddhist torana temple gates. Paifang are designed with traditional Chinese architectural motifs including multi-tiered roofs, prominent supporting posts, and gracefully arched openings. This is an unusual ukiyo-e or 'floating world' woodcut published by Watanabe Shozaburo, Tokyo, in that the subject is of an early 20th-century scene in Peking, China. ABOUT THE ARTIST Cyrus Leroy Baldridge...