Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA)
Launched in 1987, the International Fine Print Dealers Association has continually set the bar for quality and ethics while promoting prints as original works of art to generations of collectors, curators and art lovers. With over 160 members in 13 countries, the IFPDA is a worldwide community of leading dealers and editions publishers who represent the full spectrum of printmaking. Each year, the IFPDA hosts the IFPDA Print Fair in New York, the only major fair dedicated to fine-art prints.
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Horizon VI (blue, purple, green)
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
Edition of 75, Set of 6
33 x 71 cms (13 x 28 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
One Down
By Howard Hodgkin
Located in London, GB
Lithograph from three aluminium plates printed in classic black, transparent brown/black, and violet black, with hand colouring in gouache (three different greys). On buff Velin Arch...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Lithograph
Ramblas
By Helen Frankenthaler
Located in London, GB
Lithograph, drypoint, etching in colours, 1987/88, on handmade wove paper, signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 75, printed and published by Polígrafa Obra Gráfica, Barcelo...
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Drypoint, Etching, Lithograph
Lotus
By Howard Hodgkin
Located in London, GB
Screenprint from 20 screens with embossing. On Velin Arches mould-made paper
Based on 'Lotus', textile dyes on hand-made Indian paper, 1978
Signed and dated in pencil, lower centre. ...
Category
1980s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Screen
Untitled I
By Thomas Nozkowski
Located in New York, NY
For over thirty years, Nozkowski has practiced his own form of idiosyncratic abstraction, foregoing a signature style or subject matter in favor of seemingly limitless variations in ...
Category
2010s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Linocut, Woodcut
Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Edition of 24
73.7 x 64.8 cms (29 x 25 1/2 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled #050105 (Pink)
By Harold Cohen
Located in London, GB
Harold Cohen
Untitled # 050105 (Pink)
2005
Digital print on paper, Edition 30
147.5 x 119.5 cms (58 1/8 x 47 ins)
HC11003
Category
Early 2000s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Digital
$3,600 Sale Price
40% Off
The Berggruen Series: Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
40 x 42.2 cms (15 3/4 x 16 5/8 ins)
Signature: Signed "Motherwell" in pencil lower right
Inscriptions: Numbered in pencil lower right
Edition: 100
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$4,000 Sale Price
20% Off
Constellations
By Matt Magee
Located in Houston, TX
Matt Magee
Constellations, 2019
Diptych lithograph
22 x 44 inches overall (22 x 22 each sheet)
Edition of 30
Unframed
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Geometric Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
'African Idol' — American Modernism
By Robert Vale Faro
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Robert Vale Faro, untitled (African Idol), serigraph, c. 1940, edition 6. Signed in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on buff wove paper; the full sheet with margins(5/8 to 1 3/8 inches), in excellent condition. Very rare. Matted to museum standards, unframed.
Image size 8 3/4 x 6 inches (222 x 152 mm); sheet size 11 x 7 1/2 inches (279 x 192 mm).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Robert Vale Faro (1902-1988) was a well-known modernist architect and artist associated with the Chicago Bauhaus. He received his degree in architecture and design from the Armour Institute in Chicago and worked at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, from 1924-27, where he was influenced by Harry Kurt Bieg and Le Corbusier. Upon his return to Chicago, Faro worked with the important modernist Chicago architects George and William Keck under Louis Sullivan.
Faro founded the avant-garde printmaking group Vanguard in 1945. The group counted Atelier 17 artists Stanley William Hayter, Sue Fuller, and Anne Ryan as New York members and Francine...
Category
1940s American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
'Segments' — 1930s Geometric Abstraction
By Josef Albers
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Josef Albers, 'Segments', linoleum cut, 1934, edition 20, 25, plus proofs, Danilowitz 79. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated '(proof)' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression on...
Category
1930s Abstract Geometric Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Linocut
Chamber
By Gregory Amenoff
Located in New York, NY
Gregory Amenoff is a painter who lives in New York City and Ulster County, New York. He is the recipient of numerous awards from organizations including the American Academy of Arts ...
Category
1980s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Woodcut
$1,600 Sale Price
20% Off
Etching 1916 Number II
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in New York, NY
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching 1916 Number II, drypoint, signed in pencil lower right, titled, numbered (No. 9) and dated lower left [also with initials and date in the plate lower right]. Reference: Roethel 154, only state, edition of 10. In excellent condition (the barest handling fold at sheet edge), printed on a heavy ivory wove paper, the full sheet with full margins, 4 7/8 x 3 1/4, the sheet 17 1/2 x 13 inches, archival mount with window mat.
A fine fresh impression of this great rarity, printed in a dark brown ink.
Kandinsky created this drypoint (erroneously named Etching 1916) in early 1916 while staying with Gabriel Munter in Stockholm during the winter of 1915-16. This is from the second series of drypoints he made; the first was in the year 1913-14.
Provenance: Kornfeld Auction, Bern, June 2007.
The tiny size of this edition (10) makes this print a great rarity within the Kandinsky’s printed...
Category
1910s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Drypoint
Tropic Fruit
By Howard Hodgkin
Located in London, GB
80 x 94 cms (31.5 x 37 ins)
Edition of 100
Category
1980s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Screen
$3,000 Sale Price
25% Off
York Factory II
By Frank Stella
Located in London, GB
Screenprint, 1974, on Arches Cover Black paper, signed, dated and numbered an AP aside from the edition of 100, published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles., sheet: 46.9 x 112.8cm (18½ x...
Category
1970s Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
Untitled (Two Nudes) — Erotic Surrealism
By Hans Bellmer
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Hans Bellmer, Untitled (Two Nudes), engraving and drypoint, 1971, edition 99. Signed and numbered '94/99' in pencil. A fine impression, on Arches cream wove paper; the full sheet wit...
Category
1960s Surrealist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Engraving, Drypoint
Sail I
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
101.6 x 71.1 cms (40 x 28 ins)
Edition of 40
Signed lower left; numbered lower centre, printer's chop lower right.
Publisher: Hollander's Workshop, New ...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Lithograph
$2,500
Poet II - Lithograph, Abstract Print, 20th Century by Robert Motherwell
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Edition of 35
75.6 x 53.7 cms (29.76 x 21.14 ins)
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Three of a Kind C
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
Edition of 60
71 x 79 cms (28 x 31 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Geometric Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$750 Sale Price
6% Off
'Da - Da I' — German Expressionism, Rare
By Lyonel Feininger
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
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...
Category
1920s Bauhaus Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Woodcut
'Subway No. 3' — Mid-century Modernism, New York City
By August Mosca
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
August Mosca, 'Subway No. 3', lithograph, c. 1946-56, edition 50. Signed, titled and numbered '28/50' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression on off-white, wove paper; the full sh...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
'Masken (Masks)' — German Expressionism, Bauhaus
By Lyonel Feininger
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Lyonel Feininger, 'Masken (Masks)' also 'Carnival Masks', woodcut, 1920, proofs only. Prasse W193. Signed and titled in pencil. Annotated '1973', the artist’s inventory number. A fin...
Category
1920s Bauhaus Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Woodcut
Untitled
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
Sam Francis
Untitled
1991
Etching in colours, Edition of 27
61.6 x 44.5 cms (24.3 x 17.5 ins)
SF17884
Category
1990s Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching
Interior (Night)
By Howard Hodgkin
Located in London, GB
Aquatint from three copper plates printed in black, red, and orange. On cream Velin Arches mould-made paper
Signed, numbered, and dated 74 in pencil, lower right
Published by Petersb...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Aquatint
Pieces of Eight (ochre square)
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
Edition of 35
48 x 100 cms (19 x 39.5 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
#3 — Modernist Abstraction — African American Artist
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Hilliard Reynolds Dean, '#3', color lithograph, 1970, edition not stated but small. Signed and titled in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on Arches, heavy, cream wove pa...
Category
1970s American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Aiolio, from Imaginary Places III
By Frank Stella
Located in London, GB
Lithograph, screenprint, etching and aquatint printed in colours, with relief, 1998, signed in pencil, dated, numbered from the edition of 51 (there were also twelve artist's proofs)...
Category
1990s American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching, Aquatint, Lithograph, Screen
Garden City (green tied square)
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
Edition of 50
76 x 76 cms (30 x 30 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching
Frog Cog
By Carol Wax
Located in New Orleans, LA
Carol Wax describes her circular images as "most often quasi abstract works that refer to ancient islamic designs using the shapes and attributes of animals, in this case the frog. T...
Category
Late 20th Century American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Mezzotint
Untitled
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
Sam Francis
Untitled
1968
Lithograph, Edition of 3, experimental proof
66 x 47 cms (26 x 18 1/2 ins)
SF15155
Category
1960s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Deux Fois Rien (double or nothing)
By Christine Ravaux
Located in New Orleans, LA
Christine Ravaux created Deux Fois Rien which is signed by pencil. This impression is #12 of 30
Shades of blacks and grays on a fallen branch create a pleasing pattern contrasted w...
Category
Early 2000s Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Mezzotint
$110 Sale Price
44% Off
The Fan and its Surroundings, from the Global Editions Series
By Ed Ruscha
Located in London, GB
Lithograph on Rives BFK paper, torn and deckle edges
Category
Late 20th Century Pop Art Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Red Sea III
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Aquatint and lift-ground etching on Georges Duchêne Hawthorne of Larroque handmade paper, Edition of 70
1983
90.2 x 46.4 cms (35 1/2 x 18 1/4 ins)
Category
1980s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
Grey
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
Edition of 50
60.3 x 61 cms (23 3/4 x 24 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching
Untitled I, II, III
By Robert Mangold
Located in New York, NY
numbered and signed lower margin
S&S Cat. no. 2007.01
edition 6/30
Published by Simmelink/Sukimoto Editions, Kingston, New York
Associated with the Minimalist art movement of the 1...
Category
Early 2000s Abstract Geometric Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
Variation 4, Vol. I
By Katherine Sophie Dreier
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Katherine S. Dreier, 'Variation 4, Vol. I' from '1 to 40 Variations', lithograph with pochoir and hand-coloring, 1934, edition 65. Stenciled signature and date, lower right. Annotate...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Watercolor, Lithograph, Stencil
Black Cathedral
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Robert Motherwell
Black Cathedral
1991
Lithograph on white Tyler Graphics Ltd. (TGL) handmade paper, Edition of 40
170.2 x 119.4 cms (67 x 64 ins)
RM17876
Siri Engberg and Joan Bana...
Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$14,000 Sale Price
30% Off
'Descente de Croix' (Descent from the Cross) — 1920s French Cubism
By Albert Gleizes
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Albert Gleizes, 'Descente de Croix', color pochoir, 1928, edition c. 50. Signed and dated in pencil. A fine, painterly impression, with fresh colors, on heavy, cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (3 to 4 inches), in very good condition. The publisher's ink stamp 'EDITIONS MOLY-SABATA' beneath the image, lower left. Matted to museum standards, unframed.
Image size 12 x 14 inches (305 x 356 mm); sheet size 18 x 22 inches (457 x 559 mm).
ABOUT THE IMAGE
After the 1927 painting 'Descente de Croix', one of three religious-themed works that Gleizes developed as preliminaries for murals at the church at Serrières, France, the project was terminated at its final phase, and Gleizes commissioned master printer Robert Pouyaud to create prints of the paintings, closely overseeing the production.
ABOUT THE MEDIUM
Pochoir is a refined stencil-based technique employed to create multiples or to add color to prints produced in other mediums. Characterized by its crisp lines and rich color, the print-making process was most popular from the late 19th century through the 1930s, with its center of activity in Paris. The pochoir process began with the analysis of an image’s composition, including color tones and densities. The numerous stencils (made of aluminum, copper, or zinc) necessary to create a complete image were then designed and hand-cut by the 'découpeur.' The 'coloristes' applied watercolor or gouache pigments through the stencils, skillfully employing a variety of different brushes and methods of paint application to achieve the desired depth of color and textural and tonal nuance. The pochoir process, by its handcrafted methodology, resulted in the finished work producing the effect of an original painting, and in fact, each print was unique.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Albert Gleizes (1881-1953), born in Paris, France, was a pioneering figure in the development of abstract art and one of the leading proponents of Cubism. His contributions to the art world extended beyond his paintings; he was also a prolific writer and theoretician, advocating for a new approach to art that emphasized the geometric abstraction of form and a departure from representational traditions.
Gleizes initially studied painting at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was exposed to the academic conventions of the time. However, his artistic vision was profoundly influenced by encounters with avant-garde movements, including Fauvism and the work of Paul Cézanne. These influences led Gleizes to experiment with form and color, gradually moving away from traditional representation toward a more abstract and geometric style.
After completing his secondary schooling, Gleizes spent four years in the French army and then began pursuing a career as a painter, primarily doing landscapes. Initially influenced by the Impressionists, he was only twenty-one years of age when his work titled ‘La Seine à Asnières’ was exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1902. The following year, he was part of the first Salon d'Automne and soon came under the influence of Fernand Léger, Robert Delaunay, Jean Metzinger, and Henri Le Fauconnier. In 1907, Gleizes and some of his friends pursued the idea of creating a self-supporting community of artists that would allow them to develop their art free of any commercial concerns. For nearly a year, Gleizes , with other painters, poets, musicians, and writers, lived at a large house in Créteil, but a lack of funds forced them to give up their facility in early 1908, and Gleizes moved temporarily into La Ruche, the artist commune in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris.
In the early 1910s, Gleizes became associated with the Cubist movement, which was spearheaded by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque...
Category
1920s Cubist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Stencil
Two of a Kind IIIa (bright red x on green)
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
100.7 x 46.3 cms (40 x 18 1/4 ins)
Edition of 90
Category
1970s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Lithograph
2CYPRESS
By Italo Scanga
Located in Portland, ME
Scanga, Italo (American, born Italy, 1932-2001). 2CYPRESS. Color Lithograph and woodblock on paper, 1989. Edition of 40, signed, titled, dated, and numbered 18/40, all in pencil. 41 ...
Category
1980s Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph, Woodcut
Split Ring Image C
By Robert Mangold
Located in New York, NY
Associated with the Minimalist art movement of the 1960s, Mangold developed a reductive vocabulary based on geometric forms, monochromatic color, and an emphasis on the flatness of t...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Woodcut
'Equus Uirumpu' — Mid-century American Modernism
By James Houston McConnell
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
James Houston McConnell, 'Equus Uirumpu' (The Man's Horse), color serigraph, c. 1945, edition not stated but small. Signed and titled in pencil. Initialed in the image, lower right. ...
Category
1940s American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
The Basque Suite: Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
Colour screenprint on J.B. Green paper
104.1 x 71.7 cms (41 x 28 1/4 ins)
Edition of 150
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Screen
Les Marionettes II — Erotic Surrealism
By Hans Bellmer
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Hans Bellmer, Les Marionettes II, etching with hand coloring, 1969, edition 150, Flahutez 58-8. Signed and annotated 'HC' in pencil. A fine impression on brown Fabriano hand-made laid paper; the full sheet with margins (3/4 to 3 1/4 inches), in excellent condition. Archivally sleeved, unmatted.
Image size 13 7/16 x 11 7/8 inches; sheet size 19 1/8 x 13 1/4 inches.
A 'Hors Commerce' impression. From a suite of 11 etchings created by Bellmer to illustrate 'On the Marionette Theatre...
Category
1960s Surrealist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching
Une Fois Rien (Once Again / No Action)
By Christine Ravaux
Located in New Orleans, LA
Christine Ravaux created Une Fois Rien which is signed by pencil. This impression is #12 of 30
Shades of blacks and grays on a fallen branch create a pleasing pattern contrasted wi...
Category
Early 2000s Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Mezzotint
$120 Sale Price
40% Off
Le Groupe
By Alexander Archipenko
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Le Groupe
Lithograph, 1963
Signed and numbered in pencil, lower right
Edition: 75 (68/75) see photo
Publisher: Erker Presse, St. Gallen blindstamp lower left. see photo
From the suit...
Category
1960s Cubist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Winter Garden
By Leonard Edmondson
Located in Santa Monica, CA
LEONARD EDMONDSON (1906 – 2001)
WINTER GARDEN, 1957
Color intaglio, Edition 50. signed, titled and no. in pencil. Image 11 x 8 ¾”, sheet 15 ¾ x 12 3/8”....
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Intaglio
Two of a Kind Va (broken blue line on purple)
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
71 x 71 cms (28 x 28 ins)
Edition of 50
Category
1970s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Lithograph
One Plate, from We are the Jocular Clan
By Takashi Murakami
Located in London, GB
Offset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....
Category
2010s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
The Heavenly Suite (pink)
By Robyn Denny
Located in London, GB
Screenprint
Category
1970s Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
Bertoia — Mid-Century Visionary Abstraction, Unique
By Harry Bertoia
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Harry Bertoia, Untitled (Abstraction), monotype, c. 1960, a unique impression. Signed 'HB' in pencil, lower right sheet corner, verso. Inscribed '1852' (the artist’s inventory number) in pencil, lower right sheet corner, recto. A superb, painterly impression, on cream wove Japan paper, the full sheet, in excellent condition. Unmatted, unframed.
Sheet size 12 x 39 inches (30 x 99 cm).
Provenance: Val Bertoia; Private Collection; Rago Auctions, Lambertville, NJ.
Literature: 'Harry Bertoia: Monoprints,' Nancy N. Schiffer, Schiffer Publishing LTD, 2011; pg. 253.
This work is included in the Harry Bertoia Foundation digital resource, Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonné, number TD.MO.1584.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) was a visionary Italian-American artist, sculptor, and designer. Born in San Lorenzo, Italy, Bertoia immigrated to the United States with his family at age fifteen, settling in Detroit, Michigan.
From an early age, Bertoia demonstrated a keen interest in art and design, studying painting and drawing at the Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Later, he attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he studied under renowned designers Eliel Saarinen and Charles Eames. At Cranbrook, Bertoia first began to explore the possibilities of working with metal, a medium that would come to define his artistic career.
In the 1940s, Bertoia moved to California to work for Charles and Ray Eames, contributing to the development of innovative molded plywood furniture. However, his experimentation with metal wire sculpture would ultimately catapult him to international acclaim. Bertoia's iconic "Sonambient" sculptures, consisting of delicate metal rods arranged in various configurations, created ethereal sounds when touched or moved, transforming the act of sculpture into a multisensory experience.
Bertoia's talent and innovation caught the attention of Florence Knoll, the founder of Knoll Associates, a leading furniture design company. In 1950, Bertoia began collaborating with Knoll, producing a series of iconic wire chairs that became emblematic of mid-century modern design. His "Diamond Chair," with its geometric form and airy construction, remains a classic of modern furniture design.
Bertoia continued to explore sculpture as a means of artistic expression, experimenting with new forms and materials. His work was characterized by organicism and fluidity, with forms that evoked natural phenomena such as waves, leaves, and clouds.
A decade before Harry Bertoia began creating three-dimensional sculpture, he dedicated his creative efforts to producing experimental prints at the Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, pursuing a passion that would continue for the rest of his life. With these spontaneous works, he worked intuitively, testing different tools and techniques to achieve his desired effects. Rather than using a traditional mechanical pressing process, he would apply ink to a glass or smooth Masonite plate with a sheet of paper laid directly on top. Then, tools such as brayers, dog hair brushes, styluses, and different parts of his hands were employed to draw or “press” the images on the back of the sheet. Rice paper was typically used due to its semi-translucent nature, offering Bertoia limited visibility of the effects of his experimentation, but ultimately, the unpredictable nature of the process was an integral aspect of the results, which never ceased to delight him. Each work was a singular composition with abstract imagery ranging from linear, structural compositions to fantastic surrealistic forms to poetic tonal landscapes. He received little input from other artists, developing his unique vision with rare purity and a deep personal resonance.
From his first year of printmaking in 1940, Bertoia quickly amassed an extensive collection of unique works. The compositions were strongly tied to the non-objective movement, which, while popular in Europe, was still in its nascent stages in the US. There were few proponents of this new art form to be found in the 1940s, and it was Hilla Rebay, then Director of the Guggenheim Museum of Non-Objective Art, who gave Bertoia the encouragement and promotion he needed. In 1943, Bertoia sent approximately 100 monotypes to Rebay for review. After receiving the prints, she responded with a surprising offer to buy them all. Rebay then began including them in the museum’s exhibitions.
The Guggenheim shows succeeded in putting Bertoia’s name out into the world. He began exhibiting his works regularly at the Neierndorf Gallery in New York and was provided a stipend to ensure a steady supply of prints until Karl Neierndorf died in 1947. By the 1950s...
Category
1960s American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Monotype
Untitled
By Robert Motherwell
Located in London, GB
29.88 x 22.36 ins (75.9 x 56.8 cms)
Edition of 96
Signature:Signed "R. Motherwell" in pencil lower right
Inscriptions:Numbered in pencil lower right; artist's chop mark lower right
...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Color, Etching, Aquatint
Work Bench — Mid-century Modern
By Charles Quest
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Charles Quest, 'Work Bench', 1949, wood engraving, edition 40. Signed, dated and numbered 9/40 in pencil. Titled and annotated 'wood engraving 1949' in pencil, in the artist’s hand, lower right margin. A fine, richly-inked impression, on off-white wove Japan, with full margins (1 3/4 to 2 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Charles Quest, a successful artist, and fine art instructor, worked in a variety of mediums including mosaic, stained glass, mural painting, and sculpture, but remains best known as a printmaker. 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 apparently 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 a lot of 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 the Graphic Arts Division of the Smithsonian's National Museum (now known as the American History Museum). This one-man exhibition was a remarkable achievement for Quest, who had been working in the medium for only about ten years. In the press release for the show, Kainen 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 also 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’.
Charles Quest retired from teaching in 1971 and made relatively few prints in his later years, as the rigors of the medium were too demanding. He moved to Tryon, North Carolina, with his wife Dorothy, an artist and portrait painter, and remained active as a painter until his death in 1993. An exhibition of his prints at the Bethesda Art Gallery in 1983 attracted the interest of Curator Emeritus Joseph A. Haller, S.J., who began purchasing his work for the University's collection.
In 1990 Georgetown University Library's Special Collections Division became the grateful recipient of a large body of Quest's work including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, and stained glass, as well as 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...
Category
1940s American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Woodcut
'Flyable Objects Identified' — Mid-Century Modernism
By Edward August Landon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Edward Landon, 'Flyable Objects Identified', color serigraph, 1969, edition 30, Ryan 83. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Edition 30' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, o...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
Icelandic Landscape (The sun creates dramatic cloud pattern over a glacial lake)
By Udo Claassen
Located in New Orleans, LA
German artist Udo Claassen created a dramatic landscape of this Icelandic scene in 1985 in an edition of 40. The New Orleans Museum of Art has an impression of this image in its per...
Category
Late 20th Century Contemporary Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Mezzotint
Untitled, 1941
By Myron Kozman
Located in Fairlawn, OH
untitled
Color serigraph, 1941
Signed and dated lower right (see photo)
Very small edition (less than 10)
(Looks like a red brick building with white windows, probably in Chicago whe...
Category
1940s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
RED AND BLACK ON GREEN
By Sir Terry Frost
Located in Portland, ME
Frost, Sir Terry (English, 1915-2003). RED AND BLACK ON GREEN. Screenprint in colors, 1968. Edition size not known. Signed and dated in pencil and inscribed "Artist's Proof." Printed...
Category
1960s Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
BLACK FACE
By Karel Appel
Located in Santa Monica, CA
KAREL APPEL (1921 - 2006)
BLACK FACE, 1969
Lithograph in colors signed in pencil. Edition 26/75, Image: 19 3/4 x 25 1/4, sheet: 22 x 30 inches. Just hint of a mat line
Appel was a member of the Cobra art movement
Category
1960s Expressionist Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Drawing Boards II (No.4)
By Richard Smith
Located in London, GB
Edition of 30, Set of 5
74.9 x 59.1 cms (29 1/2 x 23 1/4 ins)
Category
1980s Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching
Marron
By Kenneth Noland
Located in London, GB
Kenneth Noland
Marron
1990
Etching and Aquatint on Guarro Paper
40cm x 59cm
Initialed and numbered in pencil on recto, with publisher's blindstamp
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Ifpda International Fine Print Dealers Association Abstract Prints
Materials
Etching, Aquatint
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