Constant Le Breton Art

The Spire -- New York. 1985. Etching and drypoint. 14 1/2 x 11 (sheet 22 1/2 x 18). Trial proof of the second third, prior to the edition of 100. Printed on Rives cream wove paper, on the full sheet with deckle edges. A rich impression in pristine condition, housed in an archival sleeve. This etching has never been matted. Provenance: the artist's estate. Titled, annotated 'third state - trial proof' and signed in pencil. A dramatic view of the Chrysler Building. Painter and printmaker Lawrence Nelson...

Roofs, Summer Night. 1906. Etching. Morse catalog 137 state ii. 5 1/4 x 7 (sheet 9 1/2 x 12 1/8). Series: New York City Life. A fine impression on cream ...

The Matador. 1911. Drypoint. Hardie 109. 6 7/8 x 10 7/8 (sheet 7 7/8 x 12). Edition 15. A few scattered foxing marks and slight mat line; otherwise fine o...

ED BAYNARD (American, 1940-2016) Flowers, Flowers in a Vase, Etching. 1979/1980, Hand signed, dated l.r., Hand numbered from small edition 12/24, Dimensions: 23 by 19 in. Framed 25 by 21 in Born in Washington, D.C. in 1940. Raised in Washington, D.C. and newly graduated from high school, he flew to Europe living off and on in Paris and London. During this time, he designed costumes for Jimi Hendrix, worked as a graphic designer for the Beatles as well as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Returning to New York, he dedicated his life to art after a surprise success with his first show in 1971 at the Willard Gallery in NYC. Ed's images are Zen-like in their simplicity and grace rendered in a flat, graphic style that recalls Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. His watercolors are luminous, like the rest of his representations regardless of the medium. The Japanese inspired ukiyo-e style woodblock prints and lithograph works he created at Tyler Graphics in 1980 contain a 20th century "floating world" sensibility. Ed's wish was to bring harmony, color, and a meditative stillness to this chaotic planet. He did so in a gentle and powerful way, always as an expression of his deep gratitude for the love and beauty, friendship, and concerns he held dearest. His first solo exhibition was in 1971 at New York's legendary Willard Gallery on the recommendation of Agnes Martin. Baynard went on to have exhibitions at galleries including Betty Parsons Gallery, New York (1973); Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (1977); John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (1980); and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York (1980/81).. Baynard manages to retain a simplicity of form inspired by a love of Japanese Woodblock prints. His new works reflect the same poetry of his earlier paintings, retaining his stylized compositions with their Zen like minimalism and Oriental calm, along with a new sense of rhythm and movement. Baynard uses familiar themes such as flowers, plants, pots, and vases, incorporating them into his delicate watercolor still lifes, thus creating stunning visual feasts. He was included in the 1972 Landscape exhibition at MoMA NY alone with other luminaries James Boynton...

Wake on the Ferry. 1949. Etching. Morse catalog 313. state v. 5 x 7 (sheet 8 3/4 x 11 7/8). Edition of 350: 200 for the Art Students League and 150 for the artist. A fine impression ...

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...

Fifth Avenue Critics. 1909. Etching. Morse 128.x/xi. 6 x 8 (sheet 9 3/4 x 12 1/4). Edition 100 in this state (few proofs in earlier states, and a large unsigned edition printed for t...

London Bridge, London. 1924. Etching and drypoint. 6 3/8 x 14 3/4 (sheet 9 7/8 x 17 1/4). Mat line; otherwise fine condition. A rich impression with dryp...

ED BAYNARD (American, 1940-2016) Flowers, Flowers in a Vase, Etching. 1979/1980, Hand signed, dated l.r., Hand numbered from small edition 12/24, Dimensions: 23 by 19 in. Framed 25 by 21 in Born in Washington, D.C. in 1940. Raised in Washington, D.C. and newly graduated from high school, he flew to Europe living off and on in Paris and London. During this time, he designed costumes for Jimi Hendrix, worked as a graphic designer for the Beatles as well as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Returning to New York, he dedicated his life to art after a surprise success with his first show in 1971 at the Willard Gallery in NYC. Ed's images are Zen-like in their simplicity and grace rendered in a flat, graphic style that recalls Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. His watercolors are luminous, like the rest of his representations regardless of the medium. The Japanese inspired ukiyo-e style woodblock prints and lithograph works he created at Tyler Graphics in 1980 contain a 20th century "floating world" sensibility. Ed's wish was to bring harmony, color, and a meditative stillness to this chaotic planet. He did so in a gentle and powerful way, always as an expression of his deep gratitude for the love and beauty, friendship, and concerns he held dearest. His first solo exhibition was in 1971 at New York's legendary Willard Gallery on the recommendation of Agnes Martin. Baynard went on to have exhibitions at galleries including Betty Parsons Gallery, New York (1973); Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (1977); John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (1980); and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York (1980/81).. Baynard manages to retain a simplicity of form inspired by a love of Japanese Woodblock prints. His new works reflect the same poetry of his earlier paintings, retaining his stylized compositions with their Zen like minimalism and Oriental calm, along with a new sense of rhythm and movement. Baynard uses familiar themes such as flowers, plants, pots, and vases, incorporating them into his delicate watercolor still lifes, thus creating stunning visual feasts. He was included in the 1972 Landscape exhibition at MoMA NY alone with other luminaries James Boynton...

Ralph Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British artist best known for his work with American author Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, and brought up in Abergele, North Wales. From a lower middle class background, his father was a commercial traveller and his mother was a shop assistant at T J Hughes in Liverpool. Steadman attended East Ham Technical College and the London College of Printing during the 1960s, doing freelance work for Punch, Private Eye, the Daily Telegraph, The New York Times and Rolling Stone during this time. He is a patron of the Association of Illustrators. Steadman currently lives with his wife in Kent, England. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture books. Awards that he has won for his work include the Francis Williams Book Illustration Award for Alice in Wonderland, the American Society of Illustrators' Certificate of Merit, the W H Smith Illustration Award for I Leonardo, the Dutch Silver Paintbrush Award for Inspector Mouse, the Italian Critica in Erba Prize for That's My Dad, the BBC Design Award for postage stamps, the Black Humour Award in France, and several Designers and Art Directors Association Awards. He was voted Illustrator of the Year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1979. Steadman's film poster for Where the Buffalo Roam. Steadman had a long partnership with the American journalist Hunter S. Thompson, drawing pictures for several of his articles and books. He accompanied Thompson to the Kentucky Derby for an article for the magazine Scanlan's, to the Honolulu Marathon for the magazine Running, and illustrated both Fear and Loathing...

Chelsea Old Church. 1924. Etching, drypoint, and aquatint. Dickins 94. 5 3/8 x 8 (sheet 8 1/2 x 9 3/4). Edition 100 for The Print Collector's Club. A fine proof with tonal wiping, printed on cream wove paper. Signed and dedicated "W.R. Button from W. Walcot London 1930" in pencil. Chelsea Old Church, also known as All Saints, is an Anglican church, on Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3, England, near Albert Bridge. It is the church for a parish in the Diocese of London, part of the Church of England. Inside the Grade I listed building, there is seating for 400 people. There is a memorial plaque to the author Henry James (1843–1916) who lived nearby on Cheyne Walk. To the west of the church is a small public garden containing a sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein. When he was seventeen,William Walcot began to study architecture under Louis Benois at the Imperial Academy of Art in Saint Petersburg. He went to Paris where he continued his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Atelier Redon. He practiced as an architect briefly in Moscow, designing the Hotel Metropole...

Manhattan Mountains. 1938. Etching and drypoint. 14 3/4 x 12 3/8 (sheet 17 1/4 x 14 3/4). Artist proof, previous to the edition of 40. An atmospheric impression printed on buff-colored laid paper. Signed and dated in the plate. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Final state' and 'Jones Proof'in pencil. Housed in an archival sleeve. Painter and printmaker Lawrence Nelson...