Edward Wadsworth Art

A German Expressionist woodcut, with original hand-coloring in watercolor, depicting a parent and child watching a theatrical production; ...

Karl Michel, 'Der Gartner' (The Gardener), woodcut, c. 1925. Signed, titled, and numbered '15/50' in pencil. Signed in the block, lower left and right. A fine, richly-inked impression on buff wove paper, with full margins (1 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Scarce. Image size 5 1/4 x 3 7/8 inches (133 x 98 mm); sheet size 10 x 7 3/4 inches (254 x 198 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Karl Michel (1889-1984) was a noted graphic designer and expressionist printmaker during Germany's pre-Nazi Weimar Republic (1919 - 1933). In 1920, his work was featured in the influential German graphic design magazine Das Plakat...

Karl Michel, 'Elisabeth', woodcut, edition 20, 1923. Signed, dated, and numbered 'op.142b' and '12/20' in pencil. Signed in the block, lower left. Annotated 'Vorgesdruck' [artist’s proof] in pencil. A fine impression, on heavy fibrous Japan paper, with full margins (1 3/16 to 3 1/2 inches), in good condition. Printed by the artist, With the artist’s blindstamp in the bottom center margin. Scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 4 15/16 x 6 inches (131 x 152 mm); sheet size 10 x 6 inches (254 x 152 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Karl Michel (1889-1984) was a noted graphic designer and expressionist printmaker during Germany's pre-Nazi Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Michel’s work was the subject of a feature article in the influential German graphic design magazine Das Plakat (The Poster) in 1920. An anti-war advocate, Michel created a suite of 12 wood engravings depicting his impressions of the humanitarian toll of WWII entitled ‘Humanitas’ (Humanity). The German publishing house Greifenverlag published the series in a reduced folio of unsigned prints. Michel’s graphic work is held in the permanent collections of the Auckland War Memorial Museum (New Zealand), Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum & Exlibrissamling (Denmark), Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest), The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the German Expressionism...

Karl Michel, 'Viel Gluck 1923 Wunscht der Graphikverlag, J.G. Holzwarth/Bad Rothenfelde', woodcut, 1922, edition 20. Signed and numbered op. 135d and 20/20 in pencil. Signed in the image, lower left. Annotated 'Vorgesdruck' [artist’s proof] in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on heavy, cream Japan paper, with full margins (5/8 to 1 1/8 inches), in good condition. With the artist’s blind stamp in the top left margin. Printed by the artist. Matted to museum standards, unframed. New Year's Greeting - "1923, Good Luck Wishes from the Graphic Press, J.G. Holzwarth/Bad Rothfelde." Image size 5 x 3 1/2 inches (127 x 89 mm); sheet size 6 5/8 x 5 7/8 inches (168 x 149 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Karl Michel (1889-1984) was a noted graphic designer and expressionist printmaker during Germany's pre-Nazi Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Michel’s work was the subject of a feature article in the influential German graphic design magazine Das Plakat (The Poster) in 1920. An anti-war advocate, Michel created a suite of 12 wood engravings depicting his impressions of the humanitarian toll of WWII entitled ‘Humanitas’ (Humanity). The German publishing house Greifenverlag published the series in a reduced folio of unsigned prints. Michel’s graphic work is held in the permanent collections of the Auckland War Memorial Museum (New Zealand), Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum & Exlibrissamling (Denmark), Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest), The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the German Expressionism...

Margo Humphrey, 'The Garden (Adam and Eve)', reductive color woodcut, 1989. Signed, dated, and annotated 'A/P' in pencil. Signed and dated in the image, lower right. A fine, richly-inked, artist's proof impression, with fresh, vivid colors, on BFK Rives, heavy, off-white wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 to 1 3/8 inches), in excellent condition. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Scarce. Image size 27 1/4 x 39 1/8 inches (692 x 994 mm); sheet size 29 1/2 x 42 inches (749 x 1,067 mm). ABOUT THIS WORK "Humphrey continued to reinterpret stories from the Bible with African American figures. In 1989 she published the woodcut print 'The Garden' at Magnolia Editions in Oakland, CA. For this rare foray into relief printmaking, she employed the reductive method, which uses only one block that is successively carved for each color segment, reducing the block with each cutting. Technically challenging, this lush and elaborate print is a testament to Humphrey’s skills as a printmaker. A youthful Adam and Eve are depicted in a luxuriant tropical landscape. Here, Humphrey chooses not to include the traditional symbols of humanity’s downfall but instead portrays them as being protected by angels in an atmosphere of idyllic bounty. ...Although Humphrey challenges traditional representation of Christian themes, her images are not iconoclastic but present a broader, more inclusive engagement with religious spirituality." — Adrienne L. Childs, 'Margo Humphrey, The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art: Volume VII,' Pomegranate Communications, Inc., 2009, page 71. ABOUT THE ARTIST American printmaker, illustrator, and art teacher Margo Humphrey was born in Oakland, California, in 1942. She earned a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the California College of Arts and Crafts and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking from Stanford University. Humphrey began teaching in 1973 at the University of California Santa Cruz and has since taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has also taught at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji; Yaba Technological Institute of Fine Art, Ekoi Island, Nigeria; the University of Benin in Benin City, Nigeria; the Margaret Trowell School of Fine Art in Kampala, Uganda, and the Fine Art School of the National Gallery of Art, Harare, Zimbabwe. In 1989, she was appointed Department Head of Printmaking at the University of Maryland in College Park. Humphrey has worked in lithography, monoprint, and woodcut with significant printmaking ateliers, including the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, the Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, and the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico. She was one of the earliest African-American woman artists to distinguish herself as a lithographer in a highly technical, male-dominated profession and was the first to have her prints published by Tamarind in 1974. Humphrey’s imagery combines historical perspective, autobiography, and fantasy to illuminate her experience as an African American woman. Bold, saturated color, animated figures, and syncopated rhythmic arrangements are hallmarks of Humphrey's oeuvre. Though Humphrey labels her distinctive style "sophisticated naive," the narrative complexity and technical skill of her works attest to her artistic virtuosity. Joyful, expressive, and at times humorous, her works offer engaging commentary on the presumptions of American culture and myth while embracing her personal vision of authenticity and spirituality. She developed her 1987 work The Last Bar-B-Que, a vividly colored transformation of the Last Supper, following a three-year period during which she examined portrayals of the iconic subject by artists from Pietro Lorenzetti to Emil Nolde. Her narrative work The Garden, a monumentally scaled reductive woodcut, is a further example of an archetypal subject—Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden—debunked and rendered with fresh, life-affirming vibrancy. Since her first solo exhibition in 1965, Humphrey’s works have been exhibited internationally. They are held in major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Hampton University Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos. In 1996, she was invited to be part of the World Printmaking Survey at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2011, Hampton University Museum mounted a 45-year retrospective of Humphrey’s work Her Story: Margo Humphrey Lithographs and Works on Paper, jointly curated by Robert E. Steele, executive director of the David Driskell...

Karl Michel, 'Venus, Ex Libris - Hanns U. Herta Heeren', woodcut, 1923, edition not stated but small. Signed, dated, and numbered 'op.154' in pencil. Signed in the block, lower left. A fine impression, on cream Japan paper, with full margins (15/16 to 2 11/16 inches), in good condition. Printed by the artist. Matted to museum standards (unframed). . Translation: Venus Ex Libris for Hanns and Herta Heeren. Image size 5 15/16 x 4 inches (156 x 102 mm); sheet size 9 5/8 x 6 inches (245 x 152 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Karl Michel (1889-1984) was a noted graphic designer and expressionist printmaker during Germany's pre-Nazi Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Michel’s work was the subject of a feature article in the influential German graphic design magazine Das Plakat (The Poster) in 1920. An anti-war advocate, Michel created a suite of 12 wood engravings depicting his impressions of the humanitarian toll of WWII entitled ‘Humanitas’ (Humanity). The German publishing house Greifenverlag published the series in a reduced folio of unsigned prints. Michel’s graphic work is held in the permanent collections of the Auckland War Memorial Museum (New Zealand), Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum & Exlibrissamling (Denmark), Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest), The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the German Expressionism...

Il Revoit le Thabor Georges Rouault, French (1871–1958) Woodcut, initialed in the block Size: 12 x 8 in. (30.48 x 20.32 cm) Frame Size: 18.5 x 14.5 inches

Blue space themed surrealist block print by Texas modernist artist Josefa Vaughan. The yellow toned abstract forms create a whimsical landscape. Signed "Fo...

Brutalist colored woodcut circa 1976 by Nicholas Sperakis. The image depicts skeletal figures around the grave of a soldier. Note the American flag features which drape the entombed ...

Artist: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (German, 1884-1976) Title: "Zwei Frauen (Two Women)" Portfolio: Das Spiel Christa vom Schmerz der Schönheit des Weibes (The Play Christa from the Pain of the Beauty of the Woman) *Issued unsigned Year: 1918 Medium: Original Woodcut Engraving on wove paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: Fritz Voigt, Berlin, Germany Publisher: Verlag Die Aktion, Berlin, Germany Reference: Schapire No. 222, page 45; Jentsch No. 35. Rifkind No. 2563; Lang No. 300; Reed No. 118 Overall size with attached page: 8.5" x 10.63" Sheet size: 8.5" x 5.38" Image size: 6.5" x 3.63" Condition: Toning to sheet (as normal). A few tiny pinholes in right margin. In very good condition Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Oxnard, CA. Comes from a complete originally bound 48 page folio with 9 original woodcut engravings by Schmidt-Rottluff. Text by Alfred Brust. Presently attached to its accompanying page. The cover and title pages in pictures are not included, only for reference/provenance. There is an example of this work in the permanent collection of the Brücke Museum, Berlin, Germany. Biography: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (born December 1, 1884, Rottluff, near Chemnitz, Germany—died August 9, 1976, West Berlin [now Berlin]), German painter and printmaker who was noted for his Expressionist landscapes and nudes. In 1905 Schmidt-Rottluff began to study architecture in Dresden, Germany, where he and his friend Erich Heckel met Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Fritz Bleyl...

Karl Michel, 'Austellung Karl Michel', woodcut, 1924, edition 20. Signed, dated, numbered 'op. 173' (the artist's inventory number) and '7/20' (the impression number/edition size) and annotated 'Vorgesdruck' (artist's proof) in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression on hand-made cream, wove paper, with full margins (1 1/16 to 1 1/2 inches); toning to the right sheet edge deckle, otherwise in good condition. With the artist's blind stamp in the bottom center margin. Designed and printed by the artist. Very scarce. Matted to museum standards (unframed). An elegantly designed, dynamic exhibition announcement with the German copy in the block: 'Austellung Karl Michel – Deutsches Buchmuseum Leipzig/Zeitzer str 12, Berlin S.W. 61 Teltower str 33 / Buchschmuck/ Plakate/ Anzeige/ Schultzmarke/ Illustrations/ Ex Libris'. English translation: 'Karl Michel Exhibition – German Book Museum, Leipzig Zeitzer Street 12, Berlin, S.W. 61 Teltower St. 33. / Book Decoration / Posters / Announcements / Illustrations / Ex Libris.' Image size 6 x 4 inches (152 x 102 mm); sheet size 8 1/16 x 5 1/2 inches (205 x 140 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Karl Michel (1889-1984) was a noted graphic designer and expressionist printmaker during Germany's pre-Nazi Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Michel’s work was the subject of a feature article in the influential German graphic design magazine 'Das Plakat' (The Poster) in 1920. An anti-war advocate, Michel created a suite of 12 wood engravings depicting his impressions of the humanitarian toll of WWII entitled ‘Humanitas’ (Humanity). The German publishing house Greifenverlag published the series in a folio of unsigned prints. Michel’s graphic work is held in the permanent collections of the Auckland War Memorial Museum (New Zealand), Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum & Exlibrissamling (Denmark), Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest), The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the German Expressionism...

Claire Mahl Moore, 'Court' also 'The Authorities', woodcut, 1936, edition 5. Signed 'Mahl' and titled in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on ...