Howard Thomas Prints and Multiples

James Lesesne Wells, 'Sisters', linocut, edition not stated but small, 1928. Signed, titled, and annotated 'imp' in pencil. A fine impression on off-white wove Japan paper, with wide margins (1 7/8 to 3 3/4 inches), in excellent condition. Printed by the artist. Very scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 8 3/16 x 6 3/4 inches (208 x 171 mm); sheet size 13 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches (343 x 273 mm). Exhibition and Literature: 'Narratives of African American Art and Identity: The David C. Driskell Collection,' The Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, extensive touring exhibition, 1998-2000. Collections: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution (Anacostia Community Museum). ABOUT THE ARTIST “Wells is more than an artist with a deep concern for his fellow man. He carries many of his themes a step further into an apocalyptic world, a world of revelation and shifting lights. … He works on large blocks in a bold free style. … His work has a vigor, therefore, that is not often used in the medium today.” —Jacob Kainen (painter, critic, and collector) from Richard J. Powell’s 1986 essay Phoenix Ascending: The Art of James Lesesne Wells. James Lesesne Wells was an American painter, printmaker, educator, and pioneering figure of the Harlem Renaissance, whose work established a vital connection between African heritage, modernist form, and African American cultural identity. Known for his innovative use of linoleum and woodblock printing, Wells played a key role in shaping 20th-century African American art and inspired countless students throughout his lengthy career as a teacher at Howard University. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Wells' early exposure to the arts came through church and community, where African American cultural traditions were central. He pursued formal artistic training at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (earning a B.A. in 1924), followed by studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation, where he encountered European modernists as well as traditional African sculpture, which profoundly influenced his style. Wells moved to New York in the late 1920s, swiftly immersing himself in the lively artistic and intellectual scene of Harlem. There, he became associated with artists, writers, and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance, contributing to the growth of Black cultural identity. Considered a mentor to many famed artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Wells served as director of a summer art workshop in Harlem where his assistants included Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, and Palmer Hayden...

Elwood Warren Bartlett is a Wisconsin native who also worked in Indiana. Largely self taught as a printmaker, Bartlett worked in a style that once identified as his, immediately t...

A vibrant celebration of Taos life and culture, Saturday Morning (Market, Taos Plaza, New Mexico) is a striking 1950s modernist linocut print by acclaimed New Mexico artist Barbara L...

Grand Tier at the Met Etching, 1939 From: Reginald Marsh, Thirty Etchings and Engravings Published by the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1969 Unsigned (as usual for the Whitney edit...

An original linocut print by American artist Irene Zevon. The reclining nude is one of Zevon's most coveted subject matters. This 1959 print is one of a series of ten prints.

Harold E. Keeler worked in Hollywood as a set designer. That seems especially important here because the Water Fall looks a little as though it could be a w...

Martha Reed was the daughter of the artist Doel Reed and as an adult she joined her parents in Taos, New Mexico. There she designed clothes with a south-we...

Black & Moorhead 145. The title, Le Beche, is The Shovel in English. Signed and dated in pencil under image at right.

Original The Owl And The Pussycat, by Edward Lear with all text in Greek. Linen backed and in very good condition. One tiny printing flaw under the foot of the cat. Translation:...

Albert Potter, 'Modern Music' also Twilight Melodies', linocut, c. 1935, from the posthumous edition of 20, printed in 1977, authorized by the artist’s widow. Estate authenticated in...

A modernist fantasy winter scene created by Werner Drewes, this print brings key aspects of the period together. His cubist-inspired woodcut technique is utilized here to bring the s...

Pablo Picasso "Paix, Désarmement pour le succès de la Conférence au Sommet, Paris, Mai 1960" Original Vintage Poster, 1952/1960. Archival linen backed and ready to frame. This pos...