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Leon Dolice Prints and Multiples

American, Austrian, 1892-1960

Leon Dolice, born in Vienna on August 14, 1892, even as a young boy, preferred the lure of painting to the scholastic studies which his early years had expected of him. His father was a machinist, which exposed the boy to welding and metal crafts. However, his interest in art led him to abandon a secure future in the family business, and he spent most of his late teens and early 20s traveling through the capital cities of Europe studying the works of the masters. As with many itinerant artists, he made his way in a variety of fashions metalworker, chef, designer somehow always managing to give vent to his creative instincts. Lured by the adventure of crossing the great Atlantic and by the freedoms of the New World, he came to America in 1920. There, he was greeted by the turbulence of New York in the Roaring 20s. Finding a retreat in the European Bohemianism of Greenwich Village, he picked the streets of this landmark neighborhood as his first subjects. With the encouragement of new-found friends and artists such as George Luks and Herb Roth, he soon ventured out and devoted all his time to chronicling the architecture, back streets, dock scenes and other nostalgia that was fast disappearing from the face of Manhattan, mainly in copperplate etchings. A favorite subject for him was the Third Avenue El near one of his New York City studios on Third Avenue. He won accolades for his work, and although he traveled the East Coast recording landmarks in other cities including Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia, he always returned to his new home Manhattan. A decline in popular favor for etchings led him to put aside his plates in the late 1930s and devote some 10 years to pastels, linocuts and painting. His subject matter was almost exclusively New York City street scenes, but figurative works, country scenes and even experiments with Abstract Expressionism at the height of its new-found favor in the 1940s punctuated his career. In 1953, after learning of the forthcoming demise of the Third Avenue El, in the shadow of which he had maintained his studio for over a decade, he once again took to his plates and press and created a final series of Third Avenue and or other New York City landmarks that were then threatened with extinction. His work brings to light aspects of nostalgic New York that survives today only in small part, whether in architecture or spirit. Dolce's works are in several notable museums and private collections, including the Museum of the City of New York; the Print Collection of The New York Public Library; The New-York Historical Society; the Georgetown University Library; The Philadelphia Print Club and others. In the past few years, his work has been exhibited at Hofstra University Museum of Art, Long Island, New York; with the Montauk Artists' Association, Montauk, New York and at the Tribeca Gallery, New York City. An exhibition of his works on paper was held from February 28 to March 14, 2003, at the Belleclaire Hotel at 250 West 77th Street and Broadway in New York City. Featuring historic street and landmark scenes of New York City created from 1920 through 1952, it was held as a tribute to New York, which had been sharply in the world's focus following the events of the previous six months.

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Artist: Leon Dolice
New York Skyline, NY; East River
New York Skyline, NY; East River

New York Skyline, NY; East River

By Leon Dolice

Located in Middletown, NY

Etching on medium stock, cream wove paper, 5 15/16 x 10 3/16 inches (151 x 259 mm), full margins. Signed and titled in pencil, lower margin. A fine and detailed impression in dark bl...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Dolice Prints and Multiples

Materials

Archival Paper, Etching

Fulton Market No. 1 - A lower Manhattan landscape as it existed in 1922
Fulton Market No. 1 - A lower Manhattan landscape as it existed in 1922

Fulton Market No. 1 - A lower Manhattan landscape as it existed in 1922

By Leon Dolice

Located in Middletown, NY

A lower Manhattan landscape as it existed in 1922, with Trinity Church and City Hall visible in the background. New York: c 1922 Etching with aquatint on heavy-weight cream wove pap...

Category

1920s American Modern Leon Dolice Prints and Multiples

Materials

Archival Paper, Etching

'St. Marks on the Bowery' - Famed New York City Landmark
'St. Marks on the Bowery' - Famed New York City Landmark

'St. Marks on the Bowery' - Famed New York City Landmark

By Leon Dolice

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

'St. Mark's Church on the Bowery', aquatint with etching, edition not stated but small, 1932. Signed in pencil. Signed in the plate lower left and titled in the plate lower right. A superb, atmospheric impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 1/8 to 2 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 9 3/4 x 7 3/8 inches (248 x 187 mm); sheet size 13 1/8 x 10 inches (333 x 254 mm). Impressions of this work are held in the collections of the Princeton University Art Museum and the Five College Museums. ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in Vienna, Leon Dolice left a secure position in the family business to pursue his artistic interests. He began his art education in his teens and early twenties when he traveled through Europe to study the works of the Old Masters. He immigrated to America in 1920 and made his home in Manhattan. As a printmaker, he chose as his subjects the architecture, back streets, dock scenes, and other aspects of New York City life that were being overtaken by the modern world. In 1950, learning of the coming demolition of the Third Avenue El, Dolice created a series of Third Avenue and other New York City landmarks that were threatened with extinction. His images from that period provide a record of a New York that has passed into history. During his lifetime, Dolice exhibited throughout Europe and the United States. Retrospectives of his work include a one-man show of his graphic work at Tribeca Gallery, New York; the traveling exhibition ‘Vintage New York’ with the New Rochelle Council on the Arts; and the Hofstra Museum, Hempstead. Dolice's works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of the City of New York, the National Gallery of Art, the New York Historical Society, Georgetown University, the Philadelphia Print Club, and the New York Public Library, as well as private and corporate collections. ABOUT ST. MARKS CHURCH St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is a parish of the Episcopal Church located at 131 East 10th Street, at the intersection of Stuyvesant Street and Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The property has been the site of continuous Christian worship since the mid-17th century, making it New York City's oldest site of continuous religious practice. The structure is the second-oldest church building in Manhattan. In 1651, Petrus Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherland, purchased land for a bowery or farm from the Dutch West India Company and, by 1660, built a family chapel at the present-day site of St. Mark's Church. Stuyvesant died in 1672 and was interred in a vault under the chapel. Stuyvesant's great-grandson, Petrus "Peter" Stuyvesant, sold the chapel property to the Episcopal Church for $1 in 1793, stipulating that a new chapel be erected to serve Bowery Village, the community which had coalesced around the Stuyvesant family chapel. In 1795, the cornerstone of the present-day St. Mark's Church was laid, and the fieldstone Georgian-style church, built by the architect and mason John McComb Jr., was completed and consecrated on May 9, 1799.[4] Alexander Hamilton provided legal aid in incorporating St. Mark's Church as the first Episcopal parish independent of Trinity Church in New York City. By 1807, the church had as many as two hundred worshipers at its summer services, with 70 during the winter. While the 19th century saw St. Mark's Church grow through its many construction projects, the 20th century was marked by community service and cultural expansion. Today, the rectory houses the Neighborhood Preservation Center, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, and the Historic Districts Council, as well as other preservation and community organizations such as the Poetry Project, the Millennium Film Workshop, and the Danspace Project. St Mark's has supported an active artistic community since the 19th century. In 1919, poet Kahlil Gibran was appointed a member of the St. Mark's Arts Committee, and the next year, the two prominent Indian statues, "Aspiration" and "Inspiration" by sculptor Solon Borglum...

Category

1930s American Modern Leon Dolice Prints and Multiples

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

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East Side

Leon DoliceEast Side, c. 1937

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H 3.5 in W 5.5 in

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Leon Dolice prints and multiples for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Leon Dolice prints and multiples available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Leon Dolice in archival paper, etching, intaglio and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Leon Dolice prints and multiples, so small editions measuring 5 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Fred Nagler, Louis Conrad Rosenberg, and James Penney. Leon Dolice prints and multiples prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $600 and tops out at $800, while the average work can sell for $700.