Wisconsin - Figurative Prints

"Le Portrait Termine" is an original drypoint etching by Claude Weisbuch. The artist signed the piece lower right and wrote the edition number (21/50) in...

"Noel" is an original linocut in green ink on tan paper by Sylvia Spicuzza. The artist stamped her signature lower center. This artwork features the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesu...

The present work is an original screen print signed by Lester Johnson, from his 'Street Scene Portfolio.' It features four figures, all wearing fashionable street clothing emblematic...

"From: Ilsee, Princess of Tripoli Recto: "Title Page" Verso: "Art Nouveau Motif" is an original by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided lithographs from "Ilsee, Princesse de Tripo...

"Bonal" is an original lithograph poster by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre. It features an abstracted figure drinking Bonal Gentiane Quina, a cocktail or aperitif, which, consumed before a...

Jan Gillisz van Vliet (1605–1668) was a Dutch Golden Age artist and student of Rembrandt. He worked with Rembrandt between 1628 and 1637, inspired by his master's work. Like Rembrandt, van Vliet made a series of beggar figures, though often with a greater degree of satire and expressiveness. For example, this image of a rat catcher...

"Rayon des Soieries, Opera Bouffe en un Acte" is an original color lithograph poster by Maurice Dufrene. It advertises an opera called "Rays of Silk" and depicts a woman with a long ...

"The Meeting" is an original etching by Cornelis-Pietersz Bega. It depicts a confrontation between two groups of figures. Publisher: Pearce #48. 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" art 10 1/4" x 10 3/8...

"Nicolas Poussin, Homage" is an original color lithograph by Claude Weisbuch. The artist signed the piece in the lower right and wrote the edition numb...

"La Chatelaine" is a color lithograph by Charles Doudelet. The artist's name is printed lower right. This piece, featuring a wealthy woman on a white horse surrounded by dogs, was published in the Art Nouveau publication L'Estampe Moderne. 15 3/4" x 12" art 19 1/4" x 23" frame Belgian painter, sculptor, illustrator and stage designer. He studied music at the Koninklijk Muziekconservatorium and sculpture at the Gewerbeschule, Ghent (after 1877). He visited Paris in 1887 and Italy in 1890, with a grant from the city of Ghent. He was deeply impressed by the masters of the Quattrocento, and was encouraged to take up painting after meeting Constantin Meunier...

"Little Girl With Doll" is an original lithograph by James Ormsbee Chapin. The artist signed the piece in pencil lower right. It depicts a small girl holding a doll. 12" x 7" image...

"Etude d'Une Scene du Brigands (Study with Brigands)" is an etching by Claude Gellee (Le Lorrain). This etching is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Art Institute of...

This drawing, three studies of figures, was done by the contemporary artist Claude Weisbuch in 1979, but it shows his interest in the old masters and his academic approach to drawing. The figures are based on sculptures at the Louvre Museum in Paris, especially the ancient Greek sculptures of the Venus de Milo int he center and the Winged Victory of Samothrace...

"Manege rue Caulaincourt ou Le Petit Manege Aux Chevaux De Bois" is an original etching and aquatint signed by Jacques Villon. The artist signed the piece in the lower right. This is an artist proof in brown & black on arches paper. This piece depicts a number of figures on a horse-drawn carousel going through the street. 21 7/8" x 28 1/2" art 29 1/4" x 33 1/2" frame Jacques Villon (French, 1875 - 1963) French painter, printmaker and illustrator. The oldest of three brothers who became major 20th-century artists, including Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Marcel Duchamp, he learnt engraving at the age of 16 from his maternal grandfather, Emile-Frédéric Nicolle (1830-94), a ship-broker who was also a much appreciated amateur artist. In January 1894, having completed his studies at the Lycée Corneille in Rouen, he was sent to study at the Faculty of Law of the University of Paris, but within a year he was devoting most of his time to art, already contributing lithographs to Parisian illustrated newspapers such as Assiette au beurre. At this time he chose his pseudonym: Jack (subsequently Jacques) in homage to Alphonse Daudet’s novel Jack (1876) and Villon in appreciation of the 15th-century French poet François Villon; soon afterwards this new surname was combined with the family name by Raymond. Marcel Duchamp and their sister Suzanne Duchamp...

"Personnages with Bird" is an original lithograph by Sebastien Hadengue. The artist signed the piece lower left. It depicts abstracted figures and birds in earth tones. 11" x 8 1/2...

"Perseus and Andromeda" is an etching by Scottish artist Alexander Runciman, signed in plate to the lower left. It depicts Perseus on the left sw...

"Horse Wrangler" is an original lithograph by the artist Lawrence Barrett signed in the lower right hand corner. Four beautifully drawn horses use a moment of commotion to escape a corral. Low hills and an expansive sky serve as a background. Image: 8.75" x 12.25" Framed: 11.9" x 16.5" Lawrence Barrett was an etcher, lithographer, teacher, illustrator, sculptor, writer, and painter. Born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Barrett was a student at the Broadmoor Academy...

Following in line with artists before her, like Rembrandt and van Gogh, Sandra Sweeny here presents a self portrait. The image is both direct and subtle not only in its handling of m...

"Jeunes FIlles Sous les Arbres" is an original color lithograph by Francois Batet. The artist signed the piece in the lower right and wrote the edition number (42/200) in the lower l...

"Cite Lacustre" is an Estampe Originale en coleurs by Fernand Cormon. The artist created this work for the art nouveau publication L'Estampe Moderne in 1897. The L'Estampe Moderne bl...

'The Turquoise Suite' is a portfolio of three original color lithograph by the renown printmaker R.C. Gorman. From Arizona, the artist's later works fo...

"Two Horses from Homage to Marino Marini" is an original color lithograph signed in stone by Marino Marini. It depicts a horse and rider in abstracted contour lines and black shapes ...

The present is one of the many prints John Thomas Smith produced of English cottages and vernacular architecture. This example, a view of a cottage in Edmonton, is closely related to...

The present aquatint is an excellent example of the multifigural works of Lester Johnson. The print presents the viewer with three seated figures, their...

Edition 2/10 Signed to lower right Ananda Kesler was born in Haifa, Israel. In 2002 she received her BA in Fine Art from the University of Iowa. She has continued her art education...

The present print, "Victoria," is the most iconic example of the printmaking of Malvin Marr Albright, called Zsissly. The composition for the image comes from Albright's painting from about 1935, done while he was studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. We can see clearly in the image how he possesses the same skill for unsettling, magic realist images as his more famous twin brother Ivan Le Lorraine: The lady Victoria sits at a dining room table, surrounded by luxurious still-life objects. All the textures and surfaces of the image express a horror vacui as seen in his painted works, such as "The Trail of Time is Dust" at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. The door in this print recalls one of the more famous works by his brother, "That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)" at the Art Institute of Chicago. 1947, after ca. 1935 original painting 8 1/2 x 13 inches, image 12 x 16 inches, sheet 16 1/4 x 20 1/2 frame Signed in pencil, lower right Title in pencil, lower left Published by Associated American Artists Inc. Unnumbered from the edition of 250 A painter and sculptor, Malvin Albright was born in Chicago, one of twin sons of Adam Emory Albright, famous Chicago figure painter of juvenile subjects, who often used Malvin and his brother Ivan Le Lorraine as models. Malvin's middle name, Marr, was after Wisconsin artist Carl von Marr...

"Little Crow-Sioux" is an original lithograph created by Leonard Baskin. This is a proof purchased directly from the artist. Baskin signed the work in the lower right margin and lab...

"Le Repos (Rest)" is an original etching by Victor Roux-Champion. It features a nude woman lounging on a couch. The artist signed the piece lower left and wrote the edition number, 2...

"Chagall Gouaches et Lavis" is an offset poster after a painting by Marc Chagall printed by Galerie Maeght. It depicts one of Chagall's self-portraits ...

"Sur les Ponts de Paris" (Bridges of Paris) is an original color lithograph by Francois Batet, signed on the lower right corner. Three women in stylish 20's fashion cruise by in the ...

"Syndic Des Drapiers" is an original color lithograph by Claude Weisbuch. The artist signed the piece in the lower right. "EA" is written in the lower left to signify the edition number. This print depicts five men (and a floating face) in an interior space. Each man wears drapery and a hat, and they all appear to be in deep discussion. 22 1/4" x 30 1/4" art Claude Weisbuch was born on February 8th, 1927 in Thionville, France. His art includes drawing, painting and lithographs. Inventive and unique with his style he uses color range that is warm and rich in tone, certainly equal to that of Rembrandt. The fluidity of line and creation of motion is even more vigorous that in the work of Daumier or Toulouse Lautrec. His creativeness in composition is awesome and seems to have infinite possibilities of variation and vision. Weisbuch died in 2014. Exhibitions Herve Odermatt Gallery Paris, France Escole de Paris Paris, France David Barnett Gallery...

"The Conversation" is an original etching by Cornelis-Pietersz Bega. It depicts three men conversing in a dark interior. Publisher: Pearce #43. 3" x 2 1/4" art 12 3/4" x 11 5/8" fra...

This color pochoir from the La Garconne Series was done in 1925 on Arches paper No. 738/750 depicting a couple sitting at a cafe. Pochoir or stencil has been used to print limited ed...

"Les Matelassiers (The Mattress Makers)" is an original etching by Auguste Brouet. It depicts people creating a mattress outside. The artist signed the...

"From Ilsee, Princess of Tripoli Recto: "Last Kiss" Verso: "Union" is an original color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided color lithographs from "Ilsee, Princesse...

In the mid-nineteenth century, the United States government set out to survey and document its newly acquired lands and territories west of the Mississippi. The goals of these surveys were manifold: to produce topographical maps, to document flora and fauna, and to document natural resources to build the emerging US economy. These surveys, and the images from them, also functioned to build the new sense of American identity with the landscape, condensing vistas into the 'picturesque' tradition of European image making. Thus, the entire span of US territory could be seen as a single, cohesive whole. This lithograph comes from one of six surveys commissioned by the Army's Topographic Bureau in 1853, which sought to find the best route to construct a transcontinental railroad. The result was a thirteen-volume report including maps, lithographs, and technical data entitled 'Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a Railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean.' In particular, the print comes from the northern survey, commanded by Isaac Stevens, which explored the regions between the 47th and 49th parallels. In this image, Stanley documented the encounter with the Gros Ventre people at Milk River. The explorers were invited to the Gros Ventres camp and the two groups exchanged gifts in friendship. The Stevens Party provided "... blankets, shirts, calico, knives, beads, paint, powder, shot, tobacco, hard bread, etc." The image likewise alludes to how, in 1855, Isaac Stevens, concluded a treaty (Stat., L., XI, 657) to provide peace between the United States and the Blackfoot, Flathead and Nez Perce tribes. The Gros Ventres signed the treaty as part of the Blackfoot Confederacy, whose territory near the Three Fork area became a common hunting ground for the Flathead, Nez Perce, Kootenai, and Crow Indians. 5.75 x 8.75 inches, image 6.5 x 9.25 inches, stone 17 x 20 inches, frame Artist 'Stanley Del.' lower left Entitled 'Distribution of Goods to the Gros Ventres' lower center margin Publisher 'Sarony, Major & Knapp. Lith.s 449 Broadway N.Y.' lower right Inscribed 'U.S.P.R.R. EXP. & SURVEYS — 47th & 49th PARALLELS' upper left Inscribed 'GENERAL REPORT — PLATE XXI' upper right Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting with French accents; glazed with UV5 Plexiglas to inhibit fading; housed in a gold reverse ogee moulding. Print in overall good condition; some localized foxing and discoloration; minor surface abrasions to frame. John Mix...

"Kacia" is an original color lithograph by Eugene Delatre. The artist signed and dated the piece in the lower left corner. It features a young girl in a...

"Le Petit Cirque Prinder" is an original etching by Auguste Brouet. This piece depicts a variety of circus performers surrounded by small children. The artist signed the piece in the...

In the mid-nineteenth century, the United States government set out to survey and document its newly acquired lands and territories west of the Mississippi. The goals of these surveys were manifold: to produce topographical maps, to document flora and fauna, and to document natural resources to build the emerging US economy. These surveys, and the images from them, also functioned to build the new sense of American identity with the landscape, condensing vistas into the 'picturesque' tradition of European image making. Thus, the entire span of US territory could be seen as a single, cohesive whole. This lithograph comes from one of six surveys commissioned by the Army's Topographic Bureau in 1853, which sought to find the best route to construct a transcontinental railroad. The result was a thirteen-volume report including maps, lithographs, and technical data entitled 'Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a Railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean.' In particular, the print comes from the northern survey, commanded by Isaac Stevens, which explored the regions between the 47th and 49th parallels. 5.75 x 8.75 inches, image 6.5 x 9.25 inches, stone 17 x 20 inches, frame Artist 'Stanley Del.' lower left Entitled 'Lieutenant Crovers Despatch – Return of Governor Stevens to Fort Benton' lower center margin Publisher 'Sarony, Major & Knapp. Lith.s 449 Broadway N.Y.' lower right Inscribed 'U.S.P.R.R. EXP. & SURVEYS — 47th & 49th PARALLELS' upper left Inscribed 'GENERAL REPORT — PLATE XXXVII' upper right Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting with French accents; glazed with UV5 Plexiglas to inhibit fading; housed in a gold reverse ogee moulding. Print in overall good condition; some localized foxing and discoloration; minor surface abrasions to frame. John Mix Stanley...

"From Ilsee, Princess of Tripoli Recto: "Visiting Women" Verso: "Departing Pilgrims" is an original color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided color lithographs from...

In the mid-nineteenth century, the United States government set out to survey and document its newly acquired lands and territories west of the Mississippi. The goals of these surveys were manifold: to produce topographical maps, to document flora and fauna, and to document natural resources to build the emerging US economy. These surveys, and the images from them, also functioned to build the new sense of American identity with the landscape, condensing vistas into the 'picturesque' tradition of European image making. Thus, the entire span of US territory could be seen as a single, cohesive whole. This lithograph comes from one of six surveys commissioned by the Army's Topographic Bureau in 1853, which sought to find the best route to construct a transcontinental railroad. The result was a thirteen-volume report including maps, lithographs, and technical data entitled 'Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a Railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean.' When it came to depicting the Assiniboine people, as seen in the present print, Stanley chose to juxtapose their encampment, marked by tipis in the distance, with the encampment of the Isaac Stevens survey party. In the foreground, commemorating this moment, Isaac Stevens can be seen presenting trade goods, which are known to include thirty two dressed skins and two robes. The survey leader Isaac Stevens noted being grateful for the generosity of the Assiniboine, commenting: "I felt very grateful indeed to those Indians, for their kindness to my men, their proffer of kind feeling and hospitality to myself and the survey." This description and this image, however, are arguably depicted through rose-colored glasses: to the Assiniboine people, this meeting may well have included stressful diplomatic relationships and have indicated a threat to the sovereignty over the territories agreed to be theirs by the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. 5.75 x 8.75 inches, image 6.5 x 9.25 inches, stone 17 x 19.75 inches, frame Artist 'Stanley Del.' lower left Entitled 'Distribution of Goods to the Assiniboines' lower center margin Publisher 'Sarony, Major & Knapp. Lith.s 449 Broadway N.Y.' lower right Inscribed 'U.S.P.R.R. EXP. & SURVEYS — 47th & 49th PARALLELS' upper left Inscribed 'GENERAL REPORT — PLATE XIV' upper right Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting with French accents; glazed with UV5 Plexiglas to inhibit fading; housed in a gold reverse ogee moulding. Print in overall good condition; some localized foxing and discoloration; frame in excellent condition. John Mix Stanley...

"When Day is Done" is an original etching and aquatint signed lower right in pencil by the artist John Edward Costigan. It depicts a man and a woman with their young child at the end...

This color pochoir was created in 1925 on Arches paper and depicts two women in Japanese kimonos. T he print is a bookplate pulled from a book that was issued in a numbered edition ...

"Hotel Lobby" is a linoleum print by Alexander Tillotson. It features the view of a hotel lobby from the viewpoint of the back of two men. Thick lines and minimal negative space give...

An original color lithograph poster with drawings of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Andy Clyde, and Billy Bevan. 62" x 47 1/4" art 66 1/2" x 51 5/8" framed Les P...

"Promenade sous les Arbres (Walk under the Trees)" is an original color lithograph by Francois Batet, signed in the lower right and numbered in the lower left. At the center of the p...

Art: 17" x 23 1/4" Frame: 27 5/8" x 33 7/8" Original color lithograph (VIII/L) Signed lower right. This original Weisbuch lithograph comes from th...

"Artiesten Winterfest" is an original color lithograph poster designed by Jan Sluijters. It depicts a brightly colored woman with long orange hair and su...

"Listen (Dust is the Only Secret)" is an original lithograph with nylon string by Lesley Dill. The artist signed the piece lower left. It depicts the silhouette of a man constructed ...

"The Temptation of Saint Anthony" is an original etching by Fernand Cormon. This piece has the artist's stamp. The piece is signed in pencil by the artis...

"Le Bouquet" is an original color lithograph by Francois Batet. The artist signed the piece in the lower right and wrote the edition number (160/200) in the lower left. This piece de...

"Maria (Artist's Wife)" is an original etching by Moishe Smith, signed in the bottom right corner and numbered in the bottom left. The piece depicts a seated woman from the waist up,...

"Tokijiro, Midori, and Katsumi" is an original Japanese color woodcut by the artist Kuniyoshi. It was created in 1851 and depicts a scene from the play "Akegarasu Hana no Nureginu" (...

"From: Ilsée, Princess of Tripoli Recto: "Princess and Djeldah" Verso: "Fruit" is an original color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided color lithographs from "Ilse...

"Bacchanale" is an original color lithograph by Andre Masson. This piece is from the Je Reve (I Dream) portfolio and is edition number H.C. XVV/XVV. Masson signed the piece in pencil...

The present hand-colored lithograph is one of several decorative images of flower-filled vases published by Nathaniel Currier. This example contains roses, tulips, forget-me-nots, and others all within a vase with gold eagle head handles and an image of a beautiful young woman the belly. 16 x 11 inches, artwork 22.5 x 18.25 inches, frame Entitled bottom center Signed in the stone, lower left "Lith. and Pub. by N. Currier" Inscribed lower right "152 Nassau St. Cor. of Spruce N.Y." Copyrighted bottom center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1848 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." with the number 249 Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting, housed in a lemon gold moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

"Demi-God of Discontent" is an original etching and aquatint made with Chine Colle by Molly McKee. The artist signed the piece in the lower right, titled it lower center, and wrote the edition number (2/10) in the lower left. It depicts a few abstracted human figures in McKee's surreal and horror-inspired style. 11 3/4" x 9" art 24 7/8" x 17 1/2" frame This surreal etching...

"Meditation" is an original linoleum print by Schomer Lichtner, signed in the lower right hand corner. It features a man in the middle of a project, in quiet meditation. Image: 6" x 8" Framed: 14.5" x 14.37" Lichtner and his wife, Ruth Grotenrath (1912-1988), are celebrated as Milwaukee’s first couple of painting and are regarded as major Wisconsin artists. Lichtner’s impressive production, perseverance, longevity, and positive approach to his life and art made him and his work distinctive and much loved by his many admirers. His work is currently represented in collections at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the John Michael Kohler Art Center, the West Bend Museum, and in the collections of many individuals. Books on the lives and art work of both Lichtner and Grotenrath are in progress and it is anticipated that they will be published next year. Recipient of the 2006 Wisconsin Visual Artist Lifetime Achievement Award The late Milwaukee artists, Schomer Lichtner and Ruth Grotenrath, created original silkscreen prints as a part of their Christmas celebration starting in the 1940's. The subjects and colors varied from year to year but they laboriously printed these little gems themselves. Ruth Grotenrath, 1912-1988, and her husband, Schomer Lichtner, (1905-2006), are celebrated as Milwaukee’s first couple of painting and are regarded as major Wisconsin artists. From the outset, Lichtner and Grotenrath were determined to become full-time artists. Ruth Grotenrath and Schomer Lichtner began their careers by creating numerous murals for the WPA (Work Projects Administration), primarily post offices. A wonderful example can be seen in the Sheboygan, Wisconsin post office. Even during the Great Depression they worked producing Post Office murals under the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts (SFA). According to James Auer, former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel art critic, "As art and economic trends evolved, the couple’s palettes brightened and warmed. Both fell under the spell of the Mexican social realists, notably Diego Rivera, and modernists such as Matisse and Dufy. The couple’s perspective changed further after they became friends with philosopher Alan Watts...

"Market Scene" is an original color lithograph by Angelika Thusius. It depicts three women at a market. Thusius uses contour lines and bright oranges and yellows to create this litho...

The present work is an original screen print signed by Lester Johnson, from his 'Street Scene Portfolio.' It features three figures, all wearing fashionable street clothing emblemati...