Emil Ganso (1895-1941). Little Harbor or Boats, Maine, etching and aquatint, c. 1920, not signed [signed with a copyright mark in the plate], inscribed “To Lucille”. Reference: Smith I78B. In very good condition, the matrix excellent, a couple of small spots in margins and the remains of a prior hinge verso, with margins, 10 3/8 x 14 7/8, the sheet 13 x 17 inches, window mat.

A fine impression, with effective aquatint tonalities.

Little Harbor, a very successful composition, was chosen as an American Artists Group print, reproduced in AAG original etchings, and also in Zink, American Artists Group Prints, 30. We do not believe this impression itself was an American Artists Group print but that it was printed earlier, since the paper is heavier than most of the AAG prints, and it does not bear the AAG imprint verso (the AAG produced relatively inexpensive prints during the Great Depression, explicitly and intentionally unsigned and thus sold as populist art works available and accessible widely. Ironically, these prints and their proofs have a special collector’s appeal and value today).

Emil Ganso (1895-1941), Studio Mirror, chiaroscuro wood engraving, 1936. Not signed [signed and dated in the block, with the backward s in Ganso and the date also reversed]. Reference: Smith R-77B, edition not stated. In very good condition, on  cream wove paper, the full sheet, 14 3/8 x 9 3/8 inches, the sheet 18 x 13 inches. Published by the American Artists Group, and in their original mat.

A fine impression, printed in two colors, light and dark brown.

The American Artists Group was formed in 1934, during the Great Depression, with the express purpose of providing unsigned inexpensive prints which were to be widely distributed. AAG published prints by Ganso, Spruance, Meissner, Ruzicka, and Lankes, among many other noted artists. Although the prices of these prints was minimal, collectors were saving what money they had, and so the editions were not sold out; most printings were under 200 and many under 100. Ironically, today, these prints are considered rare collector’s items.

Ganso, a master of a number of printmaking techniques, here successfully recreates a composition – now in greater detail and in two colors – that he first explored in the etching and aquatint Nude with Mirror of about 1930. One interesting difference: the two pictures on the wall, not identifiable in the etching, are here shown to be a Ganso nude and a country scene.

Emil Ganso (1895-1941), Two Nudes, 1928, wood engraving, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Smith R-86A, First state (of 2). Edition of 5. In pristine condition, printed on a wove paper with margins, 3 3/4 x 5 1/8, the sheet 6 x 7 7/8 inches. Loose as issued, not matted.

A good impression of this engraving, rare (edition of 5) before letters.

In a later state this print was used as an announcement card, with these letters added: Paintings and Drawings by Emil Ganso at the Weyhe Gallery…October 22nd to November 10th, 1928.

These models are picknicking, as evidenced by the basket lower right; a lake and mountain are in the background.

This was reproduced in Salaman, New Woodcuts, and American Artists No. 17.

Emil Ganso (1895-1941), Landscape and Houses (or, Woodstock, number 3, or Country Path), c. 1928, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Smith R-29, only state. In pristine condition, not mounted or matted, with margins, deckle edges sides and bottom, 3 7/8 x 5 3/8, the sheet 5 1/8 x 6 7/8 inches.

A fine impression of this tiny wood engraving, printed in black ink on a cream wove paper with the watermark ITALY.

We believe this is a relatively rare Ganso print; Smith did not know of an edition.

Starting in the late ’20′s Ganso spent much of May through November in Woodstock, New York, and in the period from 1925-30 he did most of his woodcuts and wood engravings. Wood engravings are often made in a small format largely because they are difficult to create – this is a relief technique where the artist uses engraving-like tools to cut the smoothed end of a log or board. Ganso learned this technique relatively early in his career; eventually he was to master most of the basic printmaking methods.

Reproduced in Rochester, Prints from the Collection of Charles Rand Penney, 76.

Emil Ganso (1895-1941), Eddyville, or Morning Stroll, 1935 (also given as 1932), wash and scratch lithograph in brown ink, signed in pencil lower right and inscribed Ed 35 lower left. Reference: Smith L 30B. In good condition, with margins (loss at upper left corner), on a chine colle on cream wove, 10 3/4 x 15 1/2, the sheet 13 5/8 x 18 1/2 inches, archival window matting.

A fine impression, printed in brownish black ink.

Eddyville is a superb example of Ganso’s experimental “wash and scratch” lithographic technique – one can see numerous scratches in the grassy banks in the foreground, and wonderful wash effects in the hills in the middle ground.

Eddyville is just south of Woodstock, where Ganso generally spent much of the year working (other artists in the area included Eugene Speicher, Leon Kroll, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Mortimer Borne, and Aline Freuhauf).

Emil Ganso (1895-1941), Halberstadt III, 1929, etching, aquatint, soft-ground etching, roulette, signed in pencil lower right,and numbered 13/35 lower left; also titled lower center. Reference: Smith I 59, second state (of 2), from the edition of 35. In very good condition, with some printer’s fingerprints in the margin edges, on a sturdy ivory wove paper with margins, 9 13/16 x 11 15/16, the sheet 11 x 15 inches, matted.

A fine atmospheric impression.

Provenance: Weyhe Gallery, still in their original worn mat, with their cataloguing annotations. Weyhe, one of the oldest and most distinguished Madison Avenue New York dealers, was Ganso’s dealer.

Halberstadt III is a tour de force of etching techniques. Ganso uses 3 levels of aquatint tone, as well as soft ground etching (creating lines through a thin sheet of paper over a soft ground, then picking up the paper to reveal broad lines which are then subjected to acid) and conventional etching; he also uses a roulette tool in just a few places, e.g., for shading of the girl at the right getting water from the well.

In 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression, Ganso made an extended trip to Europe to see his family, with the encouragement of his dealer Erhard Weyhe and Frank Crowninshield of Vanity Fair. The Halberstadt etchings date from this trip, as do a number of other etchings, mostly landscapes.