Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Jean-Emile Laboureur, Le Petit Metropolitan Life Building, etching, 1909, signed and dated in pen lower left, numbered in pencil (1/2) lower right. Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 88, only state, one of the two proofs of this print, no edition. In very good condition, on a cream laid Arches paper (with a partial watermark), the full sheet, 6 3/4 x 4, the sheet 12 x 8 1/2 inches.

A fine impression of this great rarity, printed with platetone.

Laboureur made only two impressions of Le Petit Metropolitan Life Building; he later made another stab at this subject, larger size and in reverse (Skyscraper en Construction, New York, L. 93) but abandoned this plate after making only several impressions.

The Metropolitan Life Building tower, at Madison Square Park in New York City, was the tallest building in the world for about 3 years until it was surpassed by the Woolworth Building.  The tower was completed in 1909; here Laboureur captures it mid-construction, probably in 1907-8 during one of his visits to New York City (he first visited America in 1903, seeing New York City and a number of other U.S. cities, as well as Toronto and Montreal. He returned to France in 1907 but came back to New York in the fall of 1907, and it was in this period that he created the Metropolitan Life Building drawing in his notebook; he later made a painting of the subject, and also this etching; he returned to London in 1908).

$2750

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Cahier de Six Paysages, etchings, 1928, each signed in pencil and inscribed “ep d’artiste”.  Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 386-391, the artist’s proofs of the third state (of 3). The total printing in all states was 150. Contained in green hardcover boards, with a title cover.  The green board covers and the prints themselves are in excellent condition (the outer cover is torn extensively). Printed on a cream/tan Japan paper, with full margins, 3 5/8 x 5 3/8, the sheets 10 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches.

Ex collection: John Gribbel (with his pencil inscription on cover)

Fine clear delicately printed impressions.

This is a curiously subdued set of etchings, each portraying farm or country life in exquisite detail. Three of the six scenes are shown here; of course the others, and further details, are available on request.

$3000

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Sur la Tamise, woodcut, 1914, signed in pencil lower left margins and numbered (3/35) lower right margin. Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 696, only state. In generally good condition apart from mat stain outside of the image, slight toning, on Arches laid paper, with margins, 11 3/8 c 14 3/8, the sheet 13 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches.

A good impression of this early cubist-influenced woodcut.

Laboureur was of course close to Felix Vallotton, even before the turn of the century, and this woodcut shows the continuing influence of Vallotton as Laboureur was beginning to bring cubism into his aesthetic framework.

This large woodcut was intended to be accompanied in a text of a novel by Abel Hermant (La Petite Femme), describing a character traveling in a flat boat down the Thames with a woman at his side.

$2400

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Paysage au Tunnel, etching, 1920, signed in pencil lower left, numbered (19/55 ep) lower right and also titled lower left edge. Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 195, second state (of 2), from the edition of 55. In very good condition, printed on a cream wove paper with deckle edges, the full sheet with wide margins, 7 7/8 x 9, the sheet 11 x 16 1/8 inches.

A fine impression, printed in a dark brownish/black ink.

This is similar to the composition of Paysage au Butte Chaumont (L 205) but it a more dramatic etching (here along the Loire, near Oudon).

Contemporary commentators noted that in etchings such as Paysage au Tunnel Laboureur takes an aesthetic position rather opposite to Whistler and the swarm of acolytes attempting to replicate Whistler’s impressionistic approach, using either plate tones or many detailed lines to achieve shading and nuance  – here the lines are well defined, vigourous, dramatic, and the composition and figures have a modernist/cubist quality.

$2000

Paysage au Tunnel - Detail

Jean-Emile Laboureur etching and roulette, Chaumieres Dans Les Marais, 1930, signed lower left and numbered 12/80, Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 422, Godefry 422. Third state of three. From the total printing of 108, 85 in this state. With the blindstamp of Jacquart lower right margin. In very good condition, on medium wove paper with full margins, 7 3/4 x 8 3/4, the sheet 11 1/2 x 14 1/4 inches.

A fine, vivid impression.

Jean-Emile Laboureur was born in Nantes in 1877. He traveled to Paris in 1895 intending to study law at the Sorbonne, but found himself drawn to the nearby famed Academie Julian, and although he never officially matriculated there, he became immersed in the Parisian art scene, after which he traveled widely, staying for periods in the US and London, and studying classic art and printmaking in Italy and Germany.

In this context it’s worth noting that the three houses at the right in this etching bear a remarkable affinity to those in Rembrandt’s etching Three Gabled Cottages (Hind 246), a print surely familiar to Laboureur.

Although he had moved back to Paris by 1910, a time when analytical cubism was emerging in the work of Picasso and Braque, he continued working in an abstract, modernist mode, waiting until about 1913 or shortly thereafter to invent a cubist idiom all his own. Cubism remained an important theme for Laboureur, a theme he varied, sometimes using it as a strong design or compositional component, sometimes only as a subtle background element, as in Chaumieres, where he uses etching (not engraving, a more usual method) to achieve a warm atmospheric portrait of this farm scene.

$700

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Faubourg, soft ground etching in two plates (black and sanguine), 1930, signed in pencil lower left and inscribed “imp d’essai” lower right. Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 413, a trial proof of the first state (of 2); there were 20 impressions of the first state, and 170 of the second state which was issued in conjunction with the publication of L’Eloge de J.-E. Laboureur by Dr. Lucien-Graux.  In very good condition, with wide (full?) margins, 7 3/4 x 5 3/4, the sheet 10 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches.

A fine proof impression of the first state. In the second state lines of shading were added to the building wall above the child, to the buildings at the left, and in a few other places.

$1250

Jean-Emile Laboureur lithograph La Depart Pour La Chasse, in five colors, 1927, signed and numbered (35/150) in pencil (Sylvain Laboureur, Godefry 780), from the edition of 150 plus 20 hors tirage. 9 x 8 1/4 (sheet: 19 1/2 x 13 1/4) inches; 229 x 210 (sheet 495 x 337) mm, acid-free mounting.  Good condition, on a heavy wove paper with wide (full) margins and deckle edges (a fox spot in right margin away from image, scattered foxing at extreme margin edges, 2 pinholes in margins)

A fine impression in vivid colors.

The edition was published by the review Le Chien de Pique, and the impressions (including this one) have its stamp, on heavy white wove with full margins.

Only a relatively small portion of Laboureur’s printed work was done in lithography, and of this group, only a few examples were made in color.

$950

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Le Bal Bullier, woodcut, 1898, not signed [monogram initials el in the plate]. Reference: Laboureur 579, only state. Apart from the numbered edition of about 61. Printed in black on a laid Arches paper, with their watermark, with margins. In very good condition, slight toning verso, 8 3/4 x 11 1/2, the sheet 11 x 14 1/4 inches, archival mounting.

A very good impression of this iconic Laboureur image.

The plate for this print has been destroyed.

In a sale in 1984 Marcel LeComte described a trial proof of this print, before the initials monogram bottom left. He did not show a picture of this proof, and so it was never seen by Sylvain Laboureur, the cataloguer of the most recent Laboureur catalogue raisonne. If such a first state proof exists, this impression (and all the impressions from the edition) would technically be second state impressions.

Le Bal Bullier was a celebrated student dance hall at 31 Avenue de l’Observatoire.

Although Le Bal Bullier was exhibited as evidence of Laboureur working under the influence of Japonisme, Laboureur himself tended to minimize the effect on him of Japanese art; but of course he was taught woodcutting by Lepere, and worked closely with Vallotton, both of whom were influenced by the art of Japan.  Indeed, Japonisme was an important element in the aesthetic atmosphere of France at this time.