Harris Schrank Fine Prints

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Limehouse, etching, 1859. References: Glasgow 48, fifth state (of 6), Kennedy 40, third state (of 3), signed with the butterfly in pencil in the lower margin. [Also signed and dated in the plate.]With margins, 5 x 7 7/8 inches, the sheet 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches. Published as no. 12 in A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects, otherwise known as the Thames Set. In good condition apart from a soft diagonal fold in the sky.

A very fine impression, in black ink on a thin Japan paper.

Provenance:  Dr. John W. Randall (cf. Lugt 2130), without his mark,  annotated on the mat.

Limehouse, the entrance to the West Indies Docks, lies opposite the Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe, along the lower Thames.

It’s unusual to find the signed butterfly (or any pencil signature) on the early London etchings, but it is known that Whistler signed a few some years after they were done, after the time he started using the butterfly signature. This butterfly dates from 1889-90 (cf. description of this impression, Glasgow catalogue).

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Rue de Géricault à Rouen, lithograph, 1896, signed in blue pencil lower right margin,  titled center, and inscribed “Ep defi No 11” left [also signed in the plate in reverse].  Reference: Delteil 173, only state, from the group of about 21 impressions, a few of which were not signed. There were no posthumous impressions, and the cancelled plate is in the Bibliotheque Nationale.  In good condition apart from spots of staining or foxing in margins, with margins, 7 1/4 x 5 1/2, the sheet 12 7/8 x 9 3/4 inches.

A fine impression, printed on green-Ingres paper affixed to a white wove.

Pissarro also made an etching of this section of Rue de Géricault (Delteil 120); the view is generally similar to the lithograph but is perhaps more realistic, less atmospheric than the lithographic version.

Jacques Callot (1592-1635), La Petite Passion (The Small Passion), etchings, 1694, the complete set of 12.  References: Lieure 537-548, Meaume 19-33. First states (of two and three), L. 542 second state (of 3). In generally good condition, on old laid paper, with narrow margins or trimmed on the platemark, slight thin spots, occasional soiling, prior hinging verso, L. 547 tiny loss lower right edge.  3 1/4 x 2 3/8 inches.

A very fine crisp early set, all before numbers, all first states except L542 (the first state of which is exceedingly rare).

Provenance: Sotheby’s New York, Sale of Old Master Prints, 11/14/81

Lieure quotes Mariette saying that “these twelve small prints are among the most beautiful things that Callot drew after returning from Italy.” Bouchot, who referred to this series as remarkable, wrote that “one could hardly believe that in the space of seven centimeters high and five wide the artist had been able to develop his conception so completely, while missing nothing.”

These compositions are unframed by borders; Callot frames the action by architectural or natural devices, giving the central figures strength through a heightened line, and giving the composition depth by depicting figures and buildings in a lighter context behind the action.  Astonishingly, each of these compositions would “work” superbly in a much larger format.

The Flagellation

The Presentation to the People

The Crown of Thorns

Georg Pencz (1500-50) engraving, c. 1540,  Abraham and Sarah (Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham). Reference: Bartsch 1, Landau 1, only state.  [titled Sarah/Abraham and initialed in the plate with the interweaving PG].  In good condition, slight time discoloration (graphite verso), with thread margins, 50 x 85 mm, 2 x 2 3/8 inches.

Provenance: unidentified collector’s stamp verso

A very good impression with strong details.

Pencz was one of the German Little Masters, the Northern Renaissance engravers known for their small scale engravings.

In this engraving, the first of five Pencz made of the story of Abraham, we see his wife Sarah, unable at that point to have children, introducing Abraham to her maid Hagar, an Egyptian, who Sarah suggested might bear Abraham a child (Genesis 16). This is obviously a moving moment – Abraham and Sarah look at each other, while Sarah has her arms on the shoulders of both of them.

Hans Burgkmair (1459-1519), Council of the Swiss and Swabian War, painted woodcut, 1514-16. Reference: Bartsch 80-(224) 162, from the History of Emperor Maximilian I. In excellent condition, on old laid paper, 8 3/4 x 7 5/8 inches.

A fine impression, with the colors vibrant and fresh.

The History of the Weisskunig (White King) is an autobiography in the style of an illustrated novel without words. Although it is the story of Emperor Maximilian I all the characters have symbolic names. The White King is the name Maximilian  chose for himself, as it both stands for  whiteness (purity) and is associated with the word for wisdom (Weisheit).

Hans Burgkmair, the eminent Augsburg painter and printmaker who was in effect Maximilian’s official court artist,  was instrumental in the development of the chiaroscuro print, and Landau and Parshall argue that he was in fact the inventor of the tone block (cf. The Renaissance Print, David Landau & Peter Parshall, Yale, 1996).  Of course the present print was printed (most likely by his key collaborator Jost de Negher) in black and white, and then painted; despite the development of colored printmaking, very early woodcuts such as those of Burgkmair’s would frequently be painted contemporaneously as well as later (and David Landau has confirmed that the coloring of this print is contemporary).

Relatively few painted old master prints have survived and are seen today either in museum exhibits or in collections, and it perhaps their rarity which has made them a bit of an enigma to those in the art world. The superb exhibit of painted prints and its accompanying volume (Painted Prints:  The Revelation of Color, Susan Dackerman, Baltimore, 2003) has served to undergird the centrality and value – both historical and aesthetic – of the old master painted print.

This is one of a bound group of old master prints, including other woodcuts by Burgkmair, Hans Weiditz, Hans Schaufelein and others.  Many of these prints have the mark of the eminent collector Karl Edward von Liphart (Lugt 1651) verso. We are currently doing research on the collection so it is not on the market as yet.

Hendrik Bary (1640-1707),  Old Woman Emptying Pot Throught the Window,  etching and engraving, after the  Frans van Mieris (1635-1681)painting “Goore Besje” (Sleazy Bess), c. 1670. Reference: Hollstein 10, fourth state (of 5); Wurzbach 6, third state (of 4), after the addition of the inscription J. Tangenas exc. In very good condition, on old laid paper with a Foolscap watermark, small margins, 10 1/8 x 7 1/2 inches.

A very good impression.

Simon Schama’s discussion of Dutch paintings such as this one in his Embarrassment of Riches is on point; he notes: “To judge from their art there were no wrinkles quite like Dutch wrinkles.”  Of this print specifically he notes: “Frans van Mieris’s “Sleazy Bess” is despicable because, her honor lost, she throws her own filth on “respectable heads.” But her vileness is so visibly written in her “wrinkled hide” that the legend below the print orders her “away from our sight.”

Detail

Jean- Louis Forain (1852-1931), Similitudes, etching and drypoint, not signed [signed in the plate upper right], 1880, from the total edition of 545, on wove paper, in generally good condition (slight toning), the frontispiece for J.K. Huysman’s Croquis Parisiens, published by Henri Vaton, 5 5/8 x 3 3/4, the sheet 11 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches.

A fine impression.

Forain was an impressionist painter and printmaker; influenced by Daumier as well as Degas, he depicted law courts as well as lovely ladies.

Clifford Isaac Addams (1876-1942), Soho Alley, etching and drypoint, 1912, signed in pencil lower right and annotated “imp A” lower left [initialed A in the plate lower right and dated 1912 lower left]. In excellent condition, printed on cream wove paper with the partial watermark GM, with margins, 4 7/8 x 13, the sheet 9 x 16 3/8 inches.

A fine impression.

Addams was born in Woodbury New Jersey, near Philadelphia, and attended Drexel Institute there, won a Philadelphia Academy Cresson Traveling Scholarship, and entered Whistler’s Academy in Paris in 1899. There Whistler introduced Addams to his wife-to-be, Inez Bate; they were married in 1900, and lived in London – where he created Soho Alley –  from 1905 until 1914.

In the early 1900’s London’s Soho district housed working class Italian immigrants; this series of shops is similar to many of the Whistler shop-front prints such as T.A. Nash’s Fruit Shop.  The horizontal format is comparable to many Whistler prints (such as Long Venice) and pastels as well. The density of the etching work may be compared to the inking of Whistler’s Amsterdam prints.

Soho Alley was exhibited and discussed in the famous exhibit (at the Boston MFA and the Philadelphia MA)  and catalogue The Stamp of Whistler.

Detail

Detail

Honore Daumier (1808-1879), L’Ivrogne, lithograph, 1834 [with initials in the plate]. Reference: Daumier Register 189, second state (of 2), with letters verso but before/without text. As published in Charivari.  In generally good condition, trimmed rather closely and irregularly, edges browned, 10 7/8 x 8 3/4, the sheet 12 x 9 1/8 inches.

A good impression of this exceedingly rare print.

This is a Daumier print without an explanatory title, thus perhaps justifying my unabashedly quoting the various theories about the print as related by the Daumier Register: ” The title of this print might be: “The drunkard” or “Consequences of a quarrel”. There are different interpretations of this theme by various authors: Champfleury and Delteil are identifying the subject as a quarrel at the Barrière du Maine (today Place Bienvenue). Jean Laran simply finds the print “strange”, while Passeron finds some hidden political significance in it. He assumes that the missing, explanatory text had been suppressed by the censor. Provost suggests that this print shows the victim of an encounter with the police.

There exist only 3 known copies of the “sur blanc” edition. Only few prints originating from the Charivari with the text “au verso” can be found.”

Honore Daumier (1808-1879), L’Ivrogne, lithograph, 1834 [with initials in the plate]. Reference: Daumier Register 189, second state (of 2), with letters verso but before/without text. As published in Charivari.  In generally good condition, trimmed rather closely and irregularly, edges browned, 10 7/8 x 8 3/4, the sheet 12 x 9 1/8 inches.

A good impression of this exceedingly rare print.

This is a Daumier print without an explanatory title, thus perhaps justifying my unabashedly quoting the various theories about the print as related by the Daumier Register: ” The title of this print might be: “The drunkard” or “Consequences of a quarrel”. There are different interpretations of this theme by various authors: Champfleury and Delteil are identifying the subject as a quarrel at the Barrière du Maine (today Place Bienvenue). Jean Laran simply finds the print “strange”, while Passeron finds some hidden political significance in it. He assumes that the missing, explanatory text had been suppressed by the censor. Provost suggests that this print shows the victim of an encounter with the police.

There exist only 3 known copies of the “sur blanc” edition. Only few prints originating from the Charivari with the text “au verso” can be found.”

$700