Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Martin Lewis (1881-1962), Spring Night, Greenwich Village– – 1930, Drypoint and Sand Ground.

McCarron 85. Edition 92. Signed in pencil. Titled in the artist’s hand, in pencil, in the bottom left sheet corner, recto. Signed in the plate, lower right.

Image size 9 7/8 x 12 3/8 inches (251 x 315 mm); sheet size 13 3/8 x 16 inches (340 x 406 mm).

A superb, richly inked, atmospheric impression, with overall velvety burr, on cream wove paper; full margins (1 3/4 to 1 7/8 inches). Glue remains from the original hinges on the top sheet edge; otherwise in excellent condition.

At the time Lewis made Spring Night, Greenwich Village he lived at 111 Bedford Street (which may be the street depicted in the print), in the Village, and was immersed in the intellectual and artistic life of the neighborhood. His exhibit at Kennedy Galleries in 1929 had been a great success, and he discontinued the commercial art work he had been doing. But of course the Great Depression changed everything; Lewis and his wife gave up their house in the Village and moved to Sandy Hook, Connecticut.  He set up a short-lived printmaking school in the Village in 1934 (with Armin Landeck and the printmaker George Miller), and moved back to the Village in 1936.

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), La Fille au Litre (Grande Planche), engraving, 1921, signed in pencil lower left and inscribed “ep d’art”. Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 217, third state (of 3), the trial proof (or one of the five impressions “hors-tirage”, the edition was 65. In excellent condition, remains of prior hinging verso, printed on a cream wove paper with full margins, 8 3/8 x 7 1/8, the sheet 12 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches.

A fine impression.

Perhaps Laboureur’s most famous engraved portrait,  made in his incomparable cubist manner, and a stunning example of his use of engraving within his mature cubism phase.  He was apparently inspired by a photograph by Eugene Atget (Md. de vin rue Boyer 262, 1908).

$3500

Detail

First state with extensive drawing in pencil

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Tea-Room Du Front Anglais, etching and engraving, 1919-1923.  Reference: Sylvain Laboureur 189. Five sheets: the drawing for the print, an impression of the first state (of 2), an impression of the first state extensively drawn over in pencil in preparation for the second state, an impression of the final state, and an impression of the canceled plate.

The drawing: in pen and pencil, signed, titled and dated, with margins, 8 3/8 x 7 15/16 inches, the sheet 11 1/4 x 10 inches, on a thin tan wove tracing paper, in generally good condition, with tack holes in margins, with the Henri Petiet stamp verso (cf. Lugt 2021a). The drawing is sketched in pencil, then completed in pen.

The first state: signed in pencil and numbered; an impression with oily printing which gives many lines a stained or rusted look, on thin wove with margins, 8 7/8 x 8 3/8, the sheet 12 1/2 x 93/4 inches, ex Collection Petiet (with his stamp verso)

The first state as worked over in pencil in fantastic detail. Laboureur here draws in the extensive shadowing and linear development in preparation for the next state, giving the viewer an unusual insight into the workings of Laboureur’s printmaking genius.  On Van Gelder Zonen cream wove, in good condition, with margins, 9 x 8 1/2, the sheet 12 x 11 1/4 inches.

The second and final state – a fine impression in very good condition, on cream wove paper, with full margins (8 7/8 x 8 1/4, the sheet 13 1/4 x 10 1/4; signed left and numbered lower right in pencil (3/20), from the small final edition of 20.

An impression of the canceled plate, in good condition, ex Collection Petiet (with his stamp verso)

Detail of state 1 with pencil additions

The drawing for Tea Room Du Front Anglais

Detail from the drawing of Tea-Room Du Front Anglais

Seymour Haden (1818-1910), Shere Mill Pond II (Large Plate), etching and drypoint, 1860, signed in pencil lower right [also signed in the plate lower right]. Schneiderman 37, sixth state (of 9). In good condition (skillfully repaired hole in the sky upper left) with margins, on a cream/ivory laid paper,  7 x 13 1/2, the sheet 8 1/8 x 13 3/4 inches.

A very good impression, with rich burr in the reeds toward the right.

Provenance: Frederick Keppel and Co., New York, NY.

Illustrated: Guichard, British Etchers, 1850-1940; Keppel, The Golden Age of Engraving; Print Collector’s Quarterly 1 (1911): 1; Guichard, British Etchers, 1850-1940.

Keppel appended to his label the following quotation of not-so-faint praise from P.G. Hamerton, Etching and Etchers, p. 305: “With the single exception of one plate by Claude [Lorrain], this is the finest etching of a landscape subject that has ever been executed in the world.”  Praise a bit too lavish to be sure, but Shere Mill Pond II was one of the early highlights of the British Etching Revival.

Detail

John Sloan (1871-1951), Arch Conspirators, etching, 1917. Morse 183, second state (of 2). Edition 100 (and in this rare instance, that’s how many impressions of the edition were printed). Signed, titled and annotated 100 proofs in pencil. [Signed and dated in the plate, lower left]. In excellent condition. Image size 4 1/4 x 5 7/8 inches (108 x 149 mm); sheet size 8 1/8 x 10 7/8 inches (206 x 276 mm).

A fine, rich impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 5/8 to 2 5/8 inches); Printed by Ernest Roth.

“A mid-winter party on the roof of Washington Square Arch. Among those present: Marcel Duchamp, Charles Ellis (actor), John Sloan, and Gertrude Drick (poet), instigator of the affair. A document was drawn up to establish the secession of Greenwich Village from the United States…. The door of the Arch stairway has since been kept locked.” Another article about the incident, “Arch Conspirators” by Margaret Christie (New York Tribune, Dec. 30, 1923), tells essentially the same story. It quotes Sloan at length in the author’s words and reproduces the 1st state of this etching. –Morse, p. 209

$3000

Pieter Breughel the Elder (1525-1569), Temperance, engraving, c. 1560, engraved by Philips Galle, one of the Seven Virtues. References: Hollstein 138, Bastelaer 138, LeBeer 133, New Hollstein 315, first state (of 2), before the correction in the text changing the last i of the word “tenacitati” to an “e”. [Inscribed Bruegel lower right, and with the word “Temperantia on the hem of the woman’s dress, in the plate] In very good condition, a tiny rust mark upper left, trimmed at the plate mark and outside of the borderline all around, 8 3/4 x 11 3/8 inches.

A fine impression, printed in an olive/black ink on old laid paper.

Breughel’s pen and ink drawing for Temperance is in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

The translation of the Latin text: “We must look to it that, in the devotion to sensual pleasures, we do not become wasteful and luxuriant, but also that we do not, because of miserly greed, live in filth an ignorance.”

In contrast to the extreme behaviors found in some of Breughel’s compositions, everyone’s activities here are quite measured, and in fact many of them are literally measuring things: men measure the height of a pillar as well as the size of the earth and the distance between stars. In the lower right rather adult looking students study the alphabet, and an orchestra and chorus play diligently at the left. Temperantia herself seems to be holding various measuring devices while balancing a clock on her head.

Detail

Detail

Detail

Auguste Brouet (1872-1941), L’Antiquaire (The Antiquarian), etching and drypoint, c. 1905, signed in pencil lower right and numbered lower left. Reference: Geffroy/Boutitie 69, first state (of 2); G/B 68, second state (of 3). In very good condition, with margins (a deckle edge on the bottom), 3 7/16 x 5 5/16, the sheet 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, printed on a cream laid paper.

In the initial state our antiquarian is shown inside a shop, with various antiques hanging outside the shop. In this state the plate is reduced a bit – a print container is added just outside of the entryway, and the antiques hanging at the left are burnished out. The antiquarian has changed his profession; he now focuses on prints. In the third state the plate is reduced again, and in the blank space the name and address of a publisher, Frederick Gregoire, is added.

The catalogue raisonne for Brouet listed the first state separately, as G/B 68; G/B 69, which is shown as having two states,  is actually the second and third states of G/B 68.

Brouet was a highly regarded etcher at beginning of the 19th Century and thereafter; he studied with Gustave Moreau and Auguste Delatre in his early years, and later worked with Degas and Whistler.  But of course it’s clear that Rembrandt etchings were central to his aesthetic approach.

Detail

Auguste Brouet (1872-1941), L’Antiquaire (The Antiquarian), etching and drypoint, c. 1905, signed in pencil lower right and numbered lower left. Reference: Geffroy/Boutitie 69, first state (of 2); G/B 68, second state (of 3). In very good condition, with margins (a deckle edge on the bottom), 3 7/16 x 5 5/16, the sheet 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, printed on a cream laid paper.

In the initial state our antiquarian is shown inside a shop, with various antiques hanging outside the shop. In this state the plate is reduced a bit – a print container is added just outside of the entryway, and the antiques hanging at the left are burnished out. The antiquarian has changed his profession; he now focuses on prints. In the third state the plate is reduced again, and in the blank space the name and address of a publisher, Frederick Gregoire, is added.

The catalogue raisonne for Brouet listed the first state separately, as G/B 68; G/B 69, which is shown as having two states,  is actually the second and third states of G/B 68.

Brouet was a highly regarded etcher at beginning of the 19th Century and thereafter; he studied with Gustave Moreau and Auguste Delatre in his early years, and later worked with Degas and Whistler.  But of course it’s clear that Rembrandt etchings were central to his aesthetic approach.

Detail

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Effet de Pluie (Rain Effect), 1879, etching and aquatint, signed in pencil lower right and inscribed 3e etat – no 3, and titled lower left margins. Reference: Delteil 24, sixth state (of 6). In very good condition, printed on an old cream laid paper (partial initials watermark), the full sheet, 6 3/8 x 8 3/8, the sheet 9 1/2 x 12 5/8 inches.

A very fine impression, printed with a light veil of plate tone in a brownish/black ink.

Effet de Pluie in the first state evidences only shadowy, murky shapes in aquatint only; as Pissarro worked on the plate he added lines in drypoint, converting these inchoate shapes into a haystack, trees, two peasants, and a field, thus establishing the interaction between areas of light and dark.  He added the oblique lines indicating rain in the fifth state, and in the sixth state added the white rain lines against the dark aquatint of the peasants.

Effet de Pluie represents a high point of impressionist printmaking, a culmination of Pissarro’s collaboration with Degas in creating various new effects through inventive techniques.

Only 8-10 proofs are known of the sixth state, and about the same number in total of the prior states.

Detail

Felix Buhot (1847-1898),  L’Hiver a Paris ou La Neige a Paris, 1879,  etching, aquatint, drypoint, roulette. [signed and dated in the plate Felix Buhot Paris 1879].  Reference: Bourcard/Goodfriend 5th state (of 9). In excellent condition, on a cream laid Van Gelder Zonen paper (with the watermark), the full sheet, 9 3/8 x 13 5/8, the sheet 14 7/8 x 19 1/4 inches.

A fine impression; a published state before additional work was done primarily involving the dogs in the foreground.

Bourcard’s description of the states for this print are clarified by Goodfriend, who describes 9 states (Bourcard had only 5). Goodfriend notes that in the fourth state the aquatint in the lower skating scene and elsewhere is solid, but in the fifth state it is streaked; it is streaked in this impression. In addition the shading lines in the buildings at the top are extended beyond the borderline in this state.

Detail

Detail

Detail

Felix Buhot (1847-1898),  L’Hiver a Paris ou La Neige a Paris, 1879,  etching, aquatint, drypoint, roulette. [signed and dated in the plate Felix Buhot Paris 1879].  Reference: Bourcard/Goodfriend 5th state (of 9). In excellent condition, on a cream laid Van Gelder Zonen paper (with the watermark), the full sheet, 9 3/8 x 13 5/8, the sheet 14 7/8 x 19 1/4 inches.

A fine impression; a published state before additional work was done primarily involving the dogs in the foreground.

Bourcard’s description of the states for this print are clarified by Goodfriend, who describes 9 states (Bourcard had only 5). Goodfriend notes that in the fourth state the aquatint in the lower skating scene and elsewhere is solid, but in the fifth state it is streaked; it is streaked in this impression. In addition the shading lines in the buildings at the top are extended beyond the borderline in this state.

Detail

Detail

Detail

James Whistler (1834-1903), Nocturne: Palaces, etching and drypoint with plate tone, 1879-80, signed with the butterfly on the tab and inscribed “imp.” Reference: Glasgow 200, Kennedy 202, seventh state (of 9). From the Twenty-Six Etchings or the Second Venice Set. In very good condition, on laid paper (trimmed by the artist to the platemark except for the tab), 11 3/4 x 7 7/8 inches.

A very fine atmospheric impression, printed in brown ink, carefully wiped to darken the water in the canal in the foreground and the sky toward the top.

In this state a row of  fine lines above the roof at the left and along the border of the house and canal at the left have been burnished, thus enhancing the contrast between the roof and sky, and house and canal; the butterfly has yet to be added to the plate.

Each impression of Nocturne: Palaces is different from the others, in effect a monotype, expressing different times of night or day, temperatures, effects of light. The lamp lighting the composition from within (a device borrowed from Rembrandt and also used in his Street at Saverne of 1858) is in this impression barely visible; in other impressions it is very bright. This impression is in some ways  comparable to an impression (also of the seventh state) at the Art Gallery of Ontario used as both the front and back cover illustrations for Katherine A. Lochnan’s book The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler, although of course there are still substantial differences in the wiping of the plate tone. Indeed, differences in states for this print are slight,  while differences in the wiping of the plate from one impression to another are vast.

Margaret MacDonald in her classic Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice amplifies:  “Nocturne: Palaces was a daring plate: difficult to print, relying heavily on the quality of the ephemeral drypoint lines…in the best impressions it is the inking of the plate that coordinates and unifies the widely dispersed lines of shading. The linear pattern of marks is unusual and the inking makes each print unique.”

POR

James McBey (1883-1959), Night in Ely Cathedral, etching and drypoint, 1915, signed in pen lower right and numbered lower left margins (XXXIII). Reference: Hardie 161, eighth state (of 8), from the edition of 76. In very good condition, with margins (cut irregularly at left edge), on a laid paper, 11 5/8 x 8, the sheet 13 1/4 x 9 7/8 inches.

A fine impression.

The composition of Night in Ely Cathedral appears to have been substantially completed in the first state, but McBey made successive alterations with burnishing, drypoint work, sharpening and clarifying certain elements such as the figure of the sacristan at the left, and the light from the gas jet.

Hardie describes the composition thus: The west porch of Ely Cathedral from the nave. The upper part and the whole of the west window are in deep shadow. A gas jet burns at the bottom of the pillars to the left. A sacristan, wearing a scull cap, is in the front.

Malcolm Salaman wrote that after completing the etching Isle of Ely ” McBey yielded to an entirely new and mystic inspiration, and compassed one of his most beautiful and spiritual  efforts, Night in Ely Cathedral. The solemn mystery of the ancient fane by night, with the ages haunting its shadows, seems to have appealed the the depths of McBey’s nature, so that he brought his magic gifts of expression with reverend emotion to the interpretation, just as the religious builders devoted their work on the sacred edifice long, long ago. This masterly plate, with its wonder of peace, was McBey’s last before he was sent to France on war service at the beginning of 1916. “

Jacques Villon (1875-1963), Les Vingt Ans Fier (The Wild Twenty Years), etching and drypoint, 1931, signed in pencil lower right and annotated “e p d’artiste 10/0 (also signed in the plate). Ginestet and Pouillon 337, third state (of 3), a proof impression outside of the edition of 50. In very good condition, slight discoloration at bottom and top margin edges, printed with full margins on a cream BFK Rives wove paper, with deckle edges, 5 7/8 x 8 3/8, the sheet 9 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches.

A fine impression.

Les Vingt Ans Fier is based on lines from a poem by Francis Vielé-Griffin  (published in a volume called La Partenza, 1899), in which the author takes leave of his youth, muses on his past,  moves through a period of despair and hints of future joys.