Harris Schrank Fine Prints

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Upright Venice, 1880,  etching, signed with the butterfly on the tab, and inscribed “imp” [also signed with the butterfly in the plate]. Kennedy 205, second state (of 4); one of the Second Venice Set. In flawless condition, trimmed just outside of the platemark by the artist, with the tab for the butterfly, 10 x 7 inches.

A very fine impression, printed in brown ink on lightweight laid paper, printed by the artist and wiped with plate tone overall, and a very subtle layering of additional tone on the wharf in the foreground.

After 42 impressions were printed the plate was cancelled and turned over to the Dowdeswells on January 17 1887; the plate is now in the Art Institute of Chicago.

The first state of Upright Venice included only the top part of the composition; the bottom part was added about 6 months later in the second state. The third and fourth state changes were minor, just additions to the shadows of the gondola at the bottom.  Although the composition works splendidly from an aesthetic perspective, it actually depicts two very different views of Venice:  at the top the view of the city at a distance with sky above and water below, and at the bottom a closer view of waterfront activity.

Goya – Bien Tirada Esta

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), Bien Tirada Esta (It is nicely stretched), etching, burnished aquatint and burin, 1799. Reference: Harris 52, Delteil 54; plate 17 from Los Caprichos, The First Edition (of 12). In very good condition, with margins; 8 1/2 x 6 1/8, the sheet 12 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches.

A fine impression, printed in sepia on soft but strong laid paper, as specified by Harris for the First Edition impressions. Printed in two shades of aquatint, which vary only slightly (in the later impressions the aquatint shades contrast more as the paler aquatint wears faster).  The burin work at the bottom of the old lady’s skirt is visible but not overly pronounced (as is the case in the later impressions). The aquatint contrasts brilliantly with the highlights of the figures, as it should.

After the impressions of the First Edition (about 300) the Caprichos was printed posthumously in 11 additional editions, none of which are comparable in quality to the lifetime impressions.

Goya’s commentary on this print: “Oh! The bawdy old woman is no fool! She knows quite well what is wanted, and that the stockings must fit tightly.” Pierre Gassier’s French translation of this commentary (taken from the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid translation of Goya’s commentary) played on the French word “bas” meaning stocking or low), i.e., “A prostitute pulls on her stocking (bas) to make her legs more attractive, but there’s really no place lower (plus bas)  that she can fall.”  Whatever the wording, the general meaning is fairly clear, as is the visual contrast between the two women.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Danseuse Couchée (Dancer Reclining), lithograph, 1926-7, signed in pencil and numbered (17/130)  lower right.  Reference: Duthuit-Matisse, Matisse L’Oeuvre Grave 487. In generally good condition (evidence of prior hinge and other stains verso, unobtrusive dot or two recto),  the full sheet with deckle edges, 10 7/8 x 18, the sheet 13 x 19 3/4 inches. Printed on a pale cream wove Arches paper. From Dix Danseuses, issued by Galerie d’Art Contemporain, Paris, 1927, from the edition of 130, total printing 166.

A very good impression of this iconic Matisse image.

This is one of the several images of ballet dancers that Matisse drew with the lithographic crayon in the mid 1920’s.  He seemed to enjoy lithography because of the texture and richness of the medium, which would complement the sculptural qualities of the drawings he was creating at that period.  In  Danseuse Couchée he makes particular use of the medium in the focus on the dancer’s ballet dress – the contrasting design patterns on the bodice and skirt take on a particularly atmospheric quality in lithography.

George Bellows (1882-1925), Sunday 1897 (Sunday, Going to Church), lithograph, 1921, signed in pencil lower right [also initials in the plate]. Mason 73, only state, edition 54. In very good condition, printed on chine (with the slight creasing at margin edges, tiny nicks characteristic of this very thin paper). The full sheet with wide margins, 12 1/8 x 14 7/8, the sheet 14 x 17 7/8 inches.

A fine impression.

This is a view of Bellows as a teenager center, his father to his left saluting passersby, his mother at the right, and some others all crowded into the family buggy on the way to church; the time is 1897 and the place is Bellows’  native Columbus, Ohio.  This is Bellows’ only lithographic portrait of his father, who died in 1913, one of only a few portrayals of his midwestern roots; another is Sixteen East Gay Street, a neighborhood scene, and he also created a humorous composition of fraternity life in Initiation in the Frat, both 1921 lithographs.

Detail: Bellows in the center, his father at the left.

Francisco Goya (1746-1828),  Que Sacrificio! (What a Sacrifice!), etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint, 1799. Reference: Harris 49, Plate 14 from the First Edition of Los Caprichos (of 12); edition of about 300.  In very good condition (slight thinning spots inherent in paper verso, hints of light foxing esp. verso). The full sheet with full margins, 7 7/8 x 6, the sheet 12 5/8 x 8 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, printed in sepia on a hand made, soft but strong laid paper.

In this impression one can distinguish the aquatint, which was applied in only one pale tone, from white of the paper in the old man’s head and shoulders, and the head of the girl. In the later impressions (including of course the posthumous impressions of the succeeding eleven editions) these contrasts are lost.

Goya’s commentary: “That’s how things are! The fiance is not very attractive, but he is rich, and at the cost of the freedom of an unhappy girl, the security of a hungry family is acquired. It is the way of the world.”

Charles Meryon (1821-1868), La Pompe Notre Dame, etching and drypoint, 1852. References: Schneiderman 26, seventh state (of 10); Wright 15,  sixth (of 9). In very good condition, with margins, 6 3/4 x 10, the sheet 7 5/8 x 10 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, printed in a dark brown ink on greenish laid verdatre paper; this state is prior to the edition printed for L’Artiste.

Provenance:  Ministère de l’Intérieur,  Paris, with its blindstamp lower right (cf. Lugt 1816d). Jules Niel (cf. Lugt 1944), librarian at the Ministry of the Interior was one of the first collectors of Meryon prints, and was instrumental in having the Ministry purchase sets of the Eaux-fortes sur Paris. These sets were printed on a greenish laid paper, and consisted of fine early impressions of the Paris prints.

Also: Colnaghi (with their stock number recto).

The Notre Dame pumphouse was built around 1670 and was slated for elimination by the mid-1850’s; Baron Haussmann’s plans called for finding alternative sources of water beyond the Seine. But it was not demolished until 1858, giving Meryon time to draw and etch it. The view is from water level, and tends to exaggerate the towers of Notre Dame a bit (Meryon favored their inclusion in many of his prints, and in this case they really could be seen from the vantage point of his drawing).

Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1665), The Peasant Settling His Debt, etching, c 1646. Godefroy 42, Hollstein 42, Godefroy’s eighth state (of 12). In very good condition, with small/thread margins all around. 4 5/32 x 3 15/32; the sheet 4 1/4 x 3 17/32 inches.

Provenance: Rev. J Burleigh James, Knowbury Park, England (Lugt 1425), sale: London, April 23-30, 1877 [Sotheby’s]; Paul Davidsohn, Grunewald-Berlin (Lugt 654), sale: Leipzig, November 22-26, 1920 [C.G. Boerner]; Paul M. Robinow, Hamburg (Lugt 2237b), sale: Bern, November 7, 1946 [Gutekunst and Klipstein]; Dr. William Pelletier (not yet in Lugt), bought at Craddock & Barnard, London. November 6, 1969.

A fine impression. Pelletier described this impression (in the catalogue Adriaen Van Ostade, Etchings of Peasant Life in Holland’s Golden Age), in this way: “A flawless impression in black ink on ivory, laid paper, printed with tone and inky plate edges. In this state, there are new strokes in the shadow below the chimney,and the line above the woman’s belt is strengthened and forked. Godefroy described this state as ‘tres rare’. ” (Indeed, this is the earliest state of this print that Pelletier, who had a very comprehensive Van Ostade collection, owned. )  After state 8 the plate is re-worked and gives heavy, dull impressions; the posthumous Picart edition was taken from state 10.

The Peasant Settling His Debt is famed as a small gem, an etching which successfully addresses the difficult problem of portraying daylight suffused through a window.

Detail

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Prarie de Bazincourt, drypoint and aquatint, 1888, signed, titled, and inscribed “4e etat def no. 6”.  Reference: Delteil 79, fourth state (of 4). In very good condition (with the drying holes and associated nicks all around at margin edges, slight mat toning), the full sheet, 3 1/4 x 4 5/8, the sheet 7 x 8 3/4 inches.

A fine impression, delicately printed in a sepia/brown ink on cream laid paper.

Lifetime impressions of Prarie de Bazincourt are rare; only one proof of the first state is known (in which there were only 2 cows, and before aquatint); only one of the second state (with aquatint and 2 cows added); 2 or 3 of the third state (with the aquatint reduced); and 8 to 10 impressions of the fourth state, with a few lines added next to the willow tree at the right, and other lines on the ground toward the left. (There was an edition of 18, stamped and numbered, printed posthumously; these of course are mere ghosts of the lifetime impressions.)

In 1884 Pissarro moved his family to Eragny, a small village about 80 Km northwest of Paris. From the back of his house he had a fine view across a meadow to the neighboring village of Bazincourt – this is that view.  He may have worked on this etching plate outdoors, from a point in the field outside of the house; a painting (Vue of Bazincourt) in the Brooklyn Museum done the next year,  in 1889,  shows the same view but with a larger field.

Felix Buhot (1847-1898), Westminster Palace, etching, drypoint, roulette, 1884, signed in pencil and extensively annotated. Bourcard/Goodfriend 155, Bourcard’s third state (of 5); Goodfriend’s fourth state (of 7). In very good condition (minor thinning in spots verso), printed on a heavy cream/greenish wove paper with margins; 11 1/2 x 15 1/4, the sheet 13 1/2 x 17 1/4 inches.

Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Flower

A fine impression, printed in a brownish/black ink with plate tone.

The extensive pencil annotation by Buhot includes: upper left margin, the words “Le Palais de Westminster;” upper center Buhot has drawn in pencil his owl, similar to his red stamp (Lugt 977); upper right several indistinguishable words ending with the word “Londres”; bottom left “Tire a 25 epreuves”; bottom center “ep. no. 10 – FB”, bottom center just below the last note: another drawing of a small owl; bottom right “epreuve d’artiste” and then signed in full.

This state is before Buhot reduced the plate slightly, extensively re-worked the plate by adding shadowing and blackening figures,  and added the words “Westminster Palace London” to the print.

Westminster Palace is of course one of Buhot’s most complex and successful compositions.

Detail

Detail

Detail

Felix Buhot (1847-1898), Westminster Bridge, etching and drypoint, signed in pencil and inscribed as first state by the artist (1re etat), first state (of 6)(Bourcard/Goodfriend 156). On Japan paper. In very good condition, some very pale foxmarks, pale mat staining, with small margins, 11 5/8 x 15 3/4 inches, the sheet 12 3/4 x 16 3/4 inches.

A very fine impression of this very rare early state (still without any indication of the locomotive in the bottom left remarque, near the tunnel). In this early impression, created before the plate started to show wear, the etching and drypoint lines are quite vivid and delicate.

Provenance: Sold to present owner at Christie’s New York Sale 11/20/89.

Westminster Bridge is one of Buhot’s great masterpieces, created about 12 years after he began printmaking. No one (save, perhaps Degas) used such a range of complex printing techniques as Buhot.

In this first state impression of Westminster Bridge one can see both the finished design, and the beginnings of sketches – particularly in the remarques outside of the central borderline – which were to become further defined in the later states. For example, the outlines of the wooden staircase leading to the Thames are evident at the right. At the top, buildings of Parliament along the Thames are clear, as is the coupole of St. Paul’s; a ship is sketched in at the left. In the main body of the work the carriages are drawn in a rich drypoint with substantial burr, as are the buildings and Big Ben; several people walking near the foreground are only sketched in lightly at this stage.

Felix Buhot (1847-1898), Westminster Bridge (or Westminster Clock Tower), c. 1882, etching, drypoint, roulette, burnishing; with the Buhot red monogram stamp (Lugt 977) bottom margin. Reference: Bourcard/Goodfriend 156, Bourcard’s 5th or 6th state (of 6); Goodfriend’s 6th or 7th state (of 8). In very good condition, slight signs of light toning or prior hinging, the full sheet with full margins; 11 1/8 x 15 5/8, the sheet 14 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches.

Provenance:

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Flower

Collection of Alfred Barrion (with his stamp lower right corner recto, Lugt 76).  G. Alfred Barrion (1842-1903) was a noted collector, of whose collection Bourcard wrote:  “Ici toutes les épreuves sont de qualité absolument exceptionnelle, chose rare à rencontrer en province.”

A fine impression, printed in brownish/black ink on a greenish laid paper with a Fleur-de-Lys watermark.

This is of course one of Buhot’s great tour de force works, an extremely complex rendering of the entrance to the Westminster Bridge, with the view of the Westminster Clocktower in the distance. Surrounding the central composition are a walkway over the Thames at the right; a view of the Thames, St. Paul and various ships at night in full moon at the top; a dome and a man in silhouette carrying a torch, sketched in lightly at the left; and people walking toward a train station, an owl carrying a lantern, at the bottom margin. But the central composition, with a myriad of people and carriages (with their backs toward the viewer) remains the strong focus of the composition, one of Buhot’s most successful. In this impression the plate has been wiped only lightly, leaving a layering of plate tone.

Detail

Martin Lewis (1881-1962), Veterans, 1935, Crayon Lithograph with Tushe.  McCarron 113. Edition 8. Signed in pencil. Initialed in the stone, lower right. Inscribed For Elizabeth, in the bottom left margin.

Image size 9 13/16 x 13 7/16 inches (249 x 341 mm); sheet size 13 3/4 x 17 1/2 inches (349 x 445 mm).

A fine impression, on cream wove paper, with wide margins (1 7/8 to 2 1/4 inches), in excellent condition.

Veterans is rare;  McCarron was aware of only 8 impressions printed, including a trial proof, which were delivered to Kennedy Galleries in 1935. In 1959 Lewis noted, in a letter to his daughter in law Patricia Lewis in response to a woman’s asking for an impression: “If by chance I should find another print among those I have I will let you know. But I have no record of one and I do know that I had not printed more than one or two, at most many years ago and more than likely only one.”  Veterans was Lewis’s first known lithograph.

This impression is inscribed to Elizabeth; most probably this is Elizabeth Ray Lewis, a well known (at the time) Washington D.C. artist.

Collections: CU, DIA, NYPL.

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), Dreimastiges Schiff mit Stern (Three-Masted Ship with Star), woodcut, c. 1928,  Prasse W263, no edition made,  only state. Signed in pencil and numbered 2806 (the artist’s inventory number) in the artist’s hand, beneath the signature. Signed with the artist’s emblem in pencil, bottom left sheet corner [also estate stamped and numbered W 823 in pencil, in the lower right sheet corner[.

Image size 2 3/8 x 2 1/2 inches (60 x 64 mm); sheet size 5 3/8 x 6 1/2 inches (143 x 165 mm).

A fine, black impression of this very rare woodcut, on oatmeal-tan carbon-copy paper, with full margins (1 to 2 inches). The paper lightly sun-bleached within the original mat opening; otherwise in excellent condition.

This is one of only four known proofs.

Collection: Pasadena

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), Angler und Schiffe (Anglers and Ships), woodcut, 1916, Prasse W135, second state (of 2), edition 30 (1941), one of only several proofs before the published edition. Signed and dated in pencil. Signed with the artist’s emblem in pencil, bottom left sheet corner.

Image size 3 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches (83 x 114 mm); sheet size 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches (140 x 216 mm).

A fine, black rare proof impression, on oatmeal-tan carbon-copy paper, with full margins (3/4 to 2 1/4 inches). The paper lightly sun-bleached within the original mat opening; a small loss in the top right sheet corner well away from the image (see illustration); otherwise in excellent condition.

Only one proof is known of a first state impression, on carbon-copy paper; the composition was not changed for the second state but the block was cleaned of “excess wood” (which had created a messy dotted effect) according to Prasse.

Estate stamped and numbered W 701 in pencil, in the lower right sheet corner. Published edition: No.8 of the porfolio, Ten Woodcuts by Lyonel Feininger, 1941. Used as a letterhead.

Collections: Cincinnati CiPL; Cleveland CMA (II, 1941 edition); New York MOMA (II, 1941 edition); Philadelphia PAFA (II, 1941 edition).