Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Daumier - Affairs of the Orient

Honore Daumier (1808-1879), Je vous disais tout à l’heure que je ne serais pas fâché que l’affaire d’Orient s’arrangeât. Lithograph, 1853, published in Le Charivari in 1853. A newsprint impression, with the lettering from Le Charivari verso. Reference: Daumier Register, second state (of three), before the changes made for publication in LE CHARIVARI BELGE. Plate number 28 from the series ACTUALITÉS.

In general Daumier was opposed to France’s using military force against its neighbors. The Daumier Register points out that in Daumier’s prints Mars is the personification of war threats. In this print, on the eve of the Crimean War (1854-6), his characters talk of the impending conflict, one saying that after he drank Mars beer he found himself hoping for war.

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French, British, and Ottoman Empires, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the  declining Ottoman Empire.

Translation from the Daumier Register: Original Text:
– Je vous disais tout à l’heure que je ne serais pas fâché que l’affaire d’Orient s’arrangeât.
– Oui, et bien?
– Eh bien c’est drôle, mais depuis que j’ai bu cette bière de Mars je désirerais que nous eussions la guerre.

Translation:
– I was saying to you not long ago that I would not be angered if the affairs of the Orient would arrange themselves.
– Yes, and?
– It’s strange, but after I drank this March beer (note: Mars beer) I was hoping for war.

$125

Honore Daumier - A Walk in the Snow

Honore Daumier (1808-1879), Flanerie par le dégel (A Walk in the Snow), , lithograph, 1841, published in LA CARICATURE (Deuxième Publication) in 1841, then in an album ÉMOTIONS PARISIENNES in 1842.  Daumier Register 724, fourth state (of four). Plate number 40 from the series ÉMOTIONS PARISIENNES.  With the initials HD lower left. A  sur blanc impression. In very good condition, with margins, 11 1/2 x 8, the sheet 12 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, with rich black inking and strong contrasts. The sur blanc impressions were made for collectors, in limited numbers (often less than 100); the wove paper is of a higher quality than the newsprint in which the lithographs ordinarily appeared, and there is no lettering verso (which shows through in the newsprint impressions).

Here is the translation of the lettering, from the Daumier Register:

Original Text:
Flanerie par le dégel.
– Po..po..polisson !
– De quoi !.. de quoi !.. puisque j’vous dis que j’visais Gugusse… est y embêtant c’grand là !
– J’irai me plaindre à tes Pa..pa..parents… et au Co.. co.. commissaire !.. et nous verrons voir !
– Ah ! tu veux voir toi !… attends j’te va boucher l’autre fenêtre !

Translation:
A stroll in the thaw.
– Ra..ra…rascal!
– Not at all, since I am telling you that I aimed at my friend Gugusse.
– I will complain with your pa..pa..parents and the po..po..police and we will see then…
– Oh, you want to see!… well, just you wait and I will punch you in your other eye as well!

$200

Daumier - A Man Whose Affairs Have Gone Awry

Honore Daumier (1808-1879), Un Monsieur au dessous de ses affaires, lithograph, 1841, published in LA CARICATURE (Deuxième Publication) in 1842, Daumier Register 718, fourth state (of five), before the name of Aubert is removed.  Plate number 34 from the series ÉMOTIONS PARISIENNES.  With the initials HD lower left. A  sur blanc impression. In good condition, a slight tear right margin expertly repaired, slight evidence of fox marks, with margins, 11 x 7 3/4, the sheet 13 x 9 7/8 inches.

A fine impression of this famous image. Un Monsieur was the cover image of the Daumier Centenary Tribute published by Pratt Graphics Center, in part surely because it is assumed that Daumier portrayed himself in this portrait.

Interestingly, the apparent crack in the stone, or possibly an inking flaw to the left of the figure was present in the print even in the first state before letters.

Here is what the wonderful Daumier Register  (we’re all indebted to Lilian and Dieter Noack for this) tells us about this print:

According to old reports, Daumier borrowed 110 Francs on July 28 from Monsieur Braconneau. On February 18, 1842 he repaid 50 francs. Consequently part of his furniture was seized and auctioned off on April 13, 1842. Provost suggests that Daumier might have drawn himself in this print.

“Mont-de-Piété” is an expression still used in today’s French (it is also the name of a street in Paris) meaning “Pawnbroker”.

ABOUT THE MONT-DE-PIÉTÉ. “The first Mont-de-Piété was created in Italy in 1462 by religious institutions. It was created in France a first time in 1637 – but it closed just for 7 years after the opening – then it re-opened in 1777, in Le Marais – a central district of Paris. The institution still exists today, though it changed its name in 1918 to adopt the new name of Crédit Municipal de Paris. The location has remained the same for 234 years.” (Agnès Colas des Francs, 2011)

“A mount of piety was an institutional pawnbroker run as a charity in Europe from the later Middle Ages times to the 20th century, more often referred to in English by the relevant local term, such as monte di pietà (Italian), mont de piété (French), or monte de piedad (Spanish). Similar institutions were established in the colonies of Catholic countries; the Mexican Nacional Monte de Piedad is still in operation.”

$350

Adriaen Van Ostade - The Family

Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685), The Family, etching and drypoint, c. 1647. References: Godefry 46, third state (of 7). In excellent condition, trimmed on or to the borderline at the top and sides, a bit more space below, on old laid paper without watermark, 6 15/16 x 6 1/16 inches.

Provenance: Jiles Boon (1916-2009); E.V. Rouir, Belgium (Lugt 2156a, with his stamp verso)

A very fine impression of this rare early state (Godefry designates the third states as RR, “très rare.”)

In the third state Van Ostade has re-worked the border lines with a burin, but the lower right corner of the cleaver suspended on the wall over the coffeepot, to the right of where the man is standing, has yet to be completed; this is also before the vertical crosshatching on the floor in the lower left corner, which is done in the still-rare fourth state.

The Family is one of Van Ostade’s masterpieces, called by Hamerton perhaps his most perfect etching, and by Wedmore among the “chefs d’oeuvre” of the art of etching. The composition is one of his most successful, with the focus on the family (taking up only about a quarter of the space), each of the family members is occupied – the father cutting bread, the mother feeding an infant, the younger boy holding a soup bowl and the older one playing with the dog – a splendid, positive picture of 17th Century Dutch peasant life.

Zorn – Omnibus

Anders Zorn ((1860-1920), Omnibus, etching, 1892, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Delteil 71, Asplund 72, Hjert/Hjert 183, second state (of 3).  One of only a few impressions of the second state, edition 75. In excellent condition, the full sheet, 10 3/4 x 7 3/4, the sheet 17 1/4 x 12 3/8 inches.

A fine striking impression of this early rare state, before the several lines added to the left of the face of the woman at the upper left.

Zorn’s composition of people on the omnibus is a variation on a theme popularized by many artists, including Mary Cassatt’s color drypoint Interior of a Tramway done a short time earlier (1891); Zorn varies the composition by taking a diagonal stance, and cropping the figure in the foreground; he uses the radical patterning of etching strokes to portray movement and light. He also portrays himself, in the top hat in the upper left.

$11,000