Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Laboureur - L'ile Desert, 1914

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), L’ile Desert, etching, 1914, signed in pencil lower left and numbered lower right (33/35). Reference: Laboureur 135, only state, from the edition of 35. In very good condition, the full sheet, printed on cream wove Van Gelder Zonen paper (with the full watermark), 11 5/8 x 13 5/8, the sheet 17 1/2 x 22 inches.

Provenance: Marcel Lecompte, Paris, with his pencil marking recto.

A fine impression of this large cubist composition, printed in a dark brownish/black ink on a cream white wove paper.

L’ile Desert was based on a visit Laboureur made to Nova Scotia (La Nouvelle-Écosse).

Laboureur - L'Amazon

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), L’Amazon, etching on zinc, 1913, signed in pencil and inscribed to R. Bonfils, dated, and numbered 15/25. Reference: Laboureur 120, only state, from the edition of 25. In very good condition (crease in right margin), the full sheet, 7 3/4 x 5 3/4, the sheet 9 5/8 x 7 3/4 inches.

Provenance: Marcel Lecompte; also (presumably) the artist Robert Bonfils to whom the print is inscribed.

A fine impression of this delicately printed composition, with a subtle veil of plate tone.

The subject is the artist’s sister in front of the family home in Nantes.

The print is inscribed by Laboureur to the artist Robert Bonfils (1886-1972); Bonfils, slightly younger than Laboureur, eventually became a well known printmaker in his own right.  Bonfils was a prolific artist and illustrator, famed for his art deco style, and his most successful work typically manifests the strong influence of Laboureur.

Whistler – Nocturne Furnace

James A.M. Whistler (1834-1903), Nocturne: Furnaces, etching and drypoint, 1879-80, signed with the butterfly on the tab and inscribed “imp”. References: Kennedy 213, Glasgow 208, eleventh state (of 12), published in the Second Venice Set. In generally good condition (repaired thin spots upper right and a tiny spot lower right), trimmed by the artist on the platemark except for the tab, 6 5/8 x 9 1/8 inches.

A fine impression, printed in a dark brown/black ink on ivory laid paper. This impression has been meticulously wiped by the artist, generally from the center outward thus illuminating the central furnace and figure; the wiping lines lend a luminous quality to the impression.  The entire right quadrant is left rather dark, as is the area surrounding the furnace, and the areas below the furnace and to the upper left are lighter and shadowy.

In this impression the man within the furnace area holding the tool is clearly illuminated, and we can still see the wooden ceiling of the furnace room. A gondola is in the canal at the left, with a shadow on the water; also shadows from the wall fall on the canal. The figure in the window at the upper left is also rather clearly detailed. The myriad of etching and drypoint lines, together with the heavy layering of plate tone, give the composition a somber atmospheric quality.

$12,000

Jean-Emile Laboureur - Bar en Pennsylvanie

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Bar en Pennsylvanie, etching, 1914. Signed in pencil lower left and numbered 21/35 lower right [also signed and dated lower in the plate lower left]. Printed in a dark brownish/black ink on cream laid MBM paper (with the watermark). Reference: Laboureur 134, only state, from the edition of 35. In very good condition, the full sheet (slight soiling in margin edge upper left, small tear margin edge bottom, remains of prior hinging verso). 8 1/4 x 8 5/8, the sheet 13 x 11 inches.

A fine impression of this quintessential cubist print.

In the famed exhibit The Cubist Print (1981) Burr Wallen wrote of Bar en Pennsylvanie “The jaunty cut of the jacket worn by the central figure in the Bar en Pennsylvanie makes an equally whimsical takeoff on Villon’s faceted hatching, while the dapper swing curl of the young bartender pokes fun at eccentricities of Cubist hairstyle. The egg-shaped heads articulated by a single line for the nose deftly allude to simplification of form by Brancusi. In places they are left entirely blank.”

Francis Seymour Haden (16 September 1818 – 1 June 1910), Shere Mill Pond, No. II, etching and drypoint, 1860, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Schneiderman 37, sixth state(of 9). Published in Etudes a L’eau-forte.  In adequate condition (repaired hole in sky upper left), the full sheet, 7 x 13 1/8, the sheet 8 1/8 x 13 3/4 inches.

A very good impression, with much burr from the drypoint work, on laid paper.

Shere Mill Pond was considered one of the early high marks of the British Etching Revival movement. Malcolm Salaman wrote of this print in 1923:

"But it was in 1860...that the Shere Mill Pond was done, that plate which, with its tenderly expressive charm
of a still pool reflecting all its sheltering greenery under the calmest of summer skies, and scarcely disturbed even by the
sudden flutter of a water-fowl, Hamerton was tempted to describe as "with the single exception of one plate by Claude (Le Bouvier),
the finest etching of a landscape subject that has ever been executed in the world "—praise that I agree with Wedmore in
regarding as extravagant."

(We might agree today that although this praise is indeed extravagant, Shere Mill Pond, No. II does have lasting charm.)