Harris Schrank Fine Prints

John Sloan (1871-1951), Anshutz on Anatomy, etching, 1912, signed titled and inscribed “100 proofs” by the artist, and also signed “Ernest Roth imp” by the printer. Reference: Morse 155, eighth state (of 8), from the edition of 80. In very good condition, the full sheet, printed in dark brown ink on a brown/tan wove paper, 7 1/2 x 9, the sheet 11 1/8 x 12 3/4 inches.

A fine impression.

Sloan wrote of this print: “Tom Anshutz, our old teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy, gave anatomical demonstrations of great value to art students. Modelling the muscles in clay, he would then fix them in place on the skeleton. Those present in this etched record of a talk in Henri’s New York class include: Robert and Linda Henri, George Bellows, Walter Pach, Rockwell Kent, John and Dolly Sloan.”

John Sloan can be seen at the upper right edge; George Bellows the second face left of Sloan; Henri is the older man below them and his wife Linda the woman at the lower right.  Rockwell Kent noted that “We used to paint all over the walls of the studio, and Sloan shows some of those paintings in his etching. The one bearing the initals GB is probably someone’s caricature of Bellows at that time. The one with “Glen  O” under is definitely Glen O. Coleman.”

The composition is remindful of Rembrandt’s Petite Tombe, another print depicting people listening (or supposed to be listening) – the composition as well as the subject matter have parallels. And of course this print falls into the great tradition of art illustrating anatomy lessons (again Rembrandt comes to mind, as well as Thomas Eakins, who was a great friend of Anshutz).

This print was exhibited at the famous Armory Show in New York, February, 1913.

Pissarro - Paysanne Donnant a Manger a un Enfant

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Paysanne Donnant a Manger a un Enfant, etching on zinc, 1874, signed in pencil lower right and inscribed lower left “No 1 – 1er  etat”, also titled in pencil with the added annotation “zinc”. Reference: Delteil 12, first state (of 4). In excellent condition, 4 3/4 x 4 5/8, the sheet 10 3/4 x 7 inches.

Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, NY [and with customs stamps verso]

A fine clear impression, printed in brown ink on cream wove paper, with plate tone.

Pissarro pulled 8 or 9 impressions in this first state, in 1874; 15 years later (1889)  he added several layers of aquatint, in an additional 3 states, but only made a few impressions of each of these states. In all, there are only about 12 or 13 impressions of this print known.

Steinlen - Femme de Chagrin

Theophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), Femme de Chagrin, 1894, lithograph, signed in pencil lower right [also signed in the plate lower center]. Reference: Crauzat 454, first state (of two), with color added and before lettering except for the title. In very good condition apart from oil stains at edges (away from matrix), with margins, 10 3/4 x 7 1/2, the sheet 12 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches.

A fine impression with printed in rich black ink with fresh color added (au patron).

This is the first state for a music cover, a children’s lullaby (berceuse) with the title shown but before the words in the sky and additional lettering showing the names of the composer (Desire Dihau),  lyricist (Leon Durocher) and publisher (G. Ondet).

The first state consisted of 100 proofs according to Crauzat: 20 on Japon,  40 on Chine, and the remainder on velin such as this impression; lettering was added in the second state. Coloring was done “au patron”, i.e., according to a pattern, or stenciled (the French patron can mean pattern, although this is not the first meaning of the term, i.e., see below).

Tim Hanford, Steinlen expert and compiler of the fine Steinlen website, has a different interpretation of the term “au patron,”, which probably should be given more credibility than mine. He wrote me, and I quote: “I just saw this great Steinlen piece on your site.  In your description, you write, “Coloring was done ‘au patron’, i.e., according to a pattern, or stenciled.”  I don’t think that’s the correct translation.  I have always thought that when Crauzat included this annotation, he meant that proofs were colored at the request of a customer (i.e., patron).  This explains why some first state proofs were left in their original black and white while others were colored.”

Durer - Christ in Limbo

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Christ in Limbo (Harrowing of Hell), woodcut, 1510, Bartsch 14, an impression just after the 1511 edition of The Large Passion, 15 5/8 x 11 ¼ inches, on old laid paper with a Crest of Augsburg related watermark (cf. Meder 180, Briquet 2110, dated c. 1486-1583; also similar to Augsburg arms, Meder 177). In excellent condition, with borders all around, usual horizontal printer’s crease across center.

An exceptionally well printed impression of this iconic image.

The legend can be found in the Apocryphal text, the Gospel of Nicodemus. After his Resurrection Jesus descended into Hell and led the just, the patriarchs, the prophets of the Old Testament and Adam and Eve, into the light. Later a clarity was introduced that all of them were not in Hell, but in the bordering region, Limbo (from the Latin word limbus, a hem); it was taught that because they lived and died before the Christ’s self-sacrifice for peoples redemption, they were put in the lower place until such time when Jesus could liberate them.  The story was later retold in the Golden Legend.

The Christ in Limbo may be the first (of four) of Durer’s woodcuts executed in 1510 to complete the Large Passion series.  The earlier 7 prints of the series were made in 1497-1499, and were printed as single sheets  up to 1511 when an edition of the series was printed. This helps account for the particularly strong impression of the present print; the block was not nearly as worn by the 1511 printing as the earlier blocks were, and so subsequent printings of these newer blocks are stronger than those for the earlier blocks. The later blocks also tended to represent a more sophisticated approach to woodcutting, and were made by more skilled woodcutters.