Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Le Cafe du Commerce, etching, 1913, signed in pencil lower left and numbered lower right 28/35 [also with the signature and date in the plate]. Reference: Godefroy 126, Sylvain Laboureur 126, only state. From the edition of 35; there were also 4 artist proofs. In excellent condition, with full margins and deckle edges, 11 3/4 x 13 1/2, the sheet 15 1/4 x 19 7/8 inches. On a heavy cream/ivory wove paper.

A fine impression of Laboureur’s great Cubist masterpiece, printed with a subtle veil of plate tone.

Provenance: Henri M. Petiet (with his oval ink stamp verso, cf. Lugt 2021a)

Le Cafe du Commerce represents Laboureur’s early adaptation of the cubist idiom to his own purposes – thereby creating a modernist vision that was really all his own. The intersecting planes, the abstracted limbs and features, the triangular and circular shapes are so much intended to express volume, as in the cubism of Picasso and  Braque, as to show the movement, activity, and aesthetic underpinnings of life as he saw it here, in a cafe in Nantes, at the place du Commerce. Le Cafe represents a kind of high moment for a certain decorative direction that cubism and modernism was to take. It set the standard for modernist art that did not adhere to the rigid formulations of analytic cubism but instead capitalized on its development for stylistic purposes. As Marcel LeComte noted when describing Le Cafe in a catalog of Laboureur prints: “Piece cubiste, capitale dans l’oevre de l’artiste.”

Francisco Jose de Goya (1746-1828), Mala Noche, etching and burnished aquatint, 1799,Plate 36 from the First Edition of Los Caprichos. Harris 71, Delteil 73. [titled and numbered 36 in upper right, in the plate] On soft strong laid paper, printed in warm sepia. In very good condition. With full margins, 7 1/2 x 5 1/4, the sheet 12 1/4 x 8 1/8 inches. 

A fine early impression, with the highlights on the figures contrasting brilliantly with the aquatint, a characteristic of the earliest impressions of this plate.

Goya’s commentary: Gadabout girls who don’t want to stay home, risk exposing themselves to these hardships.

Goya – Tantalo

Francisco Jose de Goya (1746-1828), Tantalo, etching and burnished aquatint, 1799, Plate 9 from the First Edition of Los Caprichos; Harris 44, Delteil 46, with the title lower margin, no. 9 upper right, on laid paper in light sepia ink. In good condition apart from scattered foxing recot, a thin spot near lower right margin edge far from image, 205 x 150 mm.

A fine balanced impression, the the two subtle aquatint tones printing quite effectively (in the later printings the stronger aquatint weakens considerably, at which point the contrasts – here quite clear – are lost).

Goya’s commentary: If he were a better lover and less of a bore, she would revive.

Roland Clark (1874-1957), Old Squaws, c. 1930,  drypoint, signed in pencil lower right, numbered (72) lower left, and titled lower center toward margin edge; from the edition of 75. In good condition, with margins (moderate light staining, remains of prior hinging upper corners), 2 3/4 x 7, the sheet 6 1/8 x 10 inches.

A fine impression of this iconic Clark composition.

Roland Clark’s grandson, Roland B. Clark, M.D., provides this biographical sketch of the artist on a website devoted to Clark’s art: “Roland Clark was born in New Rochelle, New York in 1874. He graduated from the William Kellogg School in New York City, then pursued his formal art training studying drawing and painting at the Art Students League. In the early 1920’s he began to create the etchings that were to bring him national and international acclaim. His contemporaries held him in such high regard that he was asked to create the U.S. Federal duck stamp design in 1938.

In addition to his legendary etchings he created numerous renowned oil paintings, watercolors, and aquatints. He was also a prolific writer of sporting articles, short stories, and poems. Stray Shots was his first autobiographical collection of stories and essays, published in 1931, and illustrated with thirteen original etchings. It has become one of the most valued sporting books of all time. Stray Shots was followed by the beautifully illustrated Gunner’s Dawn in 1937, and Pot Luck in 1945.”

Bror Julius Olsson NORDFELDT (American 1878 – 1955)

The Wave, Moonrise; 1906

Donovan 19. Color woodcut on thin cream laid paper.
Signed and dated in pencil, also inscribed with the number 24, upper left. In very good condition.
9 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches.

A fine impression of this rare woodcut.  Nordfeldt’s numbering system appears to be related to the total number of prints he made, not the number of impressions made of each print.

William Auerbach-Levy (1889-1964), The Traveler (also The Emmigrant, Marchant des’habits), 1920, etching with plate tone, signed in pencil lower right and inscribed “imp” [also signed and dated in the plate].  In very good condition, with margins, printed on a cream wove paper (very slight toning, remains of prior hinging verso), 8 1/4 x 6, the sheet 11 1/2 x 8 inches.

Provenance: ex Coll: Cortland Field Bishop (1870-1935) (Lugt 2770b, with his stamp verso)

A fine impression.

William Auerbach-Levy was born William Auerbach in Brest-Litovsk, Russia, on February 14, 1889. His parents adopted the surname of Levy after their arrival in the United States when William Auerbach was about five years old.

Auerbach-Levy gained notoriety both as the preeminent caricaturist of his time and as a fine and established painter and etcher. His caricatures of prominent people caused Alexander Woolcott, who wrote that, “The true gift of caricature is rare”, to rank Auerbach-Levy among the few finest exponents of the art.

His caricatures of famous people, including Charles W. Hawthorne, Franklin P. Adams, Hayward Broun, H.L. Mencken, Ring Lardner and Will Rogers, appeared during Auerbach-Levy’s lifetime in illustrations from “The New Yorker “Profiles”, “The New York Post,” “The Brooklyn Eagle,” “Colliers Magazine,” “Esquire Magazine,” “The Christian Herald” and many other preeminent publications of his time.

Other notable caricatures by Auerbach-Levy include Babe Ruth, the Shuberts, comedian Mort Sahl, lngrid Bergman and Frank Sinatra, A book of his caricatures, “Is That Me?”, was published by Watson and Guptill in 1948.

Concurrent with his caricature work, Auerbach-Levy continued in his studio work, producing many paintings and etchings, and was awarded a number of prizes in those fields.

As both a pupil and teacher at the National Academy of Design, he also studied at the Julian Academy in Paris under Jean Paul Laurens. He was a member of the American National Academy, Salmagundi Club of Chicago, and prize winner at the Detroit Jewish Center.

In 1929, he was made the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Works by Auerbach-Levy were included in the “Fifty Prints of the Year” collections of 1931 and 1933. He was winner of the Isaac N. Maynard Prize for portraiture (1925), Prize-Jewish Centre Exhibition (1926) and Prizes Chicago S.E., as well as the Isidor Prize from the Salmagundi Club; Lewis First Prize for Caricature PAFA (1927).

His works are found in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, Chicago Art Institute, Boston Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Worcester Art Museum, Honolulu Academy of Fine Ads, Print Room of the New York Public Library and the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh.

An extensive collection of his caricatures, paintings, drawings and etchings were acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., and are a part of its permanent collection.

Credit:
Falk, Peter, “Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975”

William Auerbach-Levy (1889-1964), The Troubadour, c. 1935, etching in dark brown ink with plate tone, signed in pencil lower right and inscribed “imp”, also inscribed “1st State” lower left. In very good condition, with margins, 8 1/4 x 6, the sheet 11 1/2 x 8 inches.

Provenance: ex Coll: Cortland Field Bishop (1870-1935) (Lugt 2770b, with his stamp verso)

A fine impression of this rare print.

Although inscribed 1st state we have seen another impression without the player’s right hand, and before some shading on the other hand. So this may be a second state.

This is a portrait of a young Roi Partridge, the California etcher (1888-1984), done while the two artists were roommates in Paris.

William Auerbach-Levy was born William Auerbach in Brest-Litovsk, Russia, on February 14, 1889. His parents adopted the surname of Levy after their arrival in the United States when William Auerbach was about five years old.

Auerbach-Levy gained notoriety both as the preeminent caricaturist of his time and as a fine and established painter and etcher. His caricatures of prominent people caused Alexander Woolcott, who wrote that, “The true gift of caricature is rare”, to rank Auerbach-Levy among the few finest exponents of the art.

His caricatures of famous people, including Charles W. Hawthorne, Franklin P. Adams, Hayward Broun, H.L. Mencken, Ring Lardner and Will Rogers, appeared during Auerbach-Levy’s lifetime in illustrations from “The New Yorker “Profiles”, “The New York Post,” “The Brooklyn Eagle,” “Colliers Magazine,” “Esquire Magazine,” “The Christian Herald” and many other preeminent publications of his time.

Other notable caricatures by Auerbach-Levy include Babe Ruth, the Shuberts, comedian Mort Sahl, lngrid Bergman and Frank Sinatra, A book of his caricatures, “Is That Me?”, was published by Watson and Guptill in 1948.

Concurrent with his caricature work, Auerbach-Levy continued in his studio work, producing many paintings and etchings, and was awarded a number of prizes in those fields.

As both a pupil and teacher at the National Academy of Design, he also studied at the Julian Academy in Paris under Jean Paul Laurens. He was a member of the American National Academy, Salmagundi Club of Chicago, and prize winner at the Detroit Jewish Center.

In 1929, he was made the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Works by Auerbach-Levy were included in the “Fifty Prints of the Year” collections of 1931 and 1933. He was winner of the Isaac N. Maynard Prize for portraiture (1925), Prize-Jewish Centre Exhibition (1926) and Prizes Chicago S.E., as well as the Isidor Prize from the Salmagundi Club; Lewis First Prize for Caricature PAFA (1927).

His works are found in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, Chicago Art Institute, Boston Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Worcester Art Museum, Honolulu Academy of Fine Ads, Print Room of the New York Public Library and the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh.

An extensive collection of his caricatures, paintings, drawings and etchings were acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., and are a part of its permanent collection.

Credit:
Falk, Peter, “Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975”

Owen Selwyn (?), Blair Hall, Princeton, etching with plate tone, c. 1925, signed in pencil lower right. Printed in brownish/black ink on cream laid paper, in good condition (slight light staining), with margins, 8 7/8 x 6 7/8, the sheet 12 3/8 x 10 3/4 inches.

A fine impression, a well crafted etching in the British Etching Revival tradition, by an unknown (to me!) artist.