Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Martin Lewis (1881-1962), Rainy Day, Queens, drypoint, 1931, signed in pencil lower right [also signed in the plate lower right]. Reference: McCarron 94, only state, from the edition of about 70. In very good condition, 10 5/8 x 11 7/8, the sheet 13 1/2 x 15 7/8 inches.

Provenance:

Estate of  Edward G Kennedy (?) (with stamped initials EGK verso, cf. Lugt 857)

A fine rich impression of this iconic image, printed in black ink on an ivory laid paper.

Lewis described this location as “Skillman Ave. Queens”; it is probably at the intersection of Skillman Avenue and 49th Street.

Martin Lewis was interested in Japanese art early in his career, and in 1920 visited Japan, where he stayed for nearly two years.  Rainy Day, Queens owes much to this influence: the careful placement of compositional elements, for example, and the atmospheric effects of rain, frequently found in Japanese prints and in Lewis’s Japan-based prints (e.g., Fishing Boats in the Rain, M. 41, and Showers on the Bay, M. 46).

Emile-Alfred Dezaunay (1854-1938)

Jeune Fille de Rosporden, c. 1890

etching and aquatint printed in color on cream-colored laid ARCHES paper; Reference: Morane 66.

plate: 278 x 199 mm (11 x 7 7/8 inches) 

numbered 2/50 and signed in pencil

Timbre sec : Ed. Sagot éditeur (L. 2254).

Sybil Andrews (1898-1992), Sails, linocut in colors, 1960, signed (twice), titled, and inscribed “TP” in pencil.   Reference: White 50. In good condition, two sheets, each image 7 1/8 x 9, each sheet 10 5/8 x 11 inches.

Consisting of two sheets, unattached, each with the entire image, and placed one atop the other.  The bottom sheet: signed in pencil twice and inscribed “TP”; the top sheet annotated “sample printing”.  Each sheet printed on tissue-thin laid Japan.

A brilliant vividly colored presentation, as achieved through the juxtapositioning of two proof impressions of this print, presumably by the artist.  As typical for Andrews’ impressions, the printing is on an exceedingly thin Japan paper. The top proof impression is comparable to the definitive edition, with the colors true and fresh. But the colors are strengthened even further when the proof is juxtaposed on the bottom (signed) proof, which is itself a slightly more lightly colored version of the print. Together, the print(s) achieve a striking, even three dimensional effect.

Andrews Sails – bottom sheet (signed twice, inscribed “TP”)

Andrews Sails – top sheet (inscribed “sample printing”)

Pierre Bonnard

1867 Fontenay-aux-Roses – Le Cannet 1947

Rue, le soir, sous la pluie – Rainy Street at Evening 1895–99

lithograph printed in five colors on thin wove paper; 255 x 350 mm (10 1/8 x 14 inches)

signed and numbered in pencil at lower right no 95

Roger-Marx 66; Bouvet 68; Johnson 10.10

provenance

Emile Laffon, Paris (Lugt 877a)

This print is from Bonnard’s album Quelques Aspects de la vie de Paris, published by Ambroise Vollard and printed by Auguste Clot in an edition of 100. Although the date given on the cover is 1895, Johnson concludes that since the whole set was not exhibited until 1899 and a sketch for one of the plates (Place, le soir, Bouvet 64) is dated 1899, the album was not completed and published until 1899.