Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Jean-Emile Laboureur, Les Deux Chaumires, etching, 1927-8, signed in pencil lower left, numbered and annotated “imp” lower right. Reference: S. Laboureur 356, second state (of 4). In excellent condition (apart from paper folded back slightly at left and right), 4 1/2 x 6, the sheet 10 x 13 inches.

A delicately printed, fine impression of this early state, before the initial in the plate. There were 7 impressions taken of this state, and about 80 impressions in all.

Sylvan Laboureur notes that this site is at Kerfahler (a commune of Penestin), now a well known camping area in western France.

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Printemps Breton, 1926, drypoint, roulette, aquatint, etching; signed in pencil lower left and numbered lower right (37/50) with the imp inscription (printed by the artist). Reference: S. Laboureur 324, second state (of two), from the lifetime edition of about 50 (another edition of about 248, posthumous, was made in 1959 in conjunction with the publication of the volume Laboureur en Briere. In excellent condition, the full sheet, 3 1/8 x 5 1/8, the sheet 9 5/8 x 12 5/8 inches.

A fine impression, printed on a wove BFK Rives paper (with the watermark BFK).

Laboureur utilized anumber of techniques on this small plate to achieve an extraordinary aesthetic effect. The dark sky was created using a roulette tool, ordinarily used in preparing a plate for a mezzotint, which makes tiny pin-pointed marks in the plate which can hold ink; this tool was also used for the large dark field at the bottom center of the composition. The light gray field at the right just under the line of bushes and trees was done in aquatint. The outlines of the trees appears to have been done in etching; the darkening of the trees in drypoint (with associated burr). There is even evidence of engraving in the straight lines darkening the trees at the right. In all, a complex, and marvelously successful little print, by a master of the medium.

In all this print has appeared in at least 17 exhibits, mostly in France.

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Le Promenade au Phare, engraving, 1925, signed in pencil lower left and numbered lower right (24/70) [with the initial in the plate lower left]. Reference: S. Laboureur 302, third state (of 3), published by Henri Petiet, with his blindstamp, in very good condition, on a cream laid paper with margins, 6 1/2 x 7, the sheet 8 x 10 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, with a light veil of plate tone overall, perhaps a bit darker toward the bottom of the sheet.

Henri M. Petiet was an illustrious Paris publisher and print dealer; his stamp (Lugt 2021a) is at the lower left.

This cubist/mannerist composition displays Laboureur’s astonishing skill with the engraving tool (the burin); engraving seems to have been the perfect method for his aesthetic at this stage in his career.

The “phare” at the center of the composition is the lighthouse.

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Sur la Marne, engraving, 1924, signed in pencil lower right [with the initial lower right in the plate]. Reference: S. Laboureur 277, third state (of 4), before the letters below the image, before the large edition in the fourth state as an illustration for an article by Claude Roger-Marx. With full margins, 7 x 5 1/4, the sheet 11 x 9 inches.

A fine impression, printed on a cream Arches paper (with the Arches watermark).

In addition to the cubist idiom this print, with its elongated figures, illustrates Laboureur’s interest in Mannerism – perhaps first ignited in his studies of the French, Italian and German old master prints during his early years in the print rooms in Dresden, Berlin, and Munich.

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), La Petite Plage, 1926, etching and engraving, signed in pencil lower left [inscribed lower margin as a trial proof; also with initials and date in the plate]. Reference: S. Laboureur 327, third state (of 3), from the total printing of about 91. In generally good condition, with a mark (probably in the paper) upper left just above the plate mark (also a few light staining spots well away from image, printed on an old laid (ledger?) paper, the full sheet with wide margins, 5 x 6 3/8, the sheet 9 x 13 1/2 inches.

A very good impression of this rather interesting beach scene, with two women apparently exhausted after their tennis match resting at the left, children playing in the middle, and other beachgoers towards the right of the composition and on a porch on the house in the background.  Very fine, subtle engraved (or possibly drypoint) lines are used to create shading effects on the figures, the clouds, the rooftops.

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Jeune Fille au Chapeau Blanc, 1921, etching and engraving. Reference: S. Laboureur 223, third state (of 3), edition of 30, about 47 impressions pulled in all. Signed lower left, numbered (15/30) lower right and inscribed imp (printed by the artist); also titled lower left near the edge in pencil [also with initials and date in the plate]. In excellent condition, remains of prior hinging verso, the full sheet with deckle edging, 6 1/2 x 4 5/8, the sheet 10 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches.

A fine fresh impression of this attractive inhabitant of Croisic. Printed on a cream wove paper, with a carefully wiped light plate tone.

Laboureur here uses engraving to accentuate the cubist quality of the composition; the woman’s hair appears to be in etching but most of the rest of the print is engraving.

Honore Daumier (1808-1879), Un Homme a La Mer lithograph, 1843, [with initials in the plate]. Reference: Daumier Register 1036, plate number 14 from the series Les Canotiers Parisiens, published in Le Charivari, third state (of 4), before publication in Le Charivari, a sur blanc impression, in very good condition, with margins, on wove paper, 9 1/2 x 10 1/4, the sheet 10 1/2 x 13 5/8 inches. With the letters, addresses of Pannier (lower left), Aubert (lower center).

A fine strong impression.

Translation of the text from the Daumier Register:

Original Text:
UN HOMME A LA MER.
– Harponne le donc plus vigoureusement . . . nous ne pourrons pas l’avoir sans a! … – Et toi, tiens lui bien les jambes en l’air, c’est l’important! . . il n’y a rien qui enrhume comme de se mouiller la plante des pieds! . . . . .

Translation:
MAN OVERBOARD!
– Harpoon him more firmly!…. we can’t get him otherwise! And you, hold his legs up in the air, that’s very important…. There is nothing in the world that makes you catch a cold faster than by getting your feet wet.

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), L’Employe des Pompes Funebres (The Mortician), color etching, 1902, signed and annotated (essai l’eau forte in 2 planches) in pencil lower left [also signed and dated in the plate lower left]. Reference: Sylvan Laboureur 29, only state (a line plate, then color plate(s). Printed on a cream laid paper with the watermark ARCHES. In excellent condition, the full sheet with deckle edging, 7 3/4 x 9, the sheet 10 3/4 x 14.

Provenance: Alfred Beurdeley, Paris (Lugt 421, stamp lower right recto); Eric Carlson, New York

A fine fresh impression of this early Laboureur rarity. A trial proof in colors.

S. Laboureur notes that there were three impressions of the line plate made before colors; then some trial proofs, then a numbered grouping (1-10); approximately 20 impressions altogether. The line plate has been canceled.

Although this impression is annotated as being made in 2 plates, and the Laboureur catalog raisonne also notes “deux planches”, the publication “Jean-Emile Laboureur: A Centenary Tribute” (French Institute/Alliance Francaise, New York, 1977) lists this print as made with three plates. The coloring is so complex that the latter number may well be correct.

Note: This print is currently on hold.