Archive for May, 2023

Pop’s Tavern

Monday, May 22nd, 2023

ARMIN LANDECK (1905-1984)
Pop’s Tavern.

Drypoint and aquatint, 1934. 155×257 mm; 6 1/8×10 inches, full margins. Reference: Kraeft 45. Edition of 50 (from an intended edition of 100). Signed, dated and inscribed “Ed. 100” in pencil, lower margins. In excellent condition, with full margins, printed on a cream wove paper.

A superb, dark, richly-inked impression; one of Landeck’s most sought after prints.

This is a view of Christopher Street in New York, across from the Hudson Movie Theatre. Landeck’s friend and fellow artist Martin Lewis used the same location for his drypoint Bedford Street Gang, 1935.

L’Amour

Friday, May 12th, 2023

RAOUL DUFY (1877-1953)
L’Amour, woodcut, 1910, signed and numbered 78/100 in pencil, lower right, from the first edition of 100, in good condition, full margins, 210×255 mm; 8 1/2×10 1/4 inches, from the set Les Plaisirs de la Paix published by Editions de la Sirene, Paris, 1910.

A superb, early impression.

Dufy was a primary mover in the adaptation of the woodcut technique to modern art. Dufy had an early exposure to Cubism (in 1908, working with Braque at L’Estaque, near Marseilles).L’Amour is one of a set of woodcuts Dufy made on his return in 1910 from a visit to Munich; observers have noted that it shows evidence of his being inspired by the German Expressionists. But largely because of its date and Dufy’s involvement with the Fauvists, L’Amour can be seen as an important example of Fauvist woodcutting. The set of woodcuts was exhibited at the Salon d’Automne of 1910.