Nude on Couch
Martin Erich Phillip (1887-1978), Nude on Couch, 1920, etching, signed in pencil lower right and titled and numbered lower left [also initialed MEPH in the plate]. Second state (of 2). In excellent condition, printed on a heavy cream wove paper, with full margins (5 3/4 x 3 3/4, the sheet 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches.
A fine fresh impression, with plate tone.
In the second state the artist darkened the women’s coat and her shadow.
Austrian-born Phillip worked also in the US, where he is well-known for his color woodcuts of birds and flora; this etching obviously represents a different subject matter and printmaking approach.
Recently the eminent London dealer Emanuel Von Baeyer showed a number of Phillip’s etchings which help illuminate this aspect of his work; Von Baeyer also wrote a short essay on the origins of Phillip’s art, comparing the work with that of Sickert (see http://www.evbaeyer-cabinet.com/current-exhibition/two-contemporaries/).