Memento Viviere (Notre Dame, Evreux)
JOHN TAYLOR ARMS
American, (1887-1953)
Etching, 1947, Fletcher 407 (ii/II); edition 198. 13 1/2 x 7 in. Signed and dated in pencil. The print is also inscribed "II" for second state. This is a superb, rich impression printed on an antique laid paper. The margins appear to be full and the condition is excellent. This stellar print is the recipient of five Awards and they are listed in the catalogue by Fletcher.
SOLD

Venetian Mirror
JOHN TAYLOR ARMS
American, (1887-1953)
Etching, 1935, Fletcher 289 (ii/II); edition 169. 6 3/8 x 14 in. Signed and dated "1935" in pencil. Also inscribed "II" and "Private Collection 6." Arms also has written below and to the right the title, that this is number 27 from his Italian series and this is a "SP"; a special proof from the 1937-38 printing of 23 impressions. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. This is clearly one of the artist's best prints as seen here is a stellar impression.
SOLD

The Last Trumpet
BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF
Russian/ American, (1899-1965)
Wood engraving, 1937, edition 200. 11 3/8 x 7 7/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on a cream wove paper. The margins are full. The condition is very good apart from old adhesive on the top corners, verso, where the sheet was attached to the accompanying portfolio. This potent image was published by the Woodcut Society of Kansas City with an introduction by Carl Carmer. Artzybasheff was a gifted set designer and illustrator and he created more than 200 covers for Time magazine before his death. This potent image was perhaps partially inspired by his early time in the front lineswhen the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917. He was drafted into the German sponsored Ukranian army and was forced to fight for a separatist Ukranian Republic. With his life at risk, he eventually escaped and made it to New York and commenced his career as an artist. This is a universal statement about war and destruction against the background of a large metropolis.
$3,500

The Noon Hour
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Etching, 1931, Flint 101, edition unknown. 5 x 7 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. The location of this charming print is East 15th Street near Irving Place and Third Avenue in New York.
$1,000

The Promenade Deck
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Drypoint, 1920, Flint 47, edition about 500. 6 x 8 3/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression rich with burr. The margins are full. The condition is fine apart from a small fold mark in the lower right corner of the sheet and a minor wrinkle in the the extreme bottom edge of the sheet, center. This print was published as part of the New Republic Portfolio, Six American Etchings in 1924. Depicted on board the S.S. New Amsterdam are Peggy Bacon and Alexander Brook; second and third from the lower right corner.
SOLD

Dance at the League
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Drypoint, 1919, Flint 25, edition unknown. 7 x 10 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb, rich impression of this stellar print. The margins are full and the paper is a sturdy off white wove. The condition is very good apart from smudges in the right margin (from printing, most likely) and ink smudges on the verso. The verso also bears the ink stamp of the Downtown Gallery, NY (1935).
SOLD

The Untilled Field
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Drypoint, 1936, Flint 132, edition 250. 5 7/8 x 7 1/2 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. There's some very subtle toning within an earlier mat opening. This charming print was published by Associated American Artists.
SOLD

All Together
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Drypoint, 1951, Flint 159, edition unknown. 8 7/8 x 12 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb early impression with working proof annotations by the artist in pencil on all four margins. The impression is inscribed "1st state. 1 print." The margins are slightly trimmed affecting the left and top edges of the writing. The condition is otherwise fine. This is a rare print to begin with and her working proofs rarely come on to the market.
SOLD

Post Haste
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Drypoint, circa 1935, Flint 125, edition unknown. 55/8 x 12 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression printed on white wove paper. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. The scene is a post office with James Farley, Postmaster General, at the far right. Several other notable politicians of the time are present. Farley became a target of criticism as the result of cancellation of airmail contracts with commercial airlines. He also had the habit of presenting specimen sheets of new stamps to high-ranking democrats.
$2,500

Aesthetic Pleasure
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Drypoint, 1936, Flint 126, edition 174. 6 x 8 1/2 in. Signed, dated and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. This outstanding print is found in the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, the McNay Art Museum and others.
SOLD

The Invasion of Art
PEGGY BACON
American, (1895-1987)
Drypoint, 1943, Flint 147, edition unknown. 9 3/8 x 13 7/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed, "For Josephine with morbid affection from Peg." This is a superb impression of this large, uncommon print. The margins are full. The condition is fine apart from a paper tape hinge on the verso at the top, and two tiny white tape hinges at the corners also on the back. The paper bears a WHATMAN watermark. This entertaining work with an equally satirical dedication reflects the personality of the artist. There's a drawing of this same location (Kennebunkport, ME) in the Princeton University Art Museum. It's listed as the same year as the print.
$2,200

Child Reaching
WILL BARNET
American, (1911-2012)
Woodcut, 1940, Cole 82, Szoke 83; edition 25 (60) 7 1/8 x 11 1/4 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a fine dark impression printed on thin japanese paper. The margins are full. The condition is fine other than for slight handling marks on the left and right edges of the paper. This charming work was printed and published by the artist. This impression is numbered 59/60. There's no indication in either catalogue raisonné that a second edition was printed. Most likely the artist printed 35 more impressions and continued the numbering as we see here.
$850

Strange Bird
WILL BARNET
American, (1911-2012)
Lithograph printed on red paper, 1947, Cole 93, Szoke 94; edition 300. 10 x 13 1/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The red paper is not the least bit faded as is often the case with this print. It was printed by the artist for the Laurel Gallery portfolio # 1 which also contained prints by Joan Miro, Anne Ryan, S.W. Hayter, Walter Pach, Reginald Marsh and George Constant.
SOLD

Dancer
FRED G. BECKER
American, (1913-2004)
Engraving, 1941, edition 20. 7 1/8 x 5 in. Signed, titled and dated in pencil. Here we have a fine, delicate impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. This engaging, surrealist work was done just subsequent to Becker's WPA period which was 1935-1939. He joined the Hayter studio in New York in 1940.
SOLD

In the Park, Dark
GEORGE BELLOWS
American, (1882-1925)
Lithograph, 1916, Mason 30, edition 81. 16 7/8 x 21 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression printed with strong contrasts and exceptional luminosity. The margins are full and the condition is fine. (There's a very faint suggestion of an old tape residue along the top of the upper sheet edge, verso.) This large work exists in two versions, the other being Mason 31, In the Park, Light. There are, in fact, state variations in this image and our impression is slightly different that the one illustrated in the Mason catalogue. Differences in the sky, apartment house and trees are apparent. This subject, a June day in Central Park, is the basis for an oil painting which is now in the Detroit Institute of Arts. A related ink wash drawing was exhibited in the Armory show and it's now in the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY. This is a large and exceptional print by the artist.
$5,000

My Family No. 2
GEORGE BELLOWS
American, (1882-1925)
Lithograph, 1921, Mason 116, edition 56. 10 1/8 x 8 in. Signed and titled "Family Group" by the artist. Signed by the printer, Bolton Brown. This is a very fine impression printed on thin china paper. The margins are fairly modest but this is possibly the untrimmed sheet as printed. The condition is very good other than for two small old hinges at the top corners with traces of the old adhesive showing through and a soft wrinkle along the bottom edge of the sheet, well away from the image. This second version of this subject, done in reverse of the first, is more fully developed and beautifully designed.
$2,400

The Life Class, First Stone
GEORGE BELLOWS
American, (1882-1925)
Lithograph printed on Japan paper, 1917, Mason 43 (ii/II), edition 49. 13 7/8 x 19 1/2 in. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. This is a very fine impression with substantial and possibly the full margins. The condition is very good apart from a thinning of the paper in the lower center margin and also on the right lower corner. Bellows arrived in New York in 1904 and studied at William M. Chase's New York School of Art under Robert Henri. Henri moved on in 1909 and set up classes at 1947 Broadway which is the building Bellows occupied. This is an evening life class and Bellows was omnipresent working to improve his great skills as a draughtsman. Impressions of this outstanding print are found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Blanton Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art among others.
$5,000

The Tournament
GEORGE BELLOWS
American, (1882-1925)
Lithograph, 1920, Mason 72, edition 63. 14 7/8 x 18 1/4 in. Signed on the stone, lower left. Signed, titled and numbered in pencil. Signed in pencil by the printer, Bolton Brown. This is a fine impression with wide and probably the full margins. The condition is very good apart from slight discoloration in the margins an a few subtle wrinkles to the chine appliqué. This is the better of the two tennis prints Bellows created in 1920, both depicting tennis scenes in Newport, RI. (He and his family spent two summers in Middletown, RI.) There's an oil painting which relates to this stellar lithographic image.
SOLD

The Long Journey
FRANK BENSON
American, (1862-1951)
Etching, 1926, Paff 254, edition 150. 9 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. Signed in pencil, lower left. Here we have a fine impression printed with nicely inked plate tone. The paper is a fine off-white laid with full margins. The condition is excellent. This is a perfectly fine example of Benson's sporting art.
$1,500

Two Canoes
FRANK BENSON
American, (1862-1951)
Etching, 1927, Paff 266, edition 150. 5 7/8 x 7 3/4 in. Signed in pencil, lower left. This is a fine impression printed on light cream laid paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine. Benson did a few other canoe related prints including, "Running the Rapids," (P269), "Riverman," (P195) and "Canoeman" (P161).
$2,600