Dancer
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

Guitar Player
Etching, circa 1935-39, from a small edition, about 25. 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. Initialed in the plate. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on sturdy wove paper. The margins appear to be full and untrimmed. This print bears the stamp, "FEDERAL ART PROJECT, NYC, WPA." The condition is generally fine apart from a soft wrinkle in the right margin and very small traces of adhesive at the four corners of the sheet.
$1,400

Trombone Player
Wood engraving, 1937, edition probably about 25. 4 15/16 x 7 3/4 in. Signed in the block and signed and titled in in pencil. This is a fine impression in very good condition. The margins are full. (There's a faint soft crease in the extreme upper right corner of the image.) This print bears the stamp of the NYC WPA Federal Art Project (verso). Becker was employed by the program from 1935-39 and this print was based on his visits to New York jazz clubs during the period. He produced a few other somewhat surreal images of musicians and these are now uncommon. From about 1940 onward, his work became much more abstract as he came under the influence of S.W. Hayter and the Atelier 17 mindset.
SOLD