Eucalyptus Grove and Stream
Block print printed in colors, circa 1930, edition probably 30-50. 6 1/2 x 3 5/8 in. Signed in pencil. Here we have a fine impression printed on her typical sturdy, fibrous Japanese paper. The margins are full. The condition is fine other than for a very faint suggestion of light toning just outside the image within an early mat opening. This small, charming work is not listed in the Pasadena retrospective catalogue from 2009.
SOLD

Herein to Meditate
Block print printed in colors, circa 1933, from a small edition. 10 1/8 x 10 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression printed on a light cream, fibrous Japanese paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine. (There's tiny paper repair in the upper left margin corner where the original hinge is.) This exceptional print is illustrated on page 67 of Frances H. Gearhart, Color Block Prints in Wichita, 1922-1937 by Roger Genser, Wichita Art Museum, 2019. The bold blue color provided by the trees in the foreground make this a potent, expressionist style print and it's more daring than many of her images. (This print was exhibited in the 1933 Wichita Block Print Exhibition which suggests to us a possible date for the print.)
$8,000

In the Garden (from Let's Play)
Linoleum cut printed in colors, 1927-1929, edition unknown. 8 x 7 in. Signed in pencil, "The Gearharts" and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on japanese paper. The margins are full. The condition is also fine apart from subtle horizontal wrinkling along the lower margin, well away from the image. This endearing work is one of the best prints in this series. The project called "Let's Play" is the work of the three Gearhart sisters; Frances, May and Edna. (Edna wrote the verses that accompany the prints.) Always intended to be published as a book, the unfinished manuscript remained with the Gearharts all of their lives. In 1930, all of the "Let's Play" prints were exhibited in Hingham, MA at Frances' dealer, the Print Corner. The blocks, prints and manuscript were eventually sold to Lloyd Cotson for the Cotson Children's Collection which was established at Princeton University in 1997. We are offering, along with this print, a copy of the first and only edition of "Let's Play" published in 2009 by the Book Club of California, edited by Victoria Dailey and Susan Futterman.
$2,500

Incoming Fog
Block print printed in colors, probably 1930-31., edition unknown. 10 x 10 7/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression printed on her typical, fibrous wove paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine. This stellar work is illustrated on page 83 of Behold the Day, The Color Block Prints of Frances Gearhart, published by the Pasadena Museum of California Art, edited by Susan Futterman. The prints were made primarily from linoleum blocks but the artist liked to call them "block prints".
$8,500

Little Sierra Lake
Block print printed in colors, circa 1930, from a small edition. 8 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression printed on fibrous Japanese paper. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. This fine work is typical of the vertical formatting Gearhart used in many of her prints. Trees surround a well lit, inviting image in the distance.
$6,500

Mount Hood
Block print printed in colors, undated (circa 1930), edition unknown. 6 1/8 x 4 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression of this uncommon print. The margins are full and the condition is very good apart from three hinges at the top edge of the sheet. Gearhart often referred to her prints as simply "block prints" and they were mostly printed from linoleum blocks as opposed to wood. Furthermore, the inks are oil-based and not watercolor. The editions are generally unknown but the prints are less common than one might think, especially the earlier work.
$5,250

November Textures
Block print printed in colors, 1933, Pasadena catalogue page 96; edition unknown. 10 x 11 3/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb impression with fresh colors. The margins are full and the condition is fine. This print is the cover illustration for the first major retrospective of Gearhart's work. "Behold the Day, the Color Block Prints of Frances Gearhart" was published in conjunction with the 2009-2010 exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of Art. Authors include Susan Futterman, Victoria Dailey and Nancy Green.
$8,750

October Splendor
Block print printed in colors, 1930, Pasadena catalogue page 100, edition probably 30-50. 9 1/2 x 8 1/8 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression with vibrant colors printed on Japanese paper. The margins are full. The condition is very good other than for some stray printing ink in the water at right and some of the same in the left margin.
SOLD

Rain Tomorrow
Block print printed in colors, circa 1930-31, edition probably 30-50. 10 1/8 x 11 in. Signed and titled in pencil. This is a superb, luminous impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. This gorgeous print is illustrated on page 64 of Frances H. Gearhart; Color Block Prints in Wichita 1922-1937 (2019) by Roger Genser.
SOLD