Break in the Thunderstorm
Drypoint, 1930, McCarron 86 (ii/II), intended edition of 85. 12 3/8 x 9 7/8 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression printed on a wove paper with a subtle greenish-blue tint. The margins are full and the condition is exceptionally fine. According to the catalogue, the location is the corner of 34th Street and Park Avenue, near Lewis's studio. Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, New York (with their label). The McCarron catalogue states 66 recorded impressions including 16 trials.
SOLD

Building a Babylon, Tudor City, N.Y.
Drypoint, 1929, McCarron 76, edition 84. 12 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. Signed in pencil, lower right. This is a superb, luminous impression with full margins. The condition is excellent. Tudor City was completed in 1928 as a middle class housing project and became a historic district in 1988. The location is 40th to 43rd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. As McCarron aptly states on page 140 of the catalogue raisonné, "The dripping stains on the embankment were possibly influenced by another print, Charles Meryon's 'La Morgue, Paris,' of 1854. Lewis included Meryon among the etchers he admired..."
$8,000

Corner Shadows
Drypoint and sand ground, 1930, McCarron 83 (ii/II), edition 242. 8 3/8 x 9 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a fine, luminous impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from two small indiscreet hinges on the verso, top corners. This stellar work is included in at least twenty-five museum collections. This work was commissioned by the Print Club of Cleveland and the preparatory drawings and proofs are now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. The edition was printed by Charles S. White.
SOLD

Derricks at Night
Drypoint, 1927, McCarron 62 (i/II); edition 104. 7 7/8 x 11 3/4 in. Signed in the plate, lower right. Signed in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The paper is ARCHES and the condition is excellent. According to McCarron, "'Derricks at Night' is the only Lewis print with such extensive changes between states. The second state was begun two years after he had essentially finished the composition, an exception to Lewis's usual procedure in completing a plate." Both versions are exceptionally fine and a casual glance at museum collections which own this print show an almost equal number of museums own the first or the second states. First state impressions are owned by the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, among others. This engaging print has a compelling sense of geometry and a single worker walks along on the street at night, conveying the solitude of the evening.
$9,000

East Side Night, Williamsburg Bridge
Etching, 1928, McCarron 71, edition 69. 9 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a fine, luminous impression with full margins. The condition is also fine. This successful print won the Art Institute of Chicago's prestigious Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize in 1929. Another impression was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of art early on. Fifteen impressions are cited in museum collections in the catalogue. (The Williamsburg Bridge crosses the East River connecting the Lower East Side with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. It was opened in 1903.)
$10,000

Ha'nted
Drypoint and sand ground, 1932, McCarron 100, edition 107. 13 1/4 x 8 7/8 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil and inscribed, "to Chas S. White from M.L." This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is excellent apart from a small speck of printer's ink in the outer right margin. (Note: Charles S. White was the printer for many of Lewis's plates. There is no record that Lewis used any other printer than White throughout his career.) This outstanding, underrated print was done in Sandy Hook, Connecticut where the Lewis family lived in the early 1930s.
$11,000

Ice Cream Cones
Drypoint and sand ground, 1928, McCarron 73, edition 70. 9 3/8 x 14 3/4 in. Signed in the plate lower left. Signed in pencil. (This fine impression was printed by the artist.) The margins are full and the condition is very good. (There's a small, subtle stain to the right of the image in the margin only.) This impression went through Kennedy Galleries as their price code is in pencil on the verso.
SOLD

Night in New York
Etching, 1932, McCarron 102, edition 135. 8 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. Signed in the plate, lower right. Signed in pencil. This is a fine, richly inked impression printed with retroussage. This was the presentation print for the Chicago Society of Etchers and their blindstamp appears in the lower left corner of the sheet. The margins are full and the condition is fine. McCarron states, "Retroussage is used to obtain a softer but stronger and richer effect. In this technique the printer drags a cloth, preferably muslin, over the already inked lines of a heated plate in order to raise the ink, making it spread over both edges of the etched lines." This edition was printed by Charles White who was the only other printer Lewis liked. Lewis gave White specific directions: "wipe clean, very clean on window and light foreground - retroussage on background and darks, very little retrossage on pavement and window."
SOLD

The Roustabout
Etching with sand ground, 1916, McCarron 14, edition only 6. 8 7/8 x 6 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression of this rare, early work. The margins are full and the condition is fine. (There's a very faint suggestion of toning within an early mat opening.) The bridge in the distance is Manhattan Bridge. This is only one of two images by Lewis where an African American is the primary subject of the print. A roustabout is an itinerant laborer who often works the docks or oil fields.
SOLD

Tree Manhattan
Drypoint, 1930, McCarron 87, edition 91 including 10 trial proofs. 12 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a superb, luminous impression with full margins. The condition is fine. (There's just a very faint suggestion of a mat line.) This exceptional print contains all the elements of a great Martin Lewis; dramatic lights and darks, solitary figures, well-integrated architectural design and there's that added element of urban mystery to engage our imagination.
SOLD

Under the Street Lamp
Etching, 1928, McCarron 70; edition 83. 14 7/8 x 9 1/4 in. Signed in the plate, lower right. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is also fine. This carefully crafted print, done exclusively in etching, captures the spirit of the moment with three women talking against a dark wooded background.
$11,000

Winter on White Street
Drypoint and sand ground, 1934, McCarron 110 (iii/III), edition 41 including 4 trial proofs. 10 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. Signed in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. This is a very fine, atmospheric impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from a couple of tiny specks in the lower margin. This uncommon print was done in Danbury, CT. As McCarron aptly states, "The placement of two blank white rectangles near the center of the composition is a daring compositional device." (see pg. 197).
SOLD