Grant Wood: The 19 Lithographs (by Bruce Johnson)
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Catalogue raisonné, 2016, 185 pages. 8 x 10 x 1/2 in. This is the new catalogue on Grant Wood prints. The original catalogue was written by Sylvan Cole and published by Associated American Artists in 1984. This publication provides a substantial amount of information about Wood's interest in the lithography medium and each print is described at length. There are essays about George Miller, Wood's printer, and regionalism in general. Johnson includes amended dates for a few of the lithographs and explains the facts behind his conclusions. This is a must have book for Grant Wood collectors as it supersedes the Cole catalogue. The price is $30 plus $7 for postage and handling. Sales tax applies to North Carolina residents.
SOLD

Tree Planting Group
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1937, Johnson 1, Cole 1; edition 250. 8 7/16 x 10 7/8 in. Signed and dated in pencil. This is a superb impression with full margins. The condition is very good apart from traces of two old hinge adhesive spots at the top edge of the margin. This was Grant Wood's first lithograph. The scene depicted is an Arbor Day's celebration of a tree planting. There's an oil of this subject in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a large drawing in the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.
$8,000

January
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1938, Johnson 3, Cole 3; edition 250. 9 x 11 7/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is an excellent impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart from the faint remains of the original AAA hinges in the top two corners of the sheet. The paper bears a GCM watermark. This memorable winter image was done in Iowa and there's at least one related drawing and oil painting. (The painting is located in the Cleveland Museum of Art.) "January" is one of six Grant Wood prints reproduced in Thomas Craven's 1939 book, A Treasury of American Prints. This was a very popular print when it was published in the spring of 1938. In the fall 1938 AAA catalogue, "January" was already sold out. (See Johnson, pg. 61).
SOLD

January
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1938, Johnson 3, Cole 3; edition 250. 9 x 11 7/8 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impresssion printed on RIVES watermarked paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine apart from a soft, subtle dent in the left margin which shows as a shadow and below that is a tiny spot. The lower left corner of the sheet has a wrinkle, well away from the image. This memorable winter image was done in Iowa and there's at least one related drawing and oil painting. (The painting is located in the Cleveland Museum of Art.) "January" is one of six Grant Wood prints reproduced in Thomas Craven's 1939 book, A Treasury of American Prints. This was a very popular print when it was published in the spring of 1938. In the fall 1938 AAA catalogue, "January" was already sold out. (See Johnson, pg. 61).
SOLD

Seed Time and Harvest
GRANT WOOD
American, (1891-1942)
Lithograph, 1937, Johnson 2, Cole 2; edition 250. 7 3/8 x 12 in. Signed and dated in pencil. Here we have a superb impression printed on a soft white paper bearing the watermark GCM. The margins are full and the condition is fine. This outstanding early print is one of six Grant Wood lithographs reproduced by Thomas Craven in his 1939 book, "A Treasury of American Prints." The edition was printed in New York by George Miller.
$7,500

Head of a Traveler
ADJA YUNKERS
American, (1900-1983)
Woodcut printed in colors, 1952, Miller 66c, edition 225. 13 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. Signed, dated, numbered and titled in pencil. This is a fine impression in fine condition. The sheet is trimmed to the image on the top and both sides as one expects to see for this print. This exemplary woodcut was published in a "Portfolio of Five Prints" in 1952. The publisher was Ted Gotthelf of Rio Grande Graphics.
$2,800

Provincetown Houses
WILLIAM ZORACH
American, (1887-1966)
Linoleum cut on thin japan paper, circa 1916, very small edition. 5 3/8 x 6 7/8 in. Signed in pencil. A fine impression in fine condition. Wide if not full margins. Zorach studied in Paris in 1910-11 and later spent several summers in Provincetown, MA. There he produced a small number of powerful, modernist blockprints and the editions printed were quite small.
SOLD

Adoration
WILLIAM ZORACH
American, (1887-1966)
Linocut, 1921, edition unknown. 11 1/2 x 8 5/8 in. Signed in the block, lower right. Signed in pencil. This is a fine impression printed on thin wove paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine. Mother and child imagery is a favorite of the artist and it's seen predominantly in his sculpture. The best source of information about Zorach's prints can be found in Efram L. Burk's article in Print Quarterly, December 2002, pgs. 353-373. He includes an Appendix which lists the known prints with dates and museum collections. Adoration can be found in the Boston Public Library, the Art Institute of Chicago and also the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in an earlier state.
SOLD

Sailing
WILLIAM ZORACH
American, (1887-1966)
Linoleum cut, 1919, small edition. 7 1/8 x 6 1/2 in. Signed in pencil. This is a fine, rich impression of this rare print printed in thin wove paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine apart from small original hinges slightly visible at the top front corners and a couple of specks of printers ink in the right margin. This dynamic print is illustrated and discussed in Print Collector's Quarterly, Volume XIX, No.4, pages 164-165 in an article by Efram Burke. "The print conveys a dramatic interplay of of light and dark patterns, shifting movements, and the energy and force of nature translated through a direct and forceful cutting of the image in the linoleum block." (see page 165). According to Ephram, the location for this print is Stonington, ME. (Six impressions are cited in museum collections.)
$3,500

Sunrise (also called Seiners)
WILLIAM ZORACH
American, (1887-1966)
Linoleum cut, 1915-16, Burk Appendix II (PCQ, December 2002, pg. 372); small edition. 11 5/8 x 8 1/2 in. Signed in pencil. This is a superb, richly inked impression with full margins. The condition is fine apart occasional soft wrinkles here and there in the margins only. Burk writes about this major print in his PCQ article, "A sense of other-wordly communion is conveyed in this work, with the boat illuminated by the rising sun, which levitates magically over the water and casts a dark shadow on its surface. The vessel is surrounded by a myraid of of fish swimming in oval patterns." Provenance: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, NY.
$8,000