To theovadēston oros tou Sēna ([Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1699). Hand colored woodcut, 30.2 x 34.5 cm sheet 34.6 x 45.2 cm. Gift of Theodore Theodorou to the Program in Hellenic Studies for the Princeton University Library, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Hellenic Studies at Princeton. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired two prints thanks to the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund for the gift. Thanks go to Kalliopi Balatsouka for the translation and description of these works on paper.

Inscription in Greek runs from left to right at the upper part of the print: “To theovadēston oros tou Sēna.” Below the main scene, in 6 columns, there is a numbered list (from 1 to 56) of the events taking place in the print. In the last column, inscription in capital letters states: “Cahtzē Kirgēakis / Vourliotis Sēnaitēs / eneti – 1699: minē Iouliou.” In the far right, next to the last column, there is another tiny column with the inscription: “Hiero/mo/nach/ou Dio/nē/si(ou) hē … .” At the right corner below the main scene, a four-line inscription in Slavonic (?) is enclosed by a roughly square frame: “Hierodiakon Nikodēm … .”

This paper icon depicts a bird’s-eye view of Mount Sinai, including 56 scenes. The main composition of the print represents the Saint Catherine Monastery, the dormition of Saint Catherine, and Moses receiving God’s Law on Mount Sinai, divided into two symmetrical parts. To the upper left, predominates a scene of the Old Testament where Moses, according to the Book of Exodus, ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Tables of Law. To the upper right, a scene of New Testament, shows winged angels transporting the relic of the Great Martyr Saint Catherine from Alexandria, Egypt, to the highest mountain, now called Mount Saint Catherine, next to Mount Sinai, while a dove who carries a ring in his beak flys away from the Mountain.

Also acquired, thanks to a gift of the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund is the print below:

[Patriarch Gennadius II Scholarius and Sultan Mehmed II]. Text in Modern Greek, French, and Armenian ([Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], between 1901-1929. Lithograph. Gift of the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process.

The subjects of this Greek/Ottoman lithograph are Gennadius II, Patriarch of Constantinople, approximately 1405-approximately 1472 and Mehmed II, Sultan of the Turks, 1432-1481. The scene takes place after the appointment of Gennadius as Patriarch of Constantinople and certain privileges granted to the ecumenical patriarch by Mehmed II, the Conqueror, about the Greek Orthodox Church in Constantinople in 1453.

Title is written in Turkish above the main scene of the lithograph as well as in Greek and French below, in two columns, with a laurel wreath in between bearing an inscription in Armenian. The Greek title to the left reads as follows: “Ho Soultanos Mōameth B’ ho porthētēs episemōs aponemei tō / Oikoumenikō Patriarchē Gennadiō tō Scholariō ta pro- / nomia tēs ekklēsias en etei 1453 (Antigraphon ex archaias eikonos)” and the French title: “Sultan Mohamed II vainqueur, de Constantinople offre / officiellement au patriarche œcuménique Yénnadios / scholarios les concessions ecclessiastiques. Année 1453.” “Euriskontai en tō typographeiō Lagopoulou Zoump[…] Chan ar. 6 (?).”

Christine Heller, Women Vote!: Fifteen New York State Suffragists: in Celebration of the 2017 Centennial of Women’s Right to Vote in New York State ([New York (State)?] : Christine Heller, 2018). Copy 8 of 10. Graphic Arts Collection 2019- in process

Christine Heller’s limited edition portfolio Women Vote! celebrates suffragists who fought for 70 years to secure the vote for women. The project pairs lithographic images of fifteen suffragists with brief biographical texts printed in letterpress. Heller included well known suffragist leaders such as Susan B. Anthony as well as women who have been forgotten over time, one such example being Hester Jeffrey, who was a friend of Anthony’s and a leader who fought to improve the lives of African American women.

The artist was inspired by the courage and persistence of these suffragists and the determination of white and black women to work together despite occurrences of racism. She depicted the women with piercing eyes that challenge us to push back against the current erosion of women’s rights. Heller worked with the same palette that the suffragists chose to symbolize their movement: gold, which represented the guiding light of their cause, and purple, which signified an unshakable dedication to their mission.

The introduction to Women Vote!, which provides an overview of the larger struggle, was written by Susan Goodier, author of Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State. The portfolio was printed on Arches cover and includes lithographs produced by master printer Tim Sheesley from the artist’s original drawings. All text pages were printed letterpress by Maureen Cummins with typographic assistance from Kathleen McMillan. The typefaces are Della Robbia and Goudy Bookletter. The portfolio is housed in a shantung-covered clamshell box with gold-stamped titling, designed and crafted by Mark Tomlinson.

Cover design by André Beaudin (1895-1979), here’s a short biography:

“French painter, sculptor, draughtsman, graphic artist, ceramicist and tapestry designer. He attended the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, from 1911, until he joined the army in 1915. After World War I he devoted himself primarily to painting. In 1922 he met Juan Gris with whose encouragement his early Matisse-influenced rhythmical compositions acquired greater stability. In the late 1920s he was promoted by Tériade as a successor to the Cubists, with such works as The Mirror (1929; Paris, Pompidou), in which a highly simplified figure and its mirror-image are defined by patches of flat colour and fragments of linear contrast, and by the 1940s he was seen as one of the major representatives of the Ecole de Paris. In the 1950s his earlier predilection for curvilinear shapes gave way to a more angular and dynamic geometry, as in the First Race (1952; Paris, Pompidou).

…From 1930 Beaudin produced a number of sculptures in bronze in which he adapted to three dimensions the geometric stylization of his paintings … He also illustrated a number of works, for example Virgil’s Bucoliques (published by Skira, Geneva, 1936), with original etchings; Paul Eluard’s Double d’ombre (Paris, 1945), with reproductions of drawings; Gérard de Nerval’s Sylvie (published by Tériade, Paris, 1960), with original colour lithographs.” –by Valerie Holman Grove Art Online https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T007130

Although we have a strong run of the Arts & Metiers Graphiques, no 62 was missing. Happily, we have again acquired this volume with a splendid cover.

See also: Paul Eluard’s Double d’ombre Graphic Arts Collection GAX Oversize NK8667.B42 E48q.

André Beaudin; œvres, 1921-1970 ([Paris, Centre national d’art contemporain, 1970]). Marquand Library ND553.B332 .C4

Paris 1937 / Expositions Internationales / New York 1939 (Paris: Arts & Metiers Graphiques, 1938). Cover design by Andre Beaudin and printed lithographically by “les presses de Mourlot Freres.” GAX – in process.