Category Archives: prints and drawings

prints and drawings

La Marseillaise / The Mobilisation

France mobilized their troops for World War I in August of 1914 but it was not until the following year that Théophile Steinlen printed this patriotic etching. The Swiss artist had arrived in Paris at the age of 19 and settled in Montmartre, a regular at the Chat Noir nightclub.

Around 1880, he began drawing for humorous magazines. Steinlen worked in succession on the Chat Noir, Gil Blas Illustré, for which he did 703 drawings for 503 issues between 28 June 1891 and 1897, Mirliton, Chambard, Rire and L’Assiette au Beurre. In 1911, he was one of the 13 founders of the short-lived journal Les Humoristes, along with Forain, Willette, Léandre, J. Veber and others.

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), [La Marseillaise or The Mobilisation] 1915. Drypoint. Graphic Arts Collection GA2015- in process

Dennis Cate writes, “While Steinlen is best known for his bold, highly stylized black and red poster for the Chat Noir (1896), his greatest contribution to the poster art of the 1890s was his production of realistic colour lithographic images such as Mothu et Doria (1893), Lait pur sterilisé de la vingeanne (1894), the massive, life-size La Rue (1896) and the politically poignant Petit sou (1900), which indirectly advertised products by conveying human sympathies and ideals. Between 1898 and 1902 he also executed over 30 colour etchings which are more personal and intimate. In these delicate etchings of nudes and landscapes, produced in very small editions, Steinlen experimented with the media of softground and aquatint. During World War I he designed patriotic prints, for example his lithograph The Republic Calls Us and his etching of The Mobilization (both 1915).”

John Wilson 1922-2015

Illustrator, printmaker, and sculptor John Woodrow Wilson was 92 when he died in January 2015. He pursued the path of an artist, “since he was a boy on Roxbury’s streets, learning to sketch and honing a burgeoning talent that eventually would place his paintings and sculptures in the Museum of Fine Arts and far beyond,” wrote Bryan Marquand for the Boston Globe. “In the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., stands a 3-foot-tall bronze bust of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that is surely the most viewed creation of John Wilson, an artist who grew up in Roxbury and painted, sculpted, and made prints out of his home studio in Brookline for decades. Like much of his most important work, the bust brings viewers to the intersection of art and politics, of pure creativity and the desire to examine social injustice.”

Princeton University Library holds two of his illustrated books: Joan M. Lexau, Striped Ice Cream; illustrations by John Wilson (Philadelphia; New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, c1968). Cotsen Children’s Library (CTSN) Eng 20 61725 and Arnold Adoff, Malcolm X; illustrated by John Wilson (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, c1970). Cotsen Children’s Library (CTSN) Eng 20 33357.

In addition, the Princeton University Art Museum has a drawing for the cover design of “The Reporter,” July 23, 1959, entitled Steel Worker (pastel and gouache on cream wove paper. Museum purchase Kathleen Compton Sherrerd Fund for Acquisitions in American Art 2005-16).

For more information on the American artist, listen to his oral history interview made March 11, 1993 to Aug. 16, 1994 under the auspice of the Archives of American Art. 11 sound cassettes (16 hrs, 30 min.). Transcript: 497 p. Abstract: “Wilson discusses his childhood as a member of a family of middle class blacks from British Guiana (now Guyana); his father’s grave disappointments in the face of racial discrimination; his parents’ push for their children to succeed; early urge to read and draw; encouragement by School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston students who taught at the Roxbury Boys Club; his secondary education; and friends. …His first teaching position at the MFA School; his involvement in civil rights in Boston; his gregariousness and the use of his studio as a meeting place for artists and political activists; his involvement with socialism in Boston and New York; and working in a socialist children’s camp.…his move toward sculpture, beginning in the early 1960s, as a medium most expressive of black persons, culminating in the 1980s in a series of colossal heads and a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the U.S. Capitol (1985-86).”

A memorial for the artist is being held today at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Mr. Ego’s Marvellous Story

Within the Graphic Arts Collection’s extensive blocks & plates collection GC 148 is this etched copper plate by Thomas Rowlandson (ca.1756-1827) for the illustration entitled “Mr. Ego’s Marvellous Story,” opposite page 40 in The Pleasures of Human Life by Hilari Benevolus & Co. (pseud. of John Britton, 1771-1857).

We also have one sheet pulled from the plate (Graphic Arts Collection GA 2014.00381) and several copies of the published book with hand colored plates.

“Such is the character of Mr. Placid: how different is that of Mr. Ego! Both are attached to literature, and both may be said to be learned; but, whilst the former reads solely for self-satisfaction and mental instruction, the latter Hunts after knowledge merely to sport it in company.

His only pleasure is derived from an ostentatious display of learning; and there is no music so harmonious to his ear, as the sweet voice of praise, in being flattered on his deep researches and profound reading. Should others neglect to tickle him in this susceptible part, he absolutely contrives to tickle himself; and this is not a very common case. Even the Miss Livelys and Miss Sensibles cannot provoke laughter with their own fingers, either applied to the arm-pits, knees, or feet; nor even in the most susceptible part, just under the fifth rib on the left side, near the heart.

Mr. Ego’s vanity, in this respect, affords him only an occasional pleasure, and not one that he can command at all times. It depends on company, and requires that company to be good-naturedly civil; for unless the hinges of his tongue are kept in easy play by the oil of encomium, he soon grows dull, and sulkily stupid. Tempt him to talk, and. you will surely be amused, if not instructed; for, if the truths of learning fail to effect this, his flexible fancy can soon create; and he will embellish his narratives with the most dazzling and effulgent colours of fancy.”

John Britton (1771-1857), The pleasures of human life: investigated cheerfully, elucidated satirically, promulgated explicitly and discussed philosophically in a dozen dissertations on male, female and neuter pleasures … by Hilaris Benevolus, & Co. … Embellished with 5 illustrative etchings and 2 headpieces. 2d ed. London, Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1807. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Rowlandson 1807.31

Hirschfeld drawing is traveling

Albert Hirschfeld (1903-2003), Elia Kazan on the set of J.B., no date [1959]. Pen on board. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2006.02628. Inscription: Settings by Boris Aronson – Local 829.

Our Al Hirschfeld drawing of Elia Kazan will be traveling soon to the exhibition: The Hirschfeld Century: The Art of Al Hirschfeld, at the New-York Historical Society from May 22 to October 12, 2015. Their website gives an introduction to the show:

Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) brought a set of visual conventions to the task of performance portraiture when he made his debut in 1926. His signature work, defined by a linear calligraphic style made his name a verb to be “Hirschfelded” was a sign that one has arrived. Now for the first time, nine decades of his art are collected in The Hirschfeld Century: The Art of Al Hirschfeld documenting Hirschfeld’s life and career and, to a great extent, the history of the performing arts in the twentieth century and beyond.

The Hirschfeld Century examines his influences, his iconography, and his techniques, from his earliest works to his last drawings. Visitors will have the opportunity to trace this unique artist’s evolution by viewing his own body of work, including drawings, paintings, selections from sketchbooks, ephemera, and video.

The Art of Al Hirschfeld was organized by Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, President of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation, and the New-York Historical Society, and was curated by David Leopold, Archivist of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation.

This caricature is for the play J.B., which was performed at the ANTA Playhouse from December 11, 1958 to October 24, 1959. The two-act play was set in a traveling circus that had been on the road for a long time. It was produced by Alfred De Liagre, Jr.; Associate Producer: Joseph I. Levine; written by Archibald MacLeish; music by David Amram; directed by Elia Kazan; production designed by Boris Aronson; costume design by Lucinda Ballard; and lighting design by Tharon Musser. The cast included Raymond Massey as Mr. Zuss; Christopher Plummer as Nickles; Nan Martinas Sarah; Lane Bradbury as Jolly; Bert Conway as Bildad; and others.

Playing Around the World

Jeu du Tour du Monde. Paris, J. Hetzel & F. Didot, [c.1875]. Letterpress and wood engraving. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2015- in process

In 2011, the Graphic Arts Collection acquired a board game after the Jules Verne novel Around the World in 80 Days: https://blogs.princeton.edu/graphicarts/2011/01/around_the_world_and_around_th.html.

We recently acquired a publisher’s advertisement for that game in the form of a large printed broadside (75 x 68 cm,) mounted on linen. At the middle of the leaf is a circular version of the game (first published in 1873) although it was actually played in a continuous spiral that led to a center, winning cell. Here, the inside of the circle is filled with a map of the world, together with instructions and rules for the game.

Among other information the advertisements surrounding the game include subscription details for Hetzel’s Magasin Illustré d’Éducation et de Récréation, where Verne’s novels were first published in serial form.

Les Héros de la ligue

Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704), Les Héros de la ligue. Ou, La procession monacale. Conduitte par Louis XIV, pour la conversion des protestans de son royaume (The Heroes of the League: Or, The Monastic Procession. Led by Louis XIV for the Conversion of Protestants in his Kingdom) (Paris [i.e. Hollande]: Chez père Peters à l’enseigne de Louis le Grand, 1691). 2 preliminary leaves: 24 Mezzotints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2015- in process

The Graphic Arts Collection is pleased to add this volume that contains a satirical poem, “Sonnet. Reponse des refugiez aux persecuteurs,” and 24 caricature portraits representing persons playing an important role in the religious struggles at the time. Several years earlier, on October 22, 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes by signing the Edict of Fontainebleau, which ordered the destruction of Huguenot churches, as well as the closing of Protestant schools.

Each portrait is accompanied by a quatrain. The portraits have been ascribed to C. Dusart, and, with less probability, to L. Gaultier. A set of twelve of the original coloured drawings by Dusart are in the University of Leiden.

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Antiquarian Book Fair

Posted in honor of the antiquarian book fair in New York City: http://nyantiquarianbookfair.com/visitors/

Mabel Dwight (1876-1955), Book auction, 1932. Lithograph. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2007.01209

Scott’s personal study

George Washington Wilson (1823-1893), Abbotsford, the Study, [1880]. Albumen silver print. Graphic Arts Collection 2015- in process

This albumen photograph shows the personal study of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), the last room to be completed at Abbotsford in 1824. Over the fireplace, Scott chose one of the most popular engravings of his era, The Pilgrimage to Canterbury after Thomas Stothard.

William Henry Worthington (ca. 1790-after 1839) after Thomas Stothard (1755-1834), The Canterbury Pilgrimage, 1822. Engraving. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2005.00807

Scott was one of the original subscribers of the engraving, published in 1817 and sold at six guineas (the common impressions were three guineas each). This edition sold out quickly and has been recorded as having the most extensive sale of its kind within the last hundred years. Princeton’s Graphic Arts Collection has only a later 1822 impression by Worthington.

Luigi Schiavonetti (1765-1810) and James Heath (1757-1834) after Thomas Stothard (1755-1834), The Pilgrimage to Canterbury, 1809-1817. Etching and engraving. Print and original painting in the Tate Britain.

In 1806 Thomas Stothard received a commission from [Robert] Cromek the engraver to paint his famous picture of the Canterbury Pilgrims setting forth from the Tabard Inn. The subject had been treated before by Stothard for Ritson, but Cromek had previously offered the commission to William Blake, and hence ensued a lamentable breach between the two old friends which was never healed. The picture … was exhibited in 1807 in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and drew crowds.

The engraving was entrusted to Luigi Schiavonetti, who etched the plate and engraved wholly or in part some of the figures. After his death it was being worked upon by Francis Engleheart when Cromek died (1812). It was next given to Niccolo Schiavonetti, who had not finished it at his death in 1813, and it was finally completed by James Heath and published in October 1817, some years after Blake’s rival engraving. Its success was enormous, but Stothard had no share in the profits.–Dictionary of National Biography

Die Quelle (The Source)

The Graphic Arts Collection holds the second portfolio in the series Die Quelle, along with a set of pen and ink drawings for the series. These volumes provide color and gilt designs for books covers, wall papers, upholstery, and other decorative materials. Volume 2 is predominately the work of the Austrian artist Max Benirschke, while volume 3 (not owned by Princeton) was primarily the work of Koloman Moser.

Max Benirschke (born 1880). Buchschmuck und Flächenmuster (Book Decoration and Patterns). Series: Quelle 2 ([Wien u. Leipzig]: Herausgegeben von Martin Gerlach, [1900]). 1 portfolio (30 leaves of plates) and 1 portfolio ([12] leaves of drawings). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2006-0347Q and Oversize 2006-0026E

The Four Accomplishments

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Go Playing, no date (about 1790). Color woodblock print. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2009.00694. Vertical Ôban. From the series Four Accomplishments (Kinkishoga).

The Graphic Arts Collection holds one of Utamaro’s four prints depicting the four cultural activities or arts to be mastered by an ideal Chinese scholar. These include the playing of the musical instrument gin; playing the board game weigi (later changed to go); the art of calligraphy; and that of painting. Utamaro parodies the tradition by showing courtesans rather than scholarly gentlemen playing the game of go.

Here is another from the series, owned by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Calligraphy (Sho), from an untitled series of the Four Accomplishments (Kinkishoga), about 1790–91. Vertical ôban. © Museum of Fine Arts Boston

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