Keith Sheridan Fine Prints - William Gropper

W i l l i a m - G r o p p e r- --1 8 8 7 - 1 9 7 7

The Horsemen- --c.1935, Color Lithograph.

Edition not stated. Signed in pencil. Signed in the stone, lower left.

Image size 14 x 18 1/8 inches (356 x 460 mm); sheet size 17 3/8 x 22 1/2 inches (442 x 572 mm).

A fine impression, with fresh colors, on off-white wove paper; full margins (1 3/4 to 2 1/4 inches). Paper hinging tape remains on the top sheet edge recto; several short repaired tears in the sheet edges, otherwise in excellent condition.

$650.

The Senate- --c.1940, Color Lithograph.

Edition not stated; a proof impression apart from the edition. Signed in litho crayon, lower right. Signed in the stone, lower right.

Image size 14 x 18 inches (356 x 457 mm); sheet size 17 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches (445 x 572 mm).

A fine, rich impression, with fresh colors, on pale warm gray wove paper, with margins (1 1/8 to 2 1/4 inches); in excellent condition.

SOLD

The Senate- --c.1940, Color Lithograph.

Edition not stated; a proof impression apart from the edition. Signed in the stone, lower right.

Image size 14 x 18 inches (356 x 457 mm); sheet size 17 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches (445 x 572 mm).

A fine, rich impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove paper, with margins (1 3/4 to 2 1/4 inches); in excellent condition.

$450.

Untitled (Heavenly Chariot)- --c.1940, Lithograph.

Edition not stated. Signed in pencil and signed in the stone, lower left.

Image size 12 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches (318 x 216 mm); sheet size 16 x 11 15/16 inches (406 x 308 mm).

A fine impression, with full margins (1 5/8 to 1 3/4 inches), on cream wove paper. Minor surface skinning and tape glue in the bottom right sheet corner; original brown paper tape remains on the top sheet edge, recto,all well away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition.

SOLD

Caprichos- --1953-56.

As a "subversive" artist, Gropper was called in to testify before the McCarthy committee. His name was displayed on the front pages of the country's newspapers, galleries stopped exhibiting his work and patrons stopped buying it. Intimidation by government agents, threats and more followed. His response to this ordeal was to create a series of 50 lithographs under the title Caprichos, after Goya whom he greatly admired. The works were an outlet for his frustrations as well as an indictment of the world which gave rise to the phenomenon of a McCarthy. Gropper's nightmarish imagery unflinchingly depicts the inequalities of society with the hypocrisy and insensitivity that informs it. As corrosive and victrolic as Gropper's cartoons, these works differ in that they yield their full meaning after repeated viewing and contemplation.

"The Caprichos, however, have far more distortion and exaggeration, bolder foreshortening, and more striking angles than is usual in Gropper's paintings. The laws of gravitation are suspended; bodies fly, float, leap. The human form undergoes a dislocation in its anatomic structure, as well as in shape, motion, and position. Gropper took advantage of all the technical resources of the lithographic medium: he worked directly into the stone, utilized the full range of tonality from the softest grays to the deepest blacks, created sharp contrasts of chiaroscuro, white and black lines in endless combinations. As a result the emotional impact of the Caprichos is pervasive and at times gripping, incisively conveyed by the draftsman's virtuosity."—Louis Lozowick, William Gropper, Associated University Presses, 1983.