P a u l - L a n d a c r e - - 1 8 9 3 - 1 9 6 3


Headland, Big Sur Coast- -1930, Wood Engraving.

Edition 50 (37 signed impressions). Signed, titled and numbered 1/50 in pencil. The artist's initials in the block, lower left. Wien 87; Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 11.

Image size 5 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches (149 x 200 mm); sheet size 8 3/4 x 11 1/8 inches (222 x 283 mm).

A superb, flawless impression, on cream Japan, with full margins (1 3/16 to 1 3/4 inches). The full sheet, with deckle all around, in excellent condition. Printed by the artist. Scarce.

The 'black petrel' Landacre estate stamp in the bottom right margin, recto; Origins of Art stamp in the bottom right sheet corner, verso.

Provenance: This impression formerly from the collection Anthony Lehman, author of Paul Landacre: a Life and a Legacy, 1983.

Note: the thin parallel lines of this work create a moiré when photographed which is not seen when viewing the original print.

Collection: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Whitney Museum of American Art.

SOLD

California Coast, Big Sur

Edge of the Desert- -1930-31, Wood Engraving.

Edition 50. Signed, titled and numbered 29/50 in pencil. Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 25.

Image size 5 15/16 x 7 7/8 inches (151 x 200 mm); sheet size 8 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches (222 x 286 mm).

A fine, richly-inked impression in warm black ink, on cream Japan paper, with full margins (7/8 to 1 7/8 inches). Printed by the artist.

Included by the artist in a group of prints reserved for his wife which he considered among his best works.

First Prize, California Society of Etchers, 1932.

Collection: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

SOLD

California Coast, Big Sur

Monterey Hills -1930-31, Wood Engraving.

Edition 50 (only 33 signed impressions). Signed, titled and numbered 5/50 in pencil. The artist’s monogram in the block, lower left. Scarce.

Image size 5 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches (149 x 200 mm); sheet size 8 13/16 x 11 1/4 inches (224 x 286 mm).

A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove Japan paper; the full sheet with margins (1 1/4 to 1 7/8 inches); slight toning within the original mat opening, otherwise in excellent condition. The artist’s original brown paper hinges in the top left and right sheet corners, recto. Printed by the artist.

Included in Landacre's acclaimed California Hills and Other Wood Engravings, Bruce McCallister, publisher, 1931.

Collection: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

$4600.

California Coast, Big Sur

Smoke Tree Ranch- -1932, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 (58 signed impressions). Signed, titled and numbered 8/60 in pencil. Wien 110; Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 25.

Image size 6 3/4 x 10 1/16 inches (171 x 256 mm); sheet size 10 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches (260 x 311 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on cream laid Japan, with full margins (1 to 2 1/4 inches). The paper lighter within the original mat opening, otherwise in excellent condition. Printed by the artist and Included by him in a group of prints reserved for his wife which he considered among his best works.

One of the artist's earliest and most successful, large, sweeping California landscapes; this work was First Prize winner of the 1932 Print Club of California competition, and was selected for Fifty Prints of the Year, 1933.

Exhibited: White on Black: The Modernist Prints of Paul Landacre, Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2013.

Collections:The Huntington Art Collections, Columbia University Libraries, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Seattle Art Museum, University of Arizona Museum of Art.

SOLD

California landscape

Tuonela - -1934, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 signed impressions from the 1st edition; 9 signed impressions form the second edition. Signed and titled in pencil. Wien 152; Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 44.

Image size 10 1/4 x 7 5/8 inches (260 x 193 mm), sheet size 14 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches (375 x 267 mm).

A fine, black impression from the first edition, second block; on cream Japan Kitakata, with good margins (1 1/4 to 2 3/8 inches), in excellent condition. After the first block broke early in the edition, Landacre recarved the image, preserving the original composition but significantly simplifying the shading overall. It has not yet been determined if Landacre included the first block impressions in his numbering of this first edition. In the second edition he printed only 17 impressions (plus 1 unsigned proof) from an intended 150. Printed by the artist.

Reproduced: Paul Landacre: A Life and a Legacy, Anthony Lehman, 1983.

Collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Library of Congress (Pennell Fund purchase), Harvard Art Museums, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

SOLD


Monday- -1934, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 (55 signed impressions). Signed, titled and numbered 38/60 in pencil. Wien 154. Inscribed To Jane and Dave from Paul in pencil, beneath the artist’s signature.

Image size 8 1/16 x 10 3/8 inches (205 x 264 mm), sheet size 10 1/2 x 13 3/8 inches (268 x 349 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on cream wove Kitakata Japan paper; the full sheet with margins (1 to 1 1/2 inches); slight lightening to the paper within the original mat opening; the artist’s original brown paper hinge at the top center sheet edge, otherwise in excellent condition.

Exhibited: One Hundred Prints, Art Institute of Chicago, 1935; American Scene: American Prints 1900-1950, Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana, April 8-June 19, 2005.

Awarded ‘First Prize for Group’ at San Diego Arts Guild (withTuonela andThe Press), 1934.

Collections: Ball State University (Digital Media Repository); Blanton Art Museum; San Diego Museum of Art; University of Texas.

SOLD

Washer Woman, Farmyard, Rural America, Country Life, Regionalism, Modernism

Laguna Cove - -1935, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60, 2nd edition 150, Woodcut Society 200. Signed and titled in pencil. Wien 247; Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 47.

Image size 5 1/4 x 7 1/8 inches (133 x 181 mm); sheet size 7 1/4 x 10 5/8 inches (184 x 270 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on cream wove Japan, with full margins (3/4 to 1 3/4 inches), in excellent condition.

An impression from the edition published for the Twentieth Presentation Print of the Woodcut Society, 1941. Printed by Torch Press, Cedar Rapids.

Illustrated in James Swann: In Quest of a Printmaker, Czestochowski, 1990. Purchase Prize, Library of Congress, 1942.

Collections: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Brooklyn Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Harwood Museum of Art, The Huntington Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), Library of Congress (Pennell Fund purchase), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Smith College Museum of Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, University of Southern California, Yale University Art Gallery.

$3800.


Lot Cleaning, Los Angeles - -1935, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 (53 signed impressions). Signed, titled and numbered 51/60 in pencil. Wien 169; Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 69.

Image size 12 1/8 x 6 1/16 inches (308 x 154 mm); sheet size 15 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches (400 x 267 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on Kitakata paper, with full margins (1 3/4 to 2 3/8 inches). Brown paper hinge remains on the top sheet edge, recto; soft crease in the top left margin, well away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition. Paul Landacre red estate stamp on the bottom right sheet edge, recto; Origins of Art stamp on the bottom right sheet corner, verso. Printed by the artist.

Presented to the Paul Landacre Association. First prize, Los Angeles County Fair, 1935; First Prize, Philadelphia Print Club, 1936.

Collections: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art.

$4800.


Sultry Day - -1935, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60, 1935; second edition of 150 (only 7 impressions printed); third edition 200 unsigned impressions, American Artists Group, 1937. Wien 170; Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 71.

Signed P LANDACRE and dated 1937 in the block, lower left.

Image size 8 x 6 inches (203 x 154 mm); sheet size 18 x 13 inches (457 x 330 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (3 1/2 to 5 7/8 inches). Slight skinning on the top sheet edge, verso, where previously hinged, otherwise in excellent condition.

An impression from the 1937 unsigned, unnumbered edition of 200 published by American Artists Group.

First Honorable Mention, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1936. Selected for exhibition at the Venice Biennale, 1938.

Reproduced: Exhibition catalog, Paul Landacre: Prints and Drawings, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1983; Original Etchings, Lithographs and Woodcuts Published by the American Artists Group, Inc., New York: The Group, 1936.
Exhibited: Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, 2000; Paul Landacre: Prints and Drawings, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1983; Pressed In Time: American Prints 1905-1950, The Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, 2007-2008.

Collections: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Harvard Art Museums, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Library of Congress (Pennell Fund purchase), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, Spencer Museum of Art, Terra Foundation for the Arts, Yale University Art Gallery.

SOLD

Summer, Female nude, cat, reading, modernism, Landacre

Verdi- -1936, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 (only 14 printed). Signed, titled and numbered 10/60 in pencil. Wien 188.

Image size 6 3/4 x 4 5/8 inches (171 x 117 mm); sheet size 10 1/2 x 8 1/8 inches (267 x 206 mm).

A fine impression, on cream laid Japan, with full margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/4 inches). The paper lightened within the previous mat opening; otherwise in excellent condition. Printed by the artist. Scarce.

Created for the radio station KECA as one of twelve program covers for their concert series broadcast from 1935 - 1936.

Reproduced: Great Composers from 12 Wood Engravings by Paul Landacre, Invierno Press, Los Angeles, 1979.

Collection: University of Arizona Museum of Art.

$1600.

Verdi, Portraits, Great Composer, Classical Music, Symphony

Hill -1936, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 (54 printed); 2 impressions printed in a second edition of 150. Signed, titled and numbered 49/60 in pencil. Wien 191.

Image size 5 x 8 11/16 inches (127 x 221 mm); sheet size 7 1/4 x 10 5/8 inches (184 x 270 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on cream wove Japan paper, the full sheet with the artist’s original brown paper hinges in the top sheet edge; margins (7/8 to 1 5/16 inches). Several spots of pale foxing in the margins, well away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition. An impression from the first edition, printed by the artist.

Reproduced and exhibited: Paul Landacre: Prints and Drawings, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1983; Paul Landacre: A Life and a Legacy, Anthony Lehman, 1983.

"In Hill, Landacre explores sensuality in a landscape more openly than ever before. The flowing lines of the hills in Point Sur have been replaced by a soft, slightly rounded cross-hatching that describes the velvetiness of the hillside, the same technique Landacre uses to describe flesh in Anna and Yesterday. Hill comprised part of the seocnd series of prints presented to the Paul Landacre Association's members, and was shown in the 1938 Venice Biennale." —Paul Landacre: Prints and Drawings, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1983.

Collections: Brooklyn Museum, San Diego Museum of Art.

$5500.

Schubert, Great Composer, Classical Music, Symphony

Anna- -1937, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 (53 signed impressions), second edition 150 (4 signed impressions). Signed and numbered 33/60 in pencil. Wien 201; Zeitlin & Ver Brugge 84.

Image size 9 x 4 1/2 inches (230 x 115 mm); sheet size 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches (267 x 185 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on cream wove Japan paper, with full margins (3/4 to 1 3/8 inches), in excellent condition. An impression from the first edition, printed by the artist.

This work was created for the cover of the Prospectus, Paul Landacre Association, 1938.

Selected for exhibition at the Venice Biennale, 1938.

Collections: Brooklyn Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Laguna Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Collection: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art.

$2400.


Pelican - - 1939, Wood Engraving.

Edition 60 (38 signed impressions). Signed, titled and numbered 45/60 in pencil. Wien 221.

Image size 8 11/16 x 8 11/16 inches (221 x 221 mm); sheet size 11 1/4 x 13 inches (286 x 330 mm).

A brilliant, black impression, on buff wove Japan, with full margins (1 1/4 to 2 1/8 inches), in excellent condition. Scarce.

Reproduced on the cover of 'Westways' magazine, July, 1939. Northwest Printmakers Purchase Prize, 1940.

Collections: Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art.

SOLD

Pelican, Bird, Nature, sailboat, Dock, Water Foul

Vengeance - -1942, Wood Engraving.

Edition 100. Signed and titled in pencil. The red petrel estate stamp, bottom right sheet edge, recto. Origins of Art stamp, bottom left sheet corner, verso. One of only two signed impressions. Wien 255.

Image size 12 1/16 x 8 3/4 inches (306 x 222 mm); sheet size 14 9/16 x 10 1/2 inches (370 x 267 mm).

A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream wove Japan paper, the full sheet with margins (7/8 to 1 3/8 inches); attached with the artist’s brown paper hinges to the artist’s original paper mat, annotated in the artist’s hand, Paul Landacre Vengeance in the top left backing board corner, verso, in excellent condition.

"In 1942, Richard Millar, who had been a member of the Landacre Association in the 1930s, was serving as president of the Vultee Aircraft Company, when Jake Zeitlin (Landacre’s dealer) suggested that Millar commission Landacre to create a set of wood engravings of Vultee planes. Millar made an agreement with Landacre to produce three wood engravings of Vultee planes in editions of 100 signed prints each. 'Vengeance', the name designated by Vultee for its new dive bomber was the only one of the three commissioned works that Landacre completed. Although the Lehman Biography records the completion of the edition of Vengeance (p. 166), the absence of signed impressions in the marketplace as well as in public collections suggests that few impressions of Vengeance were printed and only two signed impressions have been recorded. According to an art student at Pomona College who had helped Landacre during his residency there in 1940 and stayed in touch with him afterward, the project may have terminated prematurely due to a disagreement between Landacre and his sponsor over the commercial use of the print. (Bertram P. Spencer to Anthony Lehman, undated letter [circa 1980]". —from the forthcoming catalogue raisonné by Jake Wien

Collection: The Wolfsonian Museum (Florida International University, Miami Beach).

SOLD


Spring 1944- - 1944, Wood Engraving.

No edition—one of only four known impressions (only three signed). Signed and titled in pencil. Wien 261.

Image size 9 7/8 x 7 1/4 inches (251 x 184 mm); sheet size 13 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches (343 x 267 mm).

A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream wove Japan paper; the full sheet with margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/8 inches); adhesive stains at the four sheet corners where previously mounted, well away from the image, otherwise in very good condition. Printed by the artist. Very scarce.

SOLD

Pelican, Bird, Nature, sailboat, Dock, Water Foul

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