Swann- Old Master Through Modern Prints: Mary Cassatt, Pablo Picasso, Louis Lozowick, Joan Miró, Diego Rivera & more

 

The auction is led by Louis Lozowick’s scarce circa-1925 Art Deco lithograph New York, of which only three other impressions have been seen at auction in the past 30 years ($40,000-60,000). Edward Hopper is available with Night Shadows, etching, 1921 ($20,000-30,000): the work is the only commercial etching printed by Hopper and was created for The New Republic, New York, and published in a limited edition portfolio for their December 1924 issue. Additional works by American printmakers include color woodcuts by Gustave Baumann, classic views of New York City by Martin Lewis, and the important Regionalist lithographer Thomas Hart Benton.

Latin American stalwarts include Wifredo Lam with Pleni Luna, a 1974 portfolio with complete text and 10 color lithographs ($6,000-9,000); Mixografias by Rufino Tamayo: Personajes con Pajaros, 1988 ($4,000-6,000), and Hombre en la Ventana, 1980 ($5,000-8,000); as well as impressions by Diego Rivera, Leopold Méndez, David A. Siqueiros and Roberto Matta.

Old Master works include woodcuts, etchings and engravings by Albrecht Dürer, most notably a 1498 engraving Hercules, or the Effects of Jealousy ($30,000-50,000), and a 1498 woodcut The Adoration of the Lamb. Rembrandt van Rijn is present with the etchings The Descent from the Cross: Second Plate, 1633, and A Beggar Seated on a Bank, 1630, a likely early self-portrait (both $30,000-50,000), as well as Christ before Pilate: Large Plate, 1635–36, which also features a self-portrait of the artist ($20,000-30,000). Pieter Bruegel, Francisco José de Goya, Giovanni B. Piranesi and Martin Schongauer also feature in the section.

A superb selection of modern prints is anchored by a strong group of nineteenth-century artists, ranging from James A.M. Whistler to Paul Gauguin, and Impressionist stalwarts like Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt. A run of Whistler etchings includes Venus, 1859 ($7,000-10,000); one of only six known impressions of The Hangman’s House, Tours, 1888, ($8,000-12,000); and The Kitchen, 1858 ($4,000-6,000). 

Paul Gauguin is represented by an early color woodcut Mahna No Varua Ino, 1893–84 ($20,000-30,000); while Edgar Degas’s ballerinas make an appearance with the 1888–89 lithograph A la Barre ($10,000-15,000). A strong selection of drypoints by Mary Cassatt feature The Crocheting Lesson, circa 1902 ($12,000-18,000), Margot Wearing a Large Bonnet, Seated in an Armchair, circa 1904 ($10,000-15,000), and Reflection, circa 1890 ($8,000-12,000). 

Twentieth-century European masters include signature works by Pablo Picasso with Buste au Corsage à Carreaux, lithograph, 1957 ($25,000-35,000); Henri Matisse with Nu au Bracelet, linoleum cut, 1940 ($12,000-18,000); and Joan Miró with La Femme Toupie, color etching, 1974 ($35,000-50,000), Série Noire et Rouge, color etching, 1938 ($25,000-35,000), among others prominent Modernists.