Sigmund Abeles - The Artist's Mother Henrietta Banner Abeles

The Artist's Mother (Henrietta Banner Abeles)

An original etching and aquatint by Sigmund Abeles, The Artist’s Mother (Mom, 'Henrietta Banner Abeles') is surely one of the artist’s finest portraits. It was printed and published in a small edition of thirty s by Ferdinand Roten in 1966. Of this compelling work the artist states, “Portrait of the Artist's Mother. With her savings in the bank gone for good, the Great Depression and a really bad marriage that failed, my Mom had to move the two of us to the coast of South Carolina in 1936 and design, build and run a rooming house there. It was a way to support the two of us and stay at home. Yes, I was an only child of an only parent. Too distant from Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn my dad never showed up, except for my high school graduation -- too little, too late. Mom feared I would end up a starving artist and when it was clear I was obsessed only with art and horses, she really despaired! Becoming a university professor helped settle her worries for me down. She was a stunning beauty in her youth and back in NYC was a librarian in a Greenwich Village branch library. In the Jim Crow south, she was a strong Civil Rights liberal and taught her son well.” * This is printed upon Rives watermarked paper and with full, deckled margins, and is signed and numbered, ‘10/30’ by Sigmund Abeles in pencil under the plate-mark. The Artist’s Mother stands as a striking, original portrait study from one of America’s finest figurative artists, Sigmund Abeles.

The Artist's Mother (Henrietta Banner Abeles)

View other original works of art by Sigmund Abeles.

Abeles, Sigmund (New York, born, 1934)
#	Image	Title & Artist	Medium	Date	Notes	-
01.-		Afternoon Light (Figure Study of the Sculptor and Photographer, Anne Merck) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph	1978	Signed, "Abeles", & inscribed, "A. P." (Artist Proof) in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
02.-		B. G. Seated (Assistant at the Ahmherst Workshop) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Engraving with Plate Tone	1981	Signed & titled, "Abeles", "B. G. Seated", & inscribed "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And, bearing the text, "Nude Seated on Floor" on the back of the print. Printed by Robert Townsend, Amherst, Massachusetts.
03.-		Carl's Angus Cow (A Prize Winning Angus) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph (Rare)	1979	Signed, "Abeles", & inscribed "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And,bearing the text, "Carl's low" on back of print. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
04.-		Cock of The Roost by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint Engraving	1981	Signed and numbered "Abeles", "168/250"' by Sigmund Abeles in pencil, and signed within the plate, 'Abeles 01'. Published by the Associated American Artists, New York.	Sold
05.-		Curled Up (Figure Study of a Woman) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Etching with Plate Tone	1981	Signed, "Abeles", & inscribed "proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Robert Townsend, Amherst, Massachusetts.
06.-		Deadly Dancers (Commissioned for ‘The Permanent Revolution’ by the filmmaker, Manfried Kirchheimer) by Sigmund Abeles	Aquatint, Etching, Soft Ground, & Drypoint (Intaglio)	2008	Signed, titled, & numbered, "S. Abeles", "Deadly Dancers", "16/25" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Kathy Caraccio, NYC
07.-		Female Figure Standing with Fist at Back by Sigmund Abeles	Original Charcoal Pencil Drawing	2016	Signed, "Abeles", and dated "2016" in lower margin. Inscribed, "Female Figure Standing with Fist at Back", "2016" in pencil by the artist in lower right margin.
08.-		Janus Headed Man (Two Seated Figures Facing in Opposite Directions), with a 2nd Figure Study of Woman (on Back of Paper), both drawings by Sigmund Abeles	Original Charcoal Drawing with a 2nd Original Pencil Drawing (Back of Paper)	2014	Signed, "Abeles", titled, "2. Janus headed Man, and dated "2014" lower right corner. Also Inscribed, "Janus Headed man " "2014", & "charcoal" to the right of a second drawing, a figure study of a sleeping woman on the back of the paper.
09.-		Max / Shabbat (The Artist's Son, Maxwell Merck Abeles and his mother, Anne Merck-Abeles on Sabbath) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint on Chine Colle	1993	Signed and numbered "Abeles", "4/30" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in the lower margin, and published by the artist.
10.-		Max, ‘Max's Laugh, Max-Gelding's Laugh, Gelding's Laugh’ (My Horse, Max's Laugh) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Engraving & Etching	1971	Signed, titled, & numbered, "Abeles", "Max", "5/20" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles below the image. Also titled in pencil by him "Max's Laugh, Max-Gelding's Laugh, Gelding's Laugh" in lower right margin, and bearing the text, "Gelding" on the back of the print. Published by the artist.
11.-		My Rolling Mare, ‘Sayida’ (Study of the Artist's Horse) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint in Mauve Ink	1981	Signed, "S. Abeles", & inscribed "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Robert Townsend, s Workshop Boston, Ma..
12.-		Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph	1977	Signed, "S. Abeles", titled, "Pietrasanta Carver", & inscribed, "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
13.-		Portrait of a Young Woman (Margo Lillian Jefferson) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint Engraving	1969	Signed and numbered, "S. Abeles", "20/250" by Sigmund Abeles in pencil. Published by the Associated American Artists, New York	Sold
14.-		Red Haired (Seated Figure Study) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Graphite Drawing	April, 25, 2014	Signed, "S Abeles", "CA NYC" (Century Association, New York City), and dated "4.25.2014" in lower margin. Titled, "Red-Haired" in upper left corner. Also Inscribed, "Red-Haired" "4.25.2014", & "Pencil" on back of paper.
15.-		Seated Lady with folded Fingers (Figure Study) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Pencil Drawing	October, 1, 2015	Signed, "Abeles", and dated "1.10.2015" under the image. Also Inscribed, "Seated Lady with folded Fingers" in pencil on back of paper.
16.-		Self Portrait Shaved (Portrait of the Artist, Sigmund Abeles) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph	1978	Signed, "Abeles", & numbered, "1/10" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And, bearing the title, "Self Portrait" on the back of the print. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
17.-		The Artist's Mother The Artist's Mother (Henrietta Banner Abeles) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Etching and Aquatint	1966	Signed, titled, & numbered, "Abeles", "The Artist's Mother", "10/30" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And bearing the text, "The Artist's Mother" on the back of the print. Published by Ferdinand Rodent, Maryland.
18.-		Widowed Eve by Sigmund Abeles	Original Etching and Aquatint	1964	Signed, titled, & inscribed, "Abeles", "Widowed Eve", "artist proof" in pencil by the artist in lower right margin. Published and printed by Sigmund Abeles.

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Title:	The Artist's Mother (Henrietta Banner Abeles)
Artist:	Abeles, Sigmund (New York, born, 1934)
Date:	1966
Medium:	Original Etching and Aquatint
Printer:	Ferdinand Rodent, Baltimore, Maryland
Edition:	Limited Edition of 30 s, numbered '10/30' (Second State of Two)
Note:	Sigmund Abeles: One of the most honoured figurative artists of our time, Sigmund Abeles began his formal art education in 1952 at the Pratt Institute, New York. Two years later he enrolled at the Art Students League of New York and studied under Reginald Marsh, Harry Sternberg and Morris Kantor. As well, in 1955, Abeles received a scholarship to study at the Showhegan School in Maine, working under Isabel Bishop and Edwin Dickenson. A second scholarship in 1956 sent him to the Brooklyn Museum School to explore printmaking techniques. He also received his BA in painting from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University.
	The U.S. Army drafted Sigmund Abeles in 1957. After refusing to answer personal questions concerning some of the more liberal artists with which he had associated Abeles found himself classified as a security risk. (This was, after all, the incomprehensible, potential Communist under every bed, decade of McCarthyism.) Nevertheless, the Army employed Abeles as a technical illustrator and even assigned him top secret clearance. The artist worked for the Army in France, Czechoslovakia and Germany and describes his time there as "living Dr. Strangelove." **
	During his career, Abeles has been active as an original printmaker, painter, sculptor and as a teaching professor. In this latter category he has taught at the Swain School of Design, New Bedford (1961-64), Wellesley College (1964-67) and at Boston University School of Fine Arts, Boston (1969). Sigmund Abeles began teaching at the University of New Hampshire in 1970. He became a full professor there in 1979 and retired in 1987.
	As a sculptor, Sigmund Abeles has also achieved international acclaim, and like his paintings, drawings, and graphic art, a large body of his work in this medium consists of figure studies and portraits. Such works include, Gazing Upward (c. 1963), Expectant Sleeper (1965), Reclining Reader (1967), Caryatid Figure (1975), and many others. In 2007, the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum held the exhibition, From Whence I’ve Come featuring paintings, prints drawings, pastels and sculptures created by the artist from 1951 to 2007. Abele's pensive sculpture of a young girl in bronze, Kaethe, Age Nine, (1968), can be viewed at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina.
	Sigmund Abeles’ engravings, lithographs, pastel drawings and paintings are currently found in such major collections as the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, the San Diego Museum of Art, Yale University, University of Iowa Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Harvard University Art Museum, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, the Worcester Art Museum and the Honolulu Academy of Art, as well as other important public and private collections. The Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC recently featured six works by Sigmund Abeles held in its permanent collection (2016).
	Sigmund Abeles has held countless exhibitions throughout the United States, England, and Holland, featured in such events as, New Talent in Printmaking (1965), American Printmakers, (1968), American Contemporary Prints (1970), Living American Artists & The Figure, (1976), Abeles: The First 20 Years, Prints & Drawings (1979), Sigmund Abeles, Pastels, Oils, Prints & Drawings (1992), Sigmund Abeles: The Artist and His Prints (1999), The Art of Aging, Artists from Israel, England and North America (2004), It Figures, The Art of Sigmund Abeles (2012), as well as participating in many other successful solo, dual, group and traveling art exhibits during his artistic career. Major institutions that have held exhibitions featuring the artist's work include, AAA Galleries, NYC, the University of Nebraska, the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Rijksacademie, Amsterdam, the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, the University of New Hampshire, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, the Visual Arts Gallery at the State University of New York and at the Culture Center, New York City, Hebrew Union College, NYC, and many other prestigious institutions. A selection of the artist's most recent exhibitions include, Drawn to the Figure, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI (2011), The Art of Influence, Asian Propaganda, British Museum, London (2013), The Way of Flesh Part II, Mt. San Antonio College Art Gallery, (2014), Sigmund Abeles Pastels, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC (2014), An Artist's Eye: A Journey through Modern and Contemporary Art with Sigmund Abeles, held consecutively with Figuratively Speaking, The Art of Sigmund Abeles, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, (2011), and will be featured at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC (2016).
	Among the many professional honours received, Sigmund Abeles was honored with the Arts and Letters Award and grant from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters for "etchings that pierce the comforting screen and reveal man in all his naked helplessness." (1965). He was elected a National Academician of the National Academy of Design, NY in 1977, The Florsheim Foundation Grant (1987, & 1992), Honorary Doctorate of Arts Degree and commencement speaker, Coastal Carolina University in 2000, and the Hall of Fame Honoree, Pastel Society of America, National Arts Club in 2004.
	Many scholars have tried to find a definition for the compelling art of Sigmund Abeles. Perhaps the most appropriate words come from the artist himself: "I'm a figurative artist - but not in a straight representational way. My work has an expressionist quality with psychological overtones; it might be called ' expressive realism' or 'psychological realism'. When I look at a figure, I don’t see just form - I see who the person is and what the person is feeling." He has also stated, "People often quote me on something I wrote about Degas. "He kept looking when most people look away. ' When I look, I constantly seek for a corner to start peeling back the surface layers." ***
	The Artist's Mother (Henrietta Banner Abeles): An original etching and aquatint by Sigmund Abeles, The Artist's Mother, or 'Mom' as Abeles poignantly called her during our conversation, depicts a portrait of 'Henrietta Banner Abeles. This is surely one of the artist’s finest portraits. The Artist's Mother was printed and published in a small edition of thirty s by Ferdinand Rodent, Baltimore, Maryland in 1966. This is the 'Second State of Two', and is signed, 'Abeles', titled, 'The Artist's Mother', & numbered, '10/30' in pencil by the artist in lower right margin, and bearing the text, 'The Artist's Mother' on the back of the print. Of this compelling work the artist states, "Portrait of the Artist's Mother. With her savings in the bank gone for good, the Great Depression and a really bad marriage that failed, my Mom had to move the two of us to the coast of South Carolina in 1936 and design, build and run a rooming house there. It was a way to support the two of us and stay at home. Yes, I was an only child of an only parent. Too distant from Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn my dad never showed up, except for my high school graduation -- too little, too late. Mom feared I would end up a starving artist and when it was clear I was obsessed only with art and horses, she really despaired! Becoming a university professor helped settle her worries for me down. She was a stunning beauty in her youth and back in NYC was a librarian in a Greenwich Village branch library. In the Jim Crow south, she was a strong Civil Rights liberal and taught her son well." * This original etching and aquatint is a striking example of the portrait art created by the internationally renowned American artist, Sigmund Abeles.
	* Comments by Sigmund Abeles to Art of the Print, August. 2016.
	** David S Andrew, Sigmund Abeles: A Retrospective, Durham, University of New Hampshire, 1988.
	*** Sigmund Abeles: Expressive Realist Painter & Printmaker, Biddington’s, New York, http://www. biddingtons. com.
Size:	11 3/4 Circular (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	UnMatted
Buy Now	Price: $900.00 US
Condition:	Printed upon Rives watermarked paper and with full, deckled margins as published by Ferdinand Rodent, Baltimore in 1966. Signed and numbered, ‘10/30’ by Sigmund Abeles in pencil under the plate-mark. This is a strongly printed and is in excellent condition throughout. The Artist's Mother (Mom, 'Henrietta Banner Abeles') stands as a striking, original portrait study from one of America’s finest figurative artists.
Subject	Sigmund Abeles, The Artist's Mother (Mom, 'Henrietta Banner Abeles'), portrait of the artist's mother, original etching and aquatint, Ferdinand Roten, Baltimore, portrait study, America’s finest figurative artists, National Academician, American artist.
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