Title: |
McHeath at Tunbridge Alley |
Artist: |
Levine, Jack (Boston, Massachusetts, born, 1915 - died, New York, 2010) |
Date: |
1968 |
Medium: |
Original Soft Ground Etching |
Note: |
Jack Levine: Born in Boston, Jack Levine
first studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts with Denham Ross (1929-1931)
and then completed his education at Colby College under Harold Zimmerman.
He then traveled extensively and lived for a period of one year in both
Rome and in Mexico. Levine gained recognition early in his career as a
painter and held his first one man exhibition in New York in 1938. Known
first for his biting social art, Levine drew the ire of those he often
portrayed, such as, the politicians, the generals and the arts establishment.
By 1950, this satirical vein gave Levine notoriety as the 'enfant terrible'
of the Social Realist School. |
|
During the following years, Levine continued
to both gain fame and stand against current art trends. He stated, " So
much of Abstract Expressionism seems to me a matter of sheer velocity.
To me, firing at a target is the real problem - learning how to paint
an ear or hand correctly. With the Abstract Expressionist, well - firing
at no target is not a great matter, no matter how fast the bullet goes." |
|
In 1960, Jack Levine turned for the first time
to the art of printmaking. From the start his original lithographs, etchings
and aquatints placed him among America's most accomplished printmakers.
Some of these monumental works of art continued to portray incisive social
criticism and social compassion while others (such as this original example
entitled, McHeath at Tunbridge Alley) examined personal relationships in a
truly riveting manner. Looking at this work of art it is little wonder
that today the etchings and lithographs of Jack Levine are considered
to be in the first rank of contemporary American art. |
|
Jack Levine's paintings and prints are included
in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the National
Museum of American Art, Washington, the Art Institute of Chicago, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. A full
member of the National Academy of Design, Levine was also an influential
teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts. |
|
Post World War Two American art was largely
guided by the current fashions of the day. Curators and critics alike
rushed from abstract expressionism to pop art to post modernism as moths
to the flame. With an almost brainwashed zeal they condemned any work
of art that looked vaguely realistic. One might almost say that in these
decades representational art was viewed as 'counter revolutionary'. Yet
such great painters and printmakers as Leonard Baskin, Charles White,
Ben Shahn, Philip Evergood, Chaim Koppelman and others produced outstanding
etchings and lithographs of a non abstract nature. Perhaps the most important
and influential of these fine artists was Jack Levine. |
Source: |
An original soft ground etching, McHeath at Tunbridge Alley belongs to
a set created in the latter 1960's when Levine was commissioned to make
a number etchings illustrative of Bertold Brecht's famous play, "The Three
Penny Opera". The etchings were published in New York in 1968 in limited
and signed editions ranging from 45 to 100 impressions. The plates were
then destroyed. They are delightful portrayals of the seamy characters
and their lives as penned by Brecht. |
Edition: |
Limited edition of forty five impressions,
numbered VI/XLV. |
Size: |
9 X 11 1/2 (Sizes in inches are approximate,
height preceding width of plate-mark or image.) |
|
Matted with 100% Archival Materials |
Buy Now |
Price: $585.00 US |
Condition: |
Printed upon fine, hand-made paper bearing
the 'Rives' watermark and with full, deckled margins as published in New
York in 1968. Signed and numbered 'VI/XLV' by the artist along the lower
margin. A beautifully printed impression and in excellent condition throughout.
McHeath at Tunbridge Alley stands as a prime example of the art
of Jack Levine, one of America's greatest modern masters. |
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