TWELVE PRINTS BY CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ARTISTS

Kent, Rockwell, et al. TWELVE PRINTS BY CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ARTISTS. Edited by Carl Zigrosser (1891-1975) and designed by Bruce Rogers (1870-1957) and printed by Edwin Rudge on watermaked Japan paper. E. Weyhe, NY, 1919. Edition of 115 copies, of which 15 were reserved for the artists and collaborators, and 100 were for sale, this being one of the latter. Folio (19 x 14 inches, 48 x 36 cm.), cloth portfolio with title label, Title page, two pages of text by Zigrosser, Table of Contents and twelve plates of varying sizes, each signed by the artist. In excellent condition.Erhard Weyhe (1883-1972) established the Weyhe Galley at 794 Lexington Avenue in New York in 1919, with Zigrosser as the Director. In addition to dealing in art, the gallery published prints, singly and in portfolios, usually of the work of emerging American Modernists. This portfolio, dating from the first year of Weyhe Gallery's existence was the first of these publications. Zigrosser engaged Bruce Rogers to design the portfolio, and also personally sought out the artists, visited their studios and selected the works to be included in "Twelve Prints." "Blue Bird," was Rockwell Kent's first published print (Burne-Jones 1); "The Copyist at the Metropolitan," (Morse 148) was being worked on when Zigrosser visited, and its inclusion in the portfolio preceded Sloan's own edition.The full list of artists and the titles and media of their works is as follows: Earl Horter - The Dark Tower, etching Rockwell Kent - Blue-bird, wood engraving William Auerbach-Levy - Tony, etching Kenneth Hayes Miller - The Bather, drypoint Jerome Myers - Springtime, drypoint Walter Pach - Brooklyn Bridge, etching Boardman Robinson - Russia, 1915, lithograph Rudolph Ruzicka - East River, Evening, wood engraving John Sloan - The Copyist at the Metropolitan, etching Maurice Sterne - Dancing Figure, lithograph Albert Sterner - Earth, lithograph Mahonri Young - Navaho Woman and Pony, drypoint The prints all in excellent condition except for creasing and associated nicks at the extreme sheet edges; the slipcase in very good condition except for the loss of the string ties and some wear to the inner sides of the flap folds. Complete sets are now rare; none has come to auction in more than ten years. OCLC locates 12 copies.