Doyle, John L. (American, 1939 - 2010). THE GREAT HUMAN RACE - MERCHANTS AND TRADERS. Fishy Whale Press, Rockford, IL., 1983. Boxed portfolio of 20 lithographs of ten subjects dealing with the theme of merchants and traders in history, each subject printed in colors on BFK Rives and without colors on handmade papers. Edition of 150 published for the artist and Roy Oliver at Chrysalis Publishishing. Each sheet is 30 x 20 inches, with inscribed title and other information, numbered 127/150 and signed by Doyle, all in pencil. With an introductory sheet explaining the work and its printing. In excellent condition throughout. The portfolio is described on an introductory sheet as follows:The "Merchants and Traders" is a visual interpretation of the market economy. From the age old silk road to the far reaches of the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan can be seen the coming together of the humblest peasant and the noblest gentleman, both participating in the cycle of production, circulation and consumption; providing in the process, a stage where can be seen the universality of the Great Human Race."This is one of a series of similar portfolios in a series titled "The Great Human Race," conceived by Doyle and printed as lithographs after Doyle's drawings by Roland Poska at his Fishy Whale Press. The production of the entire project was a collaboration of more than thirty years. The work is visionary, eccentric and gorgeous.John L. Doyle was born in Chicago. He Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at Northern Illinois University. His studies in anthropology and ethnology inspired the drawings which became the foundation of "The Great Human Race" series. Roland Poska (American, was born in 1938 in Scotland. His parents, originally from Lithuania, emigrated to the U.S. in 1948. Poska attended Rockford College, and Cranbrook Academy of Art. Beginning in 1963, he taught and the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee and subsequently founded and taught at the Milwaukee School of Art and Design. In addition to his teaching and work as a Master Printer, Poska was an artist in his own right, creating wall pieces and sculptures from molded papers of his own manufacture. He is considered a pioneer in the use of handmade papers as the basis of an artform in themselves, as well as as a vehicle for printing a work of art. It is likely that he made the papers used for the work he did with John Doyle. He died in 2017.
