Marvin Bileck, Amer., (1920-2005), TIDAL ROCKS Softground Etching and Engraving, circa 1973. An Artist's Proof, inscribed "AP 1/3, (edition, if any, not known). Unsigned. With tack holes to corners, on a cream wove Basingwerk paper. 7 3/4 x 9 7/8 inches (plate), 9 x 11 1/2 inches (sheet). In excellent condition. Marvin Bileck spent his Fulbright years in the print study rooms of the Louvre, soaking up the etching echnique of the old masters, in particular Hercules Segers. Bileck seems to only have signed his prints as they were included in exhibitions or dispatched to a dealer. Both Marvin Bileck and his wife the artist Emily Nelligan, were protective and rather evasive where their own work was concerned, thus a pencil signature pedigree is a scarce commodity on Bileck's prints. There remains a rich legcy of fascinating progressive proofs which give insight into Bileck's methodical creative process. Ultimately this working towards an exacting vision of his communion with the rocky coast of Maine's Cranberry Island, provides us a summation of what his very unique and masterful prints were about. (Comments by Marc Chabot).
