Woodcuts and Linoleum Blocks
Weber, Max
New York / Great Neck, Long Island. E. Weyhe. 1956
An excellent example of the édition de tête with the additional signed suite.
From the edition limited to 225 copies each signed and numbered by Weber in ink, with this one of the first 25 from the édition de tête specially bound and with the additional portfolio of signed woodcuts; the remaining copies were issued in cloth and without the signed suite.
Max Weber (1881 - 1961) was a pioneering American painter and printmaker who studied in Paris in the early years of the twentieth century where he was exposed to the work of Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse, met Guillaume Apollinaire, attended Gertrude Stein's salon and made friends with Douanier Rousseau (Weber helped organise his first US exhibition). On his return to the US in 1909, Weber is credited with the introduction of Cubism to the New World.
'Most of the woodcuts in this volume were made from the walls of honeycomb cases. The soft silk-like quality of the basswood had a strong plastic appeal ... The delight in cutting the first block and the thrill of seeing the first printing on paper were so stimulating that a second and third were cut. WIth increasing skill and sustained interest a set of about forty was completed ... Every bit of material, be it stone, wood, ivory, bone or metal, contains a work of art. To bring to light the hidden beauty, the artist must establish spiritual intimacy with, and respect for, his material... Most of the small abstract woodcuts were made in 1918. In concept, designa dn graphic features the entire series is an outgrowth of crystal figure drawings and paintings done in 1911 - 1914, and abstract sculpture in 1915. The larger figurative woodcuts were made more recently.' (Max Weber writing in his introduction).
From the edition limited to 225 copies each signed and numbered by Weber in ink, with this one of the first 25 from the édition de tête specially bound and with the additional portfolio of signed woodcuts; the remaining copies were issued in cloth and without the signed suite.
Max Weber (1881 - 1961) was a pioneering American painter and printmaker who studied in Paris in the early years of the twentieth century where he was exposed to the work of Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse, met Guillaume Apollinaire, attended Gertrude Stein's salon and made friends with Douanier Rousseau (Weber helped organise his first US exhibition). On his return to the US in 1909, Weber is credited with the introduction of Cubism to the New World.
'Most of the woodcuts in this volume were made from the walls of honeycomb cases. The soft silk-like quality of the basswood had a strong plastic appeal ... The delight in cutting the first block and the thrill of seeing the first printing on paper were so stimulating that a second and third were cut. WIth increasing skill and sustained interest a set of about forty was completed ... Every bit of material, be it stone, wood, ivory, bone or metal, contains a work of art. To bring to light the hidden beauty, the artist must establish spiritual intimacy with, and respect for, his material... Most of the small abstract woodcuts were made in 1918. In concept, designa dn graphic features the entire series is an outgrowth of crystal figure drawings and paintings done in 1911 - 1914, and abstract sculpture in 1915. The larger figurative woodcuts were made more recently.' (Max Weber writing in his introduction).
[4 leaves of cream wove paper + 31 leaves of doubled Japon Shiduzoka]. 2 vols. 8vo. (258 x 174 mm). + Folio. (336 x 244 mm). Half-title, printed title with Weber's woodcut device and copyright verso, leaf with justification with woodcut by Weber, verso and following leaf with Weber's introduction and 31 woodcuts and linoleum cuts all on doubled leaves of Japon; also included is the additional portfolio with five additional woodcuts, each signed in pencil by Weber, on larger sheets of the same paper, sheet size: 320 x 230 mm. Original publisher's oatmeal cloth-backed printed paper-covered card boards, title gilt to spine, matching paper-covered board slipcase, additional prints loose in original grey card portfolio, white paper label with printed titles to upper cover.
#48617
