Fritz Eichenberg - The Old Lady

Original Wood Engraving by the German / American artist, Fritz Eichenberg.

The Old Lady

View Our Selection of Original American Art of the Depression Era (c. 1930 - c. 1945)

American Art of the Depression Era (c. 1930 - c. 1945)
The American Art of the Depression Era directory contains a listing of original works of art from the Depression decade of the 1930’s and into the early 1940’s created by American artists. These pages also include information about the art publishers, associations, clubs, groups and societies located in major cities throughout the United States, such as Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Wichita, Philadelphia, Rochester, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and elsewhere. Many of these organizations provided an opportunity for American artists to work and create original works of art during the Great Depression. A few of the art associations and clubs active during this period that are discussed in this directory include the American Artists Group, the Associated American Artists, New York, the Buffalo Print Club, the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Lone Star Printmakers, the Prairie Print Makers, the Print Club of Cleveland, the Print Club of Philadelphia, the Print Club of Rochester, the Society of American Etchers, the Indiana Society of Printmakers, the Society of Washington D.C. Artists and the Syracuse Print Club.
01.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 1 (Artist Index (A to E)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: A to E): The following four pages contain a listing of original American etchings, lithographs woodcuts, serigraphs, watercolors, drawings, linocuts and wood engravings from the Depression decade of the 1930’s and into the early 1940’s. Despite the dire economic times publishers of original prints continued to survive and successfully raise revenue for the artists as well as making original art affordable during the Great Depression years. Listed on the first page of the 'American Art of the Depression Era' directory are over fifty original works of art created by American artists such as, George Elbert Burr, his etchings, Little Canyon, Arizona and Morraine Park were both commissioned by The Print Connoisseur, while his Evening, Arizona was published by The Brooklyn Society of Etchers. Also, works such as, Kenneth Ballantyne's original linocut, Wood Nymphs appeared in The Colophon in New York in 1931. George Elmer Browne’s The Fishing Fleet and Adolf Dehn’s Threshing Near Kilkenny published by the Associated American Artists (A.A.A.), are other outstanding examples of early prints from this decade.
02.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 2 (Artist Index (F to J)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: F to J): The second page of this directory also contains a list of over fifty original works of art created during the Great Depression years by American artists. One of the more interesting aspects of art of the Depression is how seldom the actual misery and privation of the decade is depicted. On this page, for example, only Hugo Gellert’s original lithograph, Primary Accumulation, protests the contemporary state of affairs. The visual arts (including films) set out to divert and entertain. Perhaps for artists an almost sure recipe for failure would have been to remind the average man of his sorry condition. On the contrary most areas of the entertainment industries thrived. The art of Kenneth Hartwell is an excellent example. His lithographs of circus acrobats, jugglers and clowns and of the music, dancing and comedy of the Burlesque shows are worlds into themselves. Gazing at his imagery the viewer is granted a temporary reprieve from the real world.
03.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 3 (Artist Index (K to P)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: K to P): Even in a Depression the sense of a continuation of normal activities persists. In Joseph Margulies, New England Granny the subject does exactly what grannies do best as she contentedly sits in her rocker, sewing. Philip Parsons depicts a joyful family reunion in Home for Christmas and Henry Pitz depicts the dignity of work in his monumental art deco style in both Maine Fisherman and Man Against the Sky. Purely by alphabetical accident, page 3 also contains two of my favorite night scenes: Alan Lewis’ delightful color woodcut, Swinging the Gate and Martin Lewis’ renowned Night in New York. This famous etching was published by the Chicago Society of Etchers in 1932.
04.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 4 (Artist Index (R to Z)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: R to Z): Like the previous three pages, page four of this directory provides a full variety of Depression era themes and techniques. Stark realities of the times are provided by W. P. Robinson (Abandoned Farm) and Isadore Weiner (Gardening). In contrast are pieces like John W. Winkler’s playful landscape, Rae Lakes, California and the fine animal studies by Clarence Zuelch. Two magnificent drypoints by Albert Sterner -- Meditation and The Promised Land – will also be found listed on that page. In particular, The Promised Land seems like a potent symbol of man’s journey through the decade of the Great Depression. In total, there are over two hundred works of original art created by American artists from the Depression decade of the 1930’s and into the early 1940’s listed in the 'American Art of the Depression' directory.

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Title:	The Old Lady
Artist:	Eichenberg, Fritz (Cologne, Germany, 1901 - Rhode Island, 1990)
Date:	1941
Medium:	Original Wood Engraving
Note:	Fritz Eichenberg: Author, teacher, scholar and illustrator, the many great wood engravings of Fritz Eichenberg represent a triumph of form and imagination. Born in Cologne, he first studied there at the Municipal School of Applied Arts before finishing his education in the art of wood engraving at the Staatliche Akademie fur Graphische Kunste, in Leipzig. In one of his books, however, Fritz Eichenberg relates an influence much stronger than any academic training; "How did I develop this anachronistic obsession? I grew up in a city 2,000 years old, with its ancient wood carvings of saints and sinners and its heritage of great printers and wood cutters. I must have been made aware early in my life of wood as a powerful medium for telling a story in images. After all, history has made Cologne into one great picture book, filled with the stories and legends of centuries." *
	Fritz Eichenberg's first illustrated book, "Till Eulenspiegel", was published in Leipzig in 1922. During the following ten years he worked as both an artist and reporter for various German publishers, particularly in Berlin. In 1933, Hitler came to power. Fritz Eichenberg had published a number of satirical attacks upon the dictator and was thus forced to flee. He settled in New York and began his teaching career there at the New School. In 1947 Eichenberg began his long association with the Pratt Institute. Becoming the chairman of the department of Graphic Arts in 1956, he founded the Pratt Graphic Arts Center. He also founded and edited the annual, "Artist's Proof" (1961), which was devoted solely to the graphic arts. In 1966, Fritz Eichenberg became the Chairman of the Art Department of the University of Rhode Island.
	During his productive career, Fritz Eichenberg published a number of fine, individual wood engravings. The largest part of his oeuvre, however, is found in the engravings he made for his many great illustrated books. In total he illustrated over one hundred volumes, including such masterpieces as "Tales of Edgar Allan Poe", "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights", "Crime and Punishment", "Fathers and Sons" and "In Praise of Folly". For most of his highly popular works the wood engravings were photo mechanically reproduced for large editions. Eichenberg, however, usually printed a small edition of each of his illustrative engravings directly from the block and hand signed them. This is the case with this beautiful engraving, entitled, "The Old Lady", which hails from his 1941 illustrations to "Fathers and Sons", written by Ivan Turgenev. The signed edition was limited to seventy-five impressions.
	Fritz Eichenberg wrote, "The fateful year Hitler's armies invade Russia (1941), I am given the opportunity to illustrate my second Russian classic, Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. ... Again the medium seems to fit the mood of the story, creating contrasts of light and dark as only the wood and the graver can. The illustrator casts himself in the role of a stage director, working also as a scenic and costume designer and as a lighting expert. I must study the trappings of the glittering salon and the peasant’s hovel, the old country doctor’s study and the setting of a small provincial town. Great novels like Fathers and Sons are period pieces, despite their relevance for our time, and the action cannot take place in a modern split-level ranch house or in a Sutton Place living room." *
Provenance:	"The Old Lady" hails from the collection of Roger Trlak and bearing his inventory number, T-459, on the verso. Roger Trlak (1934-1975) established the commercial art company of Martin-Trlak in Chicago. In 1972 he also opened the RST Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona where he exhibited not only his own large collection of 19th and 20th century art but also held important exhibitions of many modern artists. These Included such major American and international printmakers as Joseph Hirsch, Luigi Lucioni Paul Wunderlich and Fritz Eichenberg. Among Trlak's closest friends in the arts community were Raphael Soyer, Ivan Albright and Hans Burkhardt. Their original prints and paintings were constantly exhibited at the RST Gallery until it was closed in 1975 due to Trlak's untimely death.
Edition:	Limited edition of seventy five impressions.
Reference:	* Fritz Eichenberg, The Wood and the Graver: The Work of Fritz Eichenberg, New York, Clarkson N. Potter, 1977, pp. 12 & 13.
Size:	7 X 5 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials
	View larger Framed Image:

Buy Now	Price: $585.00 US
Condition:	Printed upon hand-made parchment paper and with full, large margins as in the limited, signed edition of seventy-five impressions. Signed by Eichenberg in pencil along the lower margin. A brilliant, tonal impression and in excellent condition throughout. Altogether, "The Old Lady" is a prime example of the art of Fritz Eichenberg, one of the greatest masters of twentieth century wood engraving.
	The original sales sticker for "The Old Lady" is included with the documentation.
Subject:	Fritz Eichenberg, "The Old Lady", original wood engraving, Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev, Pratt Graphic Arts Center, Artist's Proof, illustrated books.
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