181.
[Jazz & Song]
[Harlem/Jazz]. Group of 1930's Matchbook Covers
Group of four colorful 1930's night-club and jazz-related matchbook covers. Included are covers advertising Cab Calloway, with a portrait and a brief text about him; Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, with a facsimile of his signature and the line "Everything is Copesetic"; Issy Bushkoff's Creole Revue at the Club Esquire; and the Cotton Club, with a drawing of African dancers. Folding creases and staple marks with some light wear; overall very good. Each ca. 1.5 x 4.5 inches (4 x 11.5 cm). An evocative grouping of ephemera!
182.
[Literature & Art]
Bacon, Francis. (1909–1992). Roger Cornaille with Frankenstein - Original Photograph
An extraordinary and rare original photograph taken by the British artist known for his emotionally charged imagery, fixation on personal motifs, and experimentation. Dye diffusion transfer print, taken ca. 1975 by Francis Bacon at the celebrated Parisian bookstore Librairie Le Minotaure, the image depicts - in a slightly blurred and unsettling fashion reminiscent of Bacon's painted oeuvre - the store's owner Roger Cornaille engaging with a Frankenstein hand puppet. The location and photographer are identified by the subject himself, a friend of the artist, in a handwritten caption on the verso: "Au Minotaure / vu par Francis Bacon!" The photograph is identified with the code on the verso "G511232," possibly establishing the date of film manufacture as July (G), [197]5 according to the dating of Polaroid's 7-digit codes. Some surface wear; overall very good. 4.25 x 3.5 inches (10.9 x 8.5 cm). From the Collection of Denis Cholet, author of "Le Minotaure: souvenirs d'une librairie de Paris, 1948 - 1987." Archivally framed to an overall size of 11 x 14 inches. Read More...
Striking early woodcut from the German illustrator, graphic designer and painter, created for the final issue of the Vienna Secession art journal Ver Sacrum in 1903, when Behmer was only 24. The illustration shows the skeletal, red figure of Death crouching in the branches of a tree. Identified in a later hand at the foot. Fine. 6.25 x 6.5 inches (16.6 x 16 cm). Read More...
Show all available items in this catalogue matching:ArtArt & Design
Genève - Paris - Montréal: Éditions du Milieu du Monde. 1946. Signed and inscribed on the half-title: "Pour Théo, un livre crépusculaire, - mai il n'y a pas de soir pour l'amitié. Colette." 218 pp. With two leaves of typewritten notes on the book. Softcover, original wrappers, with red paper covers with handwritten title to spine. Toning, some light edge wear; overall very good. 4.75 x 7.5 inches (12.3 x 19 cm). Read More...
An amusing autograph letter signed from the American poet to composer David Diamond, offering him consolation after a bad review by Virgil Thomson of his Concerto for Two Pianos. January 30–31, 1949; 1 p. Cummings writes: "Dear David— strictly (and I mean strictly) entre nous (i.e. between 1 less than 3 human beings) the undersigned considers VT's verdict re your concerto for two solo pianos an ignorant piece of malice. The malice doesn't surprise me slightly (all 'critics' being per se disappointed artists—& never forget that!) The ignorance does beaucoup. As for that line of tears (if indeed tears wept that line) it very quite simply aint. And do you, I casually continue, know the simple and only way to completely foil or entirely disappoint really malicious people? Yes I do know, you proudly assert. Then tell me in 4 words, I sternly command. Keep Your Shirt On, you laughingly answer. Kid, I observe, you're not the rube you were once: times have certainly changed; you're a man of the world now. Salud, Cummings." Read More...
New York: Arrow Editions. 1935. Color frontispiece by Ben Shahn. 37 pp. Ballet scenario by the noted poet, owned by composer David Diamond and with annotations in Diamond's hand. Diamond has numbered sections of the piece in the left margin and added a few scattered check marks throughout. Hardcover, brown cloth stamped in silver. Fine. 6.25 x 8.75 inches (16 x 22 cm). Laid in is a typed copy of "Lawd My Hope," a poem by Cummings written at Diamond's request to be sung as part of the ballet. Folding creases, a few sums in fountain pen at the head; very good. 8.5 x 11 inches (21.5 x 28 cm). Read More...
Etching, aquatint, embossing, punched holes. Signed at the lower right and numbered 41 / 210 at the lower left. 25.25 x 18.75 inches (46 x 62 cm). In very fine condition. Archivally framed to an overall size of 22 x 29 inches. Read More...
A rare original photographer's contact sheet of 12 different portraits of the American novelist and Beat poet by photographer Burt Goldblatt. The images come from a photo shoot for the cover of the 1959 Hanover LP "Jack Kerouac - Blues and Haikus" with Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, and show Kerouac shadowed against a blank wall, writing by a window and several plants; and smoking next to a window. Some heavy diagonal creases; somewhat irregularly trimmed, with the images at the right only partially visible; some soiling and water damage to the verso; overall good. 10 x 8 inches (25 x 20 cm). NB: This item is copyrighted (c)Burt Goldblatt/CTSIMAGES and purchase of this item does not include reproduction rights of any kind without permission. Read More...
Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum. 1983. Signed exhibition catalogue from the Dutch American abstract artist, inscribed to curator Dorine Mignot on the front cover: "To Dorini with love Bill de Kooning." 62 (colour) illustrations and 1 photographic portrait, original wrapper, 4to. Stedelijk Museum Catalogus no. 700. Edited by Edy de Wilde, Rini Dippel and Dorine Mignot, with catalogue design by Wim Crouwel and Arlette Brouwers. The exhibition was shortly after also held at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek, and at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Spine creased, some light external toning; overall fine. 8.25 x 11 inches (20.8 x 27.8 cm). Read More...
Original handbill advertising a 1927 lecture by the Austrian and Czech architect, an influential theorist of modern architecture. The lecture, titled "Das Wiener Weh (Wiener Werkstätte): Eine Abrechnung!" ("The Viennese Woe... A Settlement of Accounts") took place at the Grosser Musikvereinssaal in Vienna. In very good condition. Sight size 5.75 x 8.25 inches (14.8 x 21 cm), framed to 9.5 x 11.5 inches. Read More...
Show all available items in this catalogue matching:ArtArt & Design
Large original photograph of the American poet and lecturer who wrote passionately on behalf of the "common man" and who earned national recognition in 1899, when his immensely popular poem of social protest "The Man With the Hoe" was published in the San Francisco Examiner. Photographed by E. Willard Spurr of Pasadena, with his stamp to the verso. Further stamps and notes on the verso indicate that this portrait was exhibited at the Golden Anniversary Convention of the Photographers' Association of America in 1930 and given a rating of 95/100! Overall fine. 16.25 x 18 inches (41.5 x 51 cm). Read More...
Secaucus: The Wellfleet Press. 1988. Signed by the artist in pencil on the title. 274, [2] pp., 358 full-page illustrations. Original cloth with dust jacket. Folio (9.75 x 12.5 inches). Very fine.
Although best-known for his monumental Pop sculptures, Claes Oldenburg is also a prolific creator of works on paper, for whom drawing and draftsmanship have always been an important creative process.
Small signature ("Picasso") from the important artist, on a 1966 Czechoslovakian stamp commemorating the Spanish Civil War, featuring Picasso's painting Guernica. Text to the stamp reads: "30th Anniversary of the International Brigade in Spain." The stamp, 3 x 1.25 inches, is mounted neatly within a hand-drawn border to a 6 x 3 inch card, with the signature slightly extending onto the card. Together with the original typed transmittal envelope addressed to the collector in New York, with French stamps postmarked March 27, 1970. In fine condition. Read More...
Exhibition poster signed by both artists, from the exhibition at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, September/October 1985. Color printed poster depicting Warhol and Basquiat wearing boxing gloves after the photo by Michael Halsband, signed in black by each artist above their portrait. 19 x 12 inches (49 x 31 cm). Folds, a few ink smudges likely from original signing. Nicely and archivally framed in red and yellow. Read More...
Signed 1956 program from the American theatre, silent film and sound film actress best-known as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz. She appeared in The Solid Gold Cadillac in September 1956 at the Boston Summer Theatre, and has signed "All good wishes / Billie Burke" on the first page of the program. Toning; overall fine. 6 x 9 inches (15.3 x 23 cm). Read More...
Evocative vintage press photograph of the great Hollywood star swimming in her home swimming pool ca. 1936. Press caption tipped to the foot of the photograph reads: "The candid cameraman catches Joan Crawford on an afternoon in her beautiful swimming pool [...] Absent from the screen for more than six months, Miss Crawford has now begun production on her new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, 'The Gorgeous Hussy,' a historical romance of early American and the star's first large scale costume vehicle." Light edge wear; overall fine. 8 x 10 inches (20.5 x 25.8 cm).
Group of five original color candid photographs of the legendary American actress, ca. 1960s. She is shown in two photographs in a pink dress and elaborate blue jewelry; in two photographs in a fur coat and pink turban; and in one photograph in a black dress, necklace, and fur stole. Very fine. Various sizes from 2.5 x 3.5 inches to 5 x 3 inches. Read More...
Group of four original candid photographs of the great American actress, ca. 1960. She is shown in two photographs in a dark coat, white gloves, and large corsage; in one photograph signing an autograph; and in one photograph through a car window. Fine. 3.25 x 4.5 inches and 4 x 5 inches (8.3 x 11.7 and 10.2 x 12.7 cm). Read More...
Vintage photograph of the great Hollywood actress lighting a cigarette with a flameless Lektrolite cigarette lighter, in an advertising campaign captioned "Hollywood Chooses Lektrolite." Light edge wear with one small edge tear; overall very good. 8 x 10 inches (20.2 x 25.7 cm).
Signed program from the American film and stage actor, who appeared in the play Point of No Return by Paul Osborn, based on the novel by John P. Marquand, at the Alvin Theatre in January 1952. He has signed on the cover of the playbill. 36 pp. Toning; light diagonal crease to cover; overall very good. 6.5 x 9 inches (16.7 x 22.8 cm). Read More...