Large format original lithograph on paper, ca. 1924.  Signed lower right in the plate. 16 x 21.5 inches (41 x 54.5 cm). Slightly toned, overall fine.

The Vienna String Quartet was led by the Austrian-American violinist Rudolf Kolisch (1896-1978) and later renamed the "Kolisch Quartet" after him. In this depiction, it is easy to identify Kolisch himself as the violinist sitting on the right side. A leading violin virtuoso of his time, after a left hand injury around 1905 he most remarkably learned to hold the violin in his right hand and bow left-handed, as he is here depicted.

Renowned graphic artist Benedikt Fred Dolbin was born as Fred Pollak in Vienna, Austria, changing his name to Dolbin in 1912. After studying at the Technical University of Vienna and studying music with Arnold Schoenberg and others, he worked in Berlin as a newspaper cartoonist, art critic, and book illustrator for various newspapers. He immigrated to New York in 1935, where he worked as an illustrator until his death on March 31, 1971.