Watercolor Figurative Prints

Alejandro Colunga is a renowned Mexican artist born in 1948 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He is part of the Nueva Mexicanidad movement and is celebrated for his surrealist and fantastical...

Detailed and dramatic hand-colored etching by Luigi Kasimir (Austrian, 1881-1962). St. Stephen's cathedral towers above the streets of Vienna, with people going about their daily bus...

Artist: Andy Warhol Title: Flowers (Hand-Colored) Medium: Screenprint hand-colored with watercolor on white wove paper Date: 1974 Edition: 238/250 Sheet Size: 40 7/8" x 27 1/4" Signa...

"Portrait of Giuseppe Garibaldi in front of the Sea" is an original mixed media (pencil, white lead) and gouache drawing on ivory-colorated cardboard by Anonymous Artist of XIX Century, perhaps Alessandro Sani...

London: Thomas Mclean, 1835. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper. 5 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches (135 x 195 mm), full margins. A lovely well inked impression with fres...

The present print is one of several examples produced for Nathaniel Currier by his longtime collaborator Frances F. "Fanny" Palmer. Harry T. Peters wrote of her: "There is no more interesting and appealing character among the group of artists who worked for Currier & Ives than Fanny Palmer. In an age when women, well-bred women in particular, did not generally work for a living Fanny Palmer for years did exacting, full-time work in order to support a large and dependent family ... Her work ... had great charm, homeliness, and a conscientious attention to detail." One of a series of four prints showing American country life in different seasons, the image presents the viewer with a picturesque view of a successful American farm. In the foreground, a gentleman rides a horse with a young boy before a respectable Italianate country house. Two women and a young girl pick flowers in the garden and several farm workers attend to their duties. Beyond are other homes and a city on the coast. 16.63 x 23.75 inches, artwork 28.13 x 33.38 inches, frame Entitled bottom center "American Country Life - May Morning" Signed in the stone, lower left "F.F. Palmer, Del." Signed in the stone, lower right "Lith. by N. Currier" Copyrighted lower center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." Inscribed bottom center "New York, Published by N. Currier 152 Nassau Street" Framed to conservation standards using silk-lined 100 percent rag matting and Museum Glass with a gold gilded liner, all housed in a stained wood moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

Joseph de Montalegre (after) Aranzo Gigante Verrucoso Limon di Fior Doppio, 4 prints 1702-1725. Four (4) reproductive prints with handcoloring on thick C.M. Fabriano cotton w...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. "Greek Beach Bliss" is a cyanotype of a woman's feet in the fresh water of a sandy beach shore...

A mischievous tableau with sexual overtones. Tokyo: Shuei-Sha, 1768. Woodblock print in colors printed on laid mulberry paper, 10 3/4 x 7 7/8 inches (273 x 200 mm), full margins. I...

Original 1960s fashion design from a Northern Italian fashion house. Sketched and coloured by hand with a pencil sketch of the reverse. The name and description of the outfit is type...

Estate stamped, verso, for Victor Di Gesu (American, 1914-1988) and created circa 1950. A substantial monotype and gouache showing a young woman seated, her kimono fallen open and b...

Artist: Andy Warhol Title: Wild Raspberries FS IV.126-143 The complete book, comprising 18 offset lithographs, 3 with hand-coloring, (one of which is a double plate), printed title page and two blank pages (as issued), with recipes by Suzie Frankfurt...

A large format book (15.25 x 11.25 inches), following the trend among leading Parisian couture houses who had been producing elaborately designed luxury catalogs since Paul Poiret’s ...

Figurative surreal etching print with watercolor by Polish artist Leszek Rozga. Artwork depicts several portraits in different styles. Artwork is signed by the artist, it comes from ...

Engraving with hand coloring and heightening in watercolor on two leaves of expertly conjoined handmade laid paper, one leaf with a large watermark a feathered dragon, 7 1/4 x 11 1/4...

A stunning 18th century optical view of London from the Thames. London: 1760. Copper plate engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on cream laid paper with a large circular wate...

The lithograph, "Blava taula Mexicana" pays homage to the beautiful country of Mexico which Alvar lived for a time in his life. The subject is a poetic mixture of elements drawn from...

Screen print & hand-finished watercolor on paper. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Pest Control included. Banksy’s Dumbo is an extremely rare Ban...

"Juan Sebastian Barbera (Mexico, 1964) 'Personaje', 1991 Silkscreen and Watercolor on paper Velin Arches 300 g. 15.8 x 11.9 in. (40 x 30 cm.) ID...

Scena di Battaglia (Battle Scene) is a wonderful hand-watered etching, made in 1760 by Luigi Guidotti ( Bologna, 1751 -1800 c.a), after Francesco Antonio Simonini. On lower margin u...

An excellent example of Rowlandson's visual commentary on the challenges of changing fashion for those with a less than ideal physique. Rowlandson, Thomas (after George Murgatroyd W...

A scene from a series of ghost stories and spooky rural legends. Tokyo: Matsuki Heikichi, 1896. Woodcut in ink with embossing and hand-coloring in watercolor on handmade mulberry pa...

Sedans used by the Japanese Ladies of Quality; One plate from Drake's Voyages London: circa 1860. Engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on cream laid paper; 7 1/2 x 10 3/4 inch...

Price is for the set of 12 framed engravings. Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made pa...

18th-century celestial FLAMSTEED, John. Andromeda Perseus Triangulum London, C. Nourse, 1753. A fine star chart from the Atlas Coelestis, the largest and most accurate star atlas ...

18th-century celestial FLAMSTEED, John. Aquila Sagitta.Vulpecula & Anser Delphinus London, C. Nourse, 1753. Hand coloured star chart heightened with gold and silver, engraved by ...

Brown ink and wash on laid paper with a grapes and vine watermark, 6 5/8 x 6 1/2 inches (168 x 164 mm). Laid down to Fellows watermarked wove paper, with uniform age tone, areas of light discoloration, and attenuation of pigment. Unevenly trimmed margins, and paper tape remnant from having been tipped-into a scrap book...

A lovely grand tour image of the Doric architectural masterpiece dedicated to Castor and Pollux. Dated 1863. Watercolor and graphite on lightweight card stock, 10 x 13 3/4 inches (2...

Paris: L'Estampe Moderne, 1897. Color wood engraving on light-weight, cream-colored imitation vellum, 13 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches (342 x 252 mm), full margins. With the L'Estampe Moderne ...

Comical illustration by Gaston Hoffmann (French, 1883-1977). A doctor is giving a shot to a female patient, while a nurse tries to prevent a man from barging in. Pencil signed "G Ho...

Robert Wilkinson, 1816. Copperplate engraving on buff wove paper with hand coloring in watercolor, 10 7/8 x 13 /4 inches (275 x 336 mm), full margins. In good condition with some sc...

London: 1799. Copperplate stipple engraving with hand coloring in watercolor, 17 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches (445 x 260 mm) (sheet), full margins. In very good condition with some minor, lig...

A scene from a vanishing Japan. Two Women Playing Sugoroku from "Comparison of the Customs of Beauties."; The Customs and Manners of Women Japan: Matsuki Heikichi, 1891. Woodblock ...

Aquatint with hand coloring in watercolor on watermarked, laid Arches paper, 8 1/16 x 5 9/16 inches (206 x 142 mm), full margins. Signed, titled, dated, and numbered 22/40 in pencil,...

A rare, extensively hand-colored impression of this charming British satirical image. London: 1830. Lithograph with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 12 1/4 x 9 5/1...

English School, 19th century The Sunday Before Confirmation; Parson: What did your godfathers & godmothers then for you? Boy: Nothing sir, rot'em for I never had none. London: Thoma...

The Grand Coronation Banquet of King George IV at Westminster Hall, the oldest building on the Parliamentary estate. A Prospect of the Inside of Westminster Hall; The Grand Coronati...

Etching with extensive hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper laid down to archival cardstock, 9 1/4 x 13 1/2 inches ( 235 x 342 mm), margins trimmed inside the platemark. C...

18th-century celestial FLAMSTEED, John. Eridanus Orion Lepus London, C. Nourse, 1753. A fine star chart from the Atlas Coelestis, the largest and most accurate star atlas publish...

This is an exceptional edition that the artist has dedicated to various subjects of bullfighting. Salvador Aulestia published several books on the subject, and his drawings are consi...

EUGENE ABESHAUS Leningrad, Russia, (1939-2008) Hand-Colored, with watercolor painting, Etching hand signed in pencil in English and Hebrew Numbered 47/110 Framed 21.5 x 16. image 13.5 x 9 Eugene Abeshaus (also spelled Evgeny Abezgauz, Евгений Абезгауз in Russian; 1939–2008) was a Jewish artist who worked in Russia (then USSR) and Israel. Born in Leningrad to a typical intelligentsia family, Abeshaus was educated as an electrical engineer but soon abandoned this career and enrolled in the Mukhina School for Applied Art. By the time of his graduation from the famous “Mukha” (Fly in Russian), he had already developed a critical stance towards the official Soviet art dominated by the Communist ideology and began exhibiting at semi-underground exhibitions. This was culminated by his taking part in a famous 1975 exhibition at the Nevsky Palace of Culture. Abeshaus was fired from his job and censured by the official press – which however admitted his "artistic taste, a good sense of color and form". Soon afterwards, Abeshaus set up, together with several Jewish artists, the Alef Group and became its leader. The group’s first exhibition in November 1975 was held at Abeshauses’ small apartment. According to the Alef Manifesto written by Alek Rapoport, “We are trying to conquer the influence of small-town Jewish art and find sources for our work in deeper, wiser, and more spiritual European culture, and from it build a bridge to today and tomorrow". He was part of a generation of Russian, mostly Jewish artist's that included Oskar Rabin, Evgeny Rukhin...

18th-century celestial FLAMSTEED, John. Camelopardal & Auriga London, C. Nourse, 1753. Hand coloured star chart heightened with gold and silver, engraved by John Mynde, from the s...

18th-century celestial FLAMSTEED, John. Cetus London, C. Nourse, 1753. A fine star chart from the Atlas Coelestis, the largest and most accurate star atlas published up to that ti...

Original 1960s fashion design from a Northern Italian fashion house. Sketched and coloured by hand with a pencil sketch of the reverse. The name and description of the outfit is type...

Original 1960s fashion design from a Northern Italian fashion house. Sketched and coloured by hand with a pencil sketch of the reverse. The name and description of the outfit is type...

Boulevard du Temple, Paris, France - Hand Colored Lithograph Detailed lithograph of a Paris street scene by Louis Valentin Emile de La Tramblais (French, 1821-1892). This piece is f...

This radiant purple pink poster was designed by Jim Dine for a production of Gilbert and Sullivan at New York City Center in 1968. The stripe down...

Marc Chagall "Darkness Over Egypt (Les Tenebres sur L'Egypte)" from the series The Bible, which consists of 105 original etchings. Original hand colored etching 1956 Hand initialed...

Artist: Manuel Robbe (French, 1872-1936) Title: "Le Bouquet de Violettes (The Bouquet of Violets)" *Signed by Robbe in pencil lower right Year: 1903 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Etc...

This artwork titled "Interior" is an original watercolor on paper by Israeli artist Itzchac Tarkay 1935-2012. It is signed at the lower right corner. The image size is 11.5 x 9 inc...

Marc Chagall "Samuel Called by God" from the series The Bible, which consists of 105 original etchings. Original hand colored etching 1958 Hand initialed "M.Ch" in pencil Numbered ...

'Jane' in pink and dark blue. Monotype EV with mixed media hand coloring including ink, gouache, pencils. Ed 1/4. Kim Frohsin, who is often associated with the Bay Area Figurative m...

Les Tuileries, Paris - Hand Colored Lithograph Delicate hand-colored lithograph of Tuileries Palace in Paris, France printed by Rose-Joseph Lemercier (French, 1803 - 1887). Published, Paris 1843 to 1867 by Hautecoeur Freres (Eugène and Alfred Hautecoeur (French). After Charles Riviere...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

"Hyde Park on Sunday" - Hand Colored Etching from "Old and New London" Detailed etching of a typical Sunday in Hyde Park around 1800 after an etching by Ed...

Titled: Birds of a Feather Ann Chernow (Connecticut b. 1936) etching. hand signed 'Ann Chernow' in pencil lower right. Numbered '5/15' in pencil lower left. Titled in pencil lower ce...

Complete book comprising of 20 offset lithographs and cardboard cover, all hand-colored with watercolor. From the edition of unknown size. All 20 sheets bound (as issued). Minor ti...

Adieu! is an original watercolored etching realized in the first quarter of the 19th century by the French artist Philibert-Louis Debucourt (1755 – 1832). The artwork is the pla...

The Capitol is a beautiful lot of two hand-watercolored lithographs realized by an Italian artist of the XIX century. It represents the incredible landscape of the communal site of t...

The Capitol is a beautiful lot of two hand-watercolored lithographs realized by an Italian artist of the XIX century and later watercolored. It represents ...