Print Annual 25 - Childs Gallery

CHILDS GALLERY
Volume 25
Print Annual
I have never given great weight to numerology, but as I reviewed Print Annual Volume 25, I noted that this
publication had had a run longer than many national magazines and has now presented more than 2500 images of fine
prints and drawings together with their cataloguing and prices. This gives a record for more than a quarter century of
advancing prices and changing tastes. This year is Childs Gallery’s 65th year in business. Since we opened our doors on
December 1, 1937, tens of thousands of fine prints, drawings, paintings, watercolors, pastels and sculpture have passed
through our doors and out into the world of museums, collectors and other dealers.
One hundreth anniversaries of important events also need to be noted. July 17, 2003 marks the centennial of
James A. M. Whistler’s death. His precepts defined, perhaps better than any others, our understanding of fine prints
today—in his belief that editions should be limited, and signed and printed by the artist. He scoffed at foibles of
collectors—the rage for wide margins, for example—and cut off the margins on many of his own prints, thus turning a
vice into a virtue. At the time of his death he was encouraging the British public to honor the memory of Hogarth whose
prints he had loved from an early age. Frank Duveneck and Otto Bacher became close friends of Whistler while he was
producing the First Venice Set in Venice in 1879-80. Joseph Pennell fell under his influence and became his biographer
and apologist; and no etcher could approach a plate thereinafter—certainly not of Venice—without also being influenced
by Whistler’s etched vision of the Serene Republic.
I believe that you will find in this catalogue prints and drawings of interest and quality in a very wide range of
prices. All of them and many more can be viewed at www.childsgallery.com. We invite your inquiries.
D. Roger Howlett, President
FRONT COVER: Max Beckmann, German (1884-1950).
Der Abend (Selbstbildnes Mit Den Battenbergs)
(Evening, Self Portrait with the Battenbergs), 1916.
Drypoint, 9 1/4 x 7 inches. Signed in pencil: “Beckmann”.
Hofmaier 90, State IIB. A fine impression in fine condition
with full margins on heavy weight paper. $10,000
3
James A. M. Whistler, American (1834-1903). Soupe a
Trois Sous, 1859. Etching, 6 x 8 7/8 inches. Signed in
plate: “Whistler”. Kennedy 49, State i/I. A fine impression
printed on oriental tissue in fine condition with full
margins. $3,500