February Sale starts on Wednesday!

Our infamous February Sale begins this Wednesday and will continue throughout the whole of the month.  Head down to the shop to make the most of reductions of up to 75% across a variety of categories, from Portraits to Maritime and Topography.   Although a little smaller than previous years there is still plenty of bargains to be found, with prices begining at less than £1 there is something for every budget and some real treasures can be discovered with a little digging!

Last day of the Art Nouveau Exhibition tomorrow

Make sure you pop down to the gallery if you want to catch a glimpse of our Art Nouveau show before we clear the decks to make way for the infamous Febuary Sale.

The exhibition has sold very well but there a still a few striking pieces that have not yet been snapped up, such  as Les Cygnes [The Swans] pictured left.

Les Cygnes [The Swans]
Francis Jourdain 
Lithograph
L'Estampe Moderne, no. 18, October 1898.
Image 230 x 335 mm, Sheet 305 x 404 mm

From L'Estampe Moderne, no. 18, October 1898.

Blind stamped in bottom-right corner of sheet with the image of a young woman’s profile, the emblem of L'Estampe Moderne.

Francis Jourdain (1876-1958) was a designer, writer and painter who learned printmaking from the Impressionist etcher Henri Guérard. He was also taught by Eugène Carrière and Albert Besnard. Jourdain collaborated with Besnard on the decoration of the chapel of the Hospice de Berck. He was also one of the founder members of the Salon d'Automne.

L'Estampe Moderne was first published in five folios between November 1895 and March 1896 and edited by Loÿs Delteil. The aim was to promote the art of printmaking by commissioning images from noted Art Nouveau artists. It reappeared under the editorship of Ch. Masson and H. Piazza in May 1897 and was published monthly until April 1899. Each edition was priced at 3 francs 50 centimes and printed by Imprimerie Champenois, Paris. As well as four original lithographs by Art Nouveau artists, each issue came in a paper cover bearing an original lithograph by one of the most famous members of the movement, Alphonse Mucha. The publisher also offered two extra lithographs a year, the “planches de prime”, as an incentive to prospective subscribers. 

Busy Cataloguing...

We are currently cataloguing a collection of prints after the famous Joseph Mallord William Turner for a mini catalogue release next month, including this seminal view of Oxford High Street after J.M.W. Turner taken from outside of University College and All Souls looking towards Carfax.

 The original painting by J. M. W. Turner shows the High Street with University College on the left, the Warden’s house of All Souls College on the right, and Carfax in the distance.

On the left (beyond the boys picking up spilt oranges) are workmen pulling down Deep Hall, where the scientist Robert Boyle lived between 1655 and 1668: a plaque on the western side of University College marks the site. This painting dates from 1809/10.

The original painting was commissioned by James Wyatt, with a view to having it engraved so that he could sell it as a print at his shop at 115 High Street. Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 31 March 1810 reported:

    James Wyatt, Carver, Gilder, and Picture-Frame Maker, High-Street, Oxford, respectfully informs the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the University, and the Public, that the Picture of the HIGH-STREET, from the Pencil of that Eminent Artist, Joseph Mallord William Turner Esq., R.A. Professor of Perspective to the Royal Academy, is arrived; and that he purposes to exhibit it in his shop, for the inspection of the Subscribers and those Gentlemen who will do him the honour to call at his house, till the 10th of April, after which time it will be necessary to put it into the hands of the Engravers, Messrs. Middiman and Pye, who have engaged to execute it, in the Line Manner, and in their best style. Price to Subscribers £1 11s. 6d. Proof Impressions (of which only fifty will be taken off) £3 3s.

The original painting is now part of the Loyd Collection and is on long-term loan to the Ashmolean Museum.
http://www.headington.org.uk/oxon/high/views/turner.htm

Print du Jour

Although we specialise in antique prints and maps we also stock a range of contemporary pieces by local print makers .  This Foxfire etching is by Flora Mclachlan whose work is inspired by poetry, fairy tales and myths.

Foxfire
Etching 
2011
Image and Plate 242 x 272 mm
Signed and inscribed in pencil.
Edition: 66/100.  

Print du Jour

Amongst our varied and wide-ranging stock we carry a remarkable collection of Victorian etchings such as this Lion Drinking by Herbert Dicksee.

Lion Drinking
Etching
c.1890
Image & Plate 177 x 251 mm, Sheet 251 x 311 mm

Herbert Thomas Dicksee (1862–1942) was an English painter who specialised in oil paintings of dogs, particularly the deerhound. Prints and etchings of his best-known paintings were widely distributed by publishers such as Klackner of London, and his work is popular among collectors and dog enthusiasts today.

Dicksee belonged to an illustrious artistic family. His father was the artist John Dicksee (1817–1905). John's brother Thomas (1819–1895), also a painter, was the father of Sir Frank Dicksee (1853–1928), president of the Royal Academy from 1924 until his death. (Herbert, meanwhile, had one sister, whose name was Amy.) Dicksee studied art at the Slade School, London, on a scholarship. His first painting was exhibited in 1881.

Last week of our Art Nouveau Exhibition!

Our Art Nouveau exhibition sadly comes to end this Saturday.  It has been a success but we still have a few spectacular pieces available, such as Louis Rhead's La femme au paon  and Hans Christiansen's L’Heure du Berger

With January drawing to an end we also mark the end of our online January sale.   Make sure you buy your chosen print online by the 31st of January to bag a 15% discount.

Please note that this offer excludes all of the pieces in the Art Nouveau Exhibition and any work by the contemporary Oxford printmakers.

Print du Jour

This stunning Japanese woodblock print, hightened in gold, is a wonderful example of Japanese art at the turn of the century.

Tsukioka Kogyo (1869-1927)
Fireflies at Night
Woodblock print (nishiki-e) hightened in gold
c. 1900
Shikishiban [9.5 x 10 inches]

Signature: Kogyo
Seal: Artist's seal.

Tsukioka Kogyo was a great later nineteenth century Japanese woodcut artist, Tsukioka Kogyo first studied printmaking techniques under his famous step-father, Yoshitoshi. He later took more instructions from Ogata Gekko. During his career Kogyo created a number of fine woodcuts dealing with both natural history and contemporary events, such as the Russo-Japanese War. His name, however, will always be associated with the great series of woodcuts he designed for Heikichi dealing with the Noh Theatre.