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Artist: Ray H. French
The Swan
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
The Swan
Etching and soft ground intaglio, 1957
Signed and dated lower right (see photo)
Titled and numbered lower left (see photo)
From the second edition of 75 impressions, printed...
Category
1950s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Intaglio
Debris
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Debris
Etching, engraving and color aquatint, 1947
Signed, dated, titled and number
Edition: 25 (1/25), never fully realized
Created in the artist's first year studying at the Univer...
Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Geometric Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving, Etching, Aquatint
Porcupine
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Porcupine
Engraving, 1949
Signed and dated lower right (see photo)
Titled and numbered lower left (see photo)
Created while the artist was completing the MFA in Printmaking at the Un...
Category
1940s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Snowy Egret
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by the artist
Dedicated: "To Jon From Ray"
Edition: 100 in two printings
A studio proof from the second printing by Jon Clemens, master printe...
Category
1950s Abstract Geometric Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Jedermann
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Etching in two colors
Signed, dated, titled in pencil by the artist
Sheet size: 19 5/8 x 25 3/4"
Category
1950s Ray H. French Art
Materials
Etching
Homage to the Square
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Happy Ray Day! For 1 week, from April 19th, 2017, all Ray H. French works of art on paper will be discounted 19% and 1 lucky random patron will receive a second FREE!
Embossed relief print on heavy paper
Signed, dated, titled and numbered
Edition: 10 (10/10)
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
References And Exhibitions:
This work predates Josef Albers serigraph...
Category
1960s Abstract Ray H. French Art
Materials
Other Medium
Elephant
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Elephant
Engraing, 1957, printed 1988
Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by the artist
Dedicated: "For Jon From Ray"
Edition: 100 in two printings
This is an artist's proof from th...
Category
1950s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Untitled (Seascape at night)
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Seascape at night)
Tissue paper collage on Fabriano wove paper, 1964
Signed in ink lower left
Annotated 42 in pencil on verso
Condition: Excellent
Image/Sheet size: 10 x 13 7/8 inches
Part of a suite of collages created during the artist's sabatical leave from teaching, spent in Florence, Italy, studying at the Accademia D'Arte Firenze in 1963-1964.
Ray H. French: The Evolution of an Artistic Innovator
Printmaker, painter, and sculptor Ray H. French was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on May 16, 1919. Terre Haute was a cultural wasteland before the opening of the Sheldon Swope Art Museum in 1942. Thus, with a father as a coal miner and carpenter, art remained a luxury for Ray. Nevertheless, local art teachers Mabel Mikel Williams and Nola E. Williams helped to foster his creativity and unshakable drive to create things of beauty.
After high school, Ray attended the John Herron School of Art in Indianapolis. His studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, during which he developed surveillance photographs for the Army Air Force. After the war, Ray transferred to the University of Iowa on the G.I. Bill, where he received both his BFA and MFA degrees. The University of Iowa during the 1940s was a cultural mecca with many major art historians and artists. While in Iowa, Ray played an important role in this culture by becoming a founding member of the Iowa Print Group under Mauricio Lasansky.
Following his graduation in 1948, Ray experienced firsthand the rapid rise in creative printmaking in America. By 1949, he had exhibited at The Brooklyn Museum, the Walker Art Center, and MOMA New York. Ray’s early style of printmaking is characterized by pure line engraving on copper plates, a technique suited perfectly to his study of the beauty of animals. This charming and whimsical subject ran counter to the concurrent trends of Lasansky’s horrors of war and Hayter’s non-objectivity, but was equally effective in capturing the public’s attention. Walruses was purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum, exhibited at MOMA New York and received the Arthur D. Allen Memorial Purchase Prize for its “skillful and economic use of line.” Shortly thereafter, Ray’s treatment of animals developed further into larger format mixed intaglio prints utilizing hard ground, soft ground, etching, and engraving, as exemplified in The Swan.
By the late 1950s, Ray’s style evolved into organic non-objectivity, in which he incorporated personal autobiographical vignettes and symbolism. His work during this time was further characterized by a departure from the traditional squared compositional format to his cutting and rounding of the plate to accentuate organic shapes. Ray’s 1959 Enchantment remains particularly illustrative of his use of etching and soft ground intaglio. Enchantment was successfully exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art for the 12th National Print Exhibition of The American Federation of the Arts and received the Pennell Purchase Prize from the Library of Congress in 1960.
In the 1960s, Ray also started to focus on blind embossing, which he had first experimented with at the University of Iowa. He was extremely prolific and successful with this medium, selling hundreds of prints in small editions of 10 through the Associated American Artist Gallery in New York. In 1966, Ray built upon his mastery of embossing and began developing a shadow box presentation called a graphic construction that combined color, blind embossing, and multi-layered cutouts to revel intaglio compositions. Noted curator William Lieberman purchased Ray’s masterpiece graphic construction, Moon Rays...
Category
1960s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Tissue Paper
Untitled (Tuscan Landscape)
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Tuscan Landscape)
Tissue paper collage on Fabriano support
Signed and dated lower right in ink
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
Martha A. French Trust
Created while the art...
Category
1960s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Vienna Lipizzaner
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Vienna Lipizzaner
Engraving, 1962
Signed and dated lower right (see photo)
Titled and numbered lower left (see photo)
This impression is from the second edtition printed c. 1992
1st ...
Category
1960s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
The Web
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
The Web
Engraving and soft ground, 1950
Signed, titled, dated and numbered by the artist
Edition: 35 (26/35)
Printed by Master Printer, Jon Clemens, 2000
Provenance:
Estate of the ar...
Category
1950s Surrealist Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving, Etching
Strange Animals
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Strange Animals
Engraving, 1949
Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by the artist
The composition was created at the Univerisity of Iowa while the artist was enrolled in the famous M...
Category
1940s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Walruses
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Walruses
Engraving, 1952
Signed, dated, titled and numbered (see photos)
Edition: 100, this from the second printing with the artist's initials in an edition of 25 (16/25)
Condition:...
Category
1950s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Aardvark
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Aardvark
Engraving, 1951
Signed, dated, titled in pencil by the artist (see photo)
Annotated "To Jon from Ray" (see photo)
Printed by Jon Clemens, Master Printer, c. 1990
Condition: ...
Category
1950s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Crucifixion
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Crucifixion
Engraving, etching, and ground printed in colors, 1947
Signed, titled and numbered in pencil (see photos)
From the second printing by Jon Clemens, master printer in the 1990's
Done while the artist was at the Iowa Print Group, MFA Program, University of Iowa .
Condition: excellent
Image/Plate size: 15 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist
Printmaker, painter, and sculptor Ray H...
Category
1940s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Strange Animals
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Strange Animals
Engraving, 1949
Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by the artist
The composition was created at the Univerisity of Iowa while the artist was enrolled in the famous M...
Category
1940s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Three Graces
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Three Graces
Pentel marker on paper, 1965
Signed and dated by the artist lower left (see photo)
Part of a series of 100 drawings, this number 97 (annotated lower right corner)
Condition: Excellent
Sheet/Image size: 20 x 15 inches
Provenance: Estate of the Artist
Martha A. French Trust
Ray H. French: The Evolution of an Artistic Innovator
Printmaker, painter, and sculptor Ray H. French was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on May 16, 1919. Terre Haute was a cultural wasteland before the opening of the Sheldon Swope Art Museum in 1942. Thus, with a father as a coal miner and carpenter, art remained a luxury for Ray. Nevertheless, local art teachers Mabel Mikel Williams and Nola E. Williams helped to foster his creativity and unshakable drive to create things of beauty.
After high school, Ray attended the John Herron School of Art in Indianapolis. His studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, during which he developed surveillance photographs for the Army Air Force. After the war, Ray transferred to the University of Iowa on the G.I. Bill, where he received both his BFA and MFA degrees. The University of Iowa during the 1940s was a cultural mecca with many major art historians and artists. While in Iowa, Ray played an important role in this culture by becoming a founding member of the Iowa Print...
Category
1960s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Permanent Marker
Survivor
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed , dated and titled in pencil by the artist
Artist proof from the second printing by Jon Clemens
Annotated "To Jon from Ray"
Category
1980s Abstract Ray H. French Art
Materials
Etching
The Gull
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed, dated, titled in pencil by the artist; Annotated "To Jon from Ray"
Reproduced in the artists Retrospective Exhibition catalogue.
In the collection of the Wichita Art...
Category
1950s Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Untitled
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and dated lower left
Created in 1964 while the artist was living in Florence, Italy
Collage with tissue paper and printed images and text
From the Estate of the Artist
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Ray H. French Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Crucifixion
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Crucifixion
Engraving, 1958
Signed, dated, titled, and annotated 'Printers Proof II' in pencil
A printed by Master Printer Jon Clemens, c. 2000
A brilliant impression full of burr
Im...
Category
1950s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Untitled
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and dated "1962" by the artist lower right.
Mixed media on heavy paper.
Done for a show to fund a trip to Italy.
Category
1960s Abstract Ray H. French Art
Materials
Ink, Mixed Media
Enchantment
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed, dated, titled, and annotated 'Printers Proof' in pencil
References And Exhibitions:
Printed by the master printer John Clemmens.
Exhibited by the Brooklyn Museum in ...
Category
1950s Ray H. French Art
Untitled (Abstraction)
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and dated by the artist vertically lower left edge.
Part of an experimental series of works using motor oil, India Ink, adhesives, sand, and various other mediums.
Category
1960s Ray H. French Art
Seascape at Sunset
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Seascape at Sunset
Collage with tissue paper and gold foil on Fabriano paper, 1964
Signed and dated in ink, lower right (see photo)
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
Martha A. French...
Category
1960s Ray H. French Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Olympian Games
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Olympian Games
Engraving, 1957
Signed, dated, titled and numbered (see photos)
Edition: 25 (7/25)
From the first and only edition, probably less than 8 impressions printed
Printed by the artist
Condition: Excellent
soft fold in upper left margin
Image size: 15 7/8 x 19 7/8 inches
Sheet size: 18 1/2 x 22 3/8 inches
Provenance: Estate of the artist
Martha A. French Revocable Trust
Item Reference
LU14013763732
Crucifixion, color etching, 1947
Item Reference
LU14013160582
The Web, engraving, 1950
Item Reference
LU14011892032
The Swan, mixed media (etching & soft ground), 1957
Item Reference
LU1404294651
Snowy Egret, engraving, 1954, third edition c. 1990, printed by the master printer Jon Clemens
Item Reference
LU1402253433
Debris, color etching, c. 1940, printed by the artist at the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana
Item Reference
LU140331242
Crucifixion, engraving, 1958
Item Reference
LU140145330
Strange Animals, engraving, 1947
Item Reference
G130708140172
The Gull, engraving, 1955
Item Reference
LU14012448972
Moon Rays...
Category
1950s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
La grande incognita (The great unknown)
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
La grande incognita (The great unknown)
Collage elements with paint, paint and paper foil, 1964
1964
Created while the artist was studying at the Accademia d'Arte, Florence
Signed an...
Category
1960s Abstract Ray H. French Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Moon Rays
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Moon Rays
Graphic Construction (three sheets layered in a shadow box presentation), 1967
Signed lower right. Editioned lower left. (see photos)
Edition: 60 f...
Category
1960s Op Art Ray H. French Art
Materials
Other Medium
Sea Forms
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and dated center right edge; Annotated "48" lower left
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
One of a suite of 120 drawings that the artist did in 1 month.
Most were sold thro...
Category
1960s Abstract Ray H. French Art
Materials
Ink, Pen
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In 1926, Calder moved to Paris, enrolled in the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and established a studio at 22 rue Daguerre in the Montparnasse Quarter. In June 1929, while traveling by boat from Paris to New York, Calder met his future wife, Louisa James (1905-1996), grandniece of author Henry James and philosopher William James. They married in 1931. While in Paris, Calder met and became friends with a number of avant-garde artists, including Fernand Léger, Jean Arp, and Marcel Duchamp. Cirque Calder (on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at present) became popular with the Parisian avant-garde. He also invented wire sculpture, or "drawing in space," and in 1929 he had his first solo show of these sculptures in Paris at Galerie Billiet. Hi! (Two Acrobats) in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art is an early example of the artist's wire sculpture. The painter Jules Pascin, a friend of Calder's from the cafes of Montparnasse, wrote the preface to the catalog. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio in 1930, where he was impressed by the environment-as-installation, "shocked" him into fully embracing abstract art, toward which he had already been tending.
Dating from 1931, Calder’s sculptures of discrete movable parts powered by motors were christened “mobiles” by Marcel Duchamp, a French pun meaning both "motion" and "motive." At the same time, Calder was also experimenting with self-supporting, static, abstract sculptures, dubbed "stabiles" by Jean Arp in 1932 to differentiate them from mobiles.
Public commissions increasingly came his way in the 1960s. Notable examples are .125 for JFK Airport in 1957, Spirale for UNESCO in Paris 1958 and Trois disques, commissioned for Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Calder's largest sculpture at 25.7 meters high was El Sol Rojo, constructed outside the Aztec Stadium for the 1968 Summer Olympics "Cultural Olympiad" events in Mexico City. Many of his public works were commissioned by renowned architects; I.M. Pei commissioned his La Grande Voile (1966), a 25-ton, 40-foot high stabile for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Part of Calder's repertoire includes pivotal stage sets for more than a dozen theatrical productions, including Nucléa, Horizon, and most notably, Martha Graham’s Panorama (1935), a production of the Erik Satie symphonic drama Socrate (1936), and later, Works in Progress (1968).
In addition to sculptures, Calder painted throughout his career, beginning in the early 1920s. He picked up his study of printmaking in 1925, and continued to produce illustrations for books and journals.As Calder’s professional reputation expanded in the late 1940s and 1950s, so did his production of prints. Masses of lithographs based on his gouache paintings hit the market, and deluxe editions of plays, poems, and short stories illustrated with fine art prints by Calder became available for sale.
One of Calder's most celebrated and unconventional undertakings was a commission from Dallas-based Braniff International Airways to paint a full-size Douglas DC-8-62 four-engined jet as a "flying canvas."
Calder created over 2,000 pieces of jewelry over the course of his career, many of them as gifts for friends and relatives. For his lifelong friend Joan Miró, he set a shard of a broken porcelain vessel in a brass ring. Peggy Guggenheim received enormous silver mobile earrings and later commissioned a hammered silver headboard...
Category
1930s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Lithograph
Original Coppertone suntan lotion vintage poster - Italian
Located in Spokane, WA
Original “Coppertone” Colore di Rame vintage Italian poster. Colore de Rame translates into the color of copper.
Abbronzatevi! (suntan)
Non bruciatevi! (don’t burn)
Archival linen-backed in fine condition, ready to frame.
This original Coppertone poster is in A condition.
The background in the poster is a brighter yellow; after all, it is a sunny day, and you need suntan lotion!
Coppertone is an American suntan cream. Interestingly, the American poster of this famous little girl and dog...
Category
1960s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Offset
H 55 in W 39 in D 0.05 in
Nebraska Evening
By Thomas Hart Benton
Located in London, GB
A fine impression with good margins published by Associated American Artists.
Category
1940s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Lithograph
Previously Available Items
Louisiana Heron
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Louisiana Heron
Engraving, 1953
Signed lower right corner in pencil (see photo)
Titled and numbered in the lower left corner (see photo)
Second edition...
Category
1950s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Engraving
Crucifixion
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed dated and titled in pencil by the artist; Annotated "printers proof" in pencil.
From the Estate of the Artist
Sheet: 23 1/8 x 19"
Image: 15 3/4 x 15 1/2"
Category
1940s American Modern Ray H. French Art
Materials
Etching
Untitled (Tuscan Landscape)
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and dated lower right in ink
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
References And Exhibitions:
Created while the artist lived in Florence, Italy.
Tissue paper collage...
Category
1960s Ray H. French Art
Materials
Mixed Media
Intrigue
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by the artist
Edition: 100 in two printings;
This impression an artist's proof from the second printing by Jon Clemens, master printer.
Sheet: ...
Category
1950s Ray H. French Art
The Swan
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed, dated, titled in pencil by the artist; Annotated "To Jon from Ray"
Edition: Studio Proof
Category
1950s Ray H. French Art
Materials
Etching
Enchantment
By Ray H. French
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed, dated, titled, and annotated 'Printers Proof' in pencil
Printed by the master printer John Clemmens.
Exhibited by the Brooklyn Museum in 1960.
Received the 1960 Pennell Pu...
Category
1950s Ray H. French Art
Ray H. French art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Ray H. French art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue, red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ray H. French in engraving, mixed media, etching and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Ray H. French art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Casey Haugh, Peter Halley, and Linda Whittemore. Ray H. French art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $300 and tops out at $4,500, while the average work can sell for $1,750.