Daily Dose of Jazz: Bruce Waldman

Starting today, June 1, and going until Sunday, June 10, Washington DC will be hosting fantastic jazz singers and musicians  from all over the country. The DC Jazz Festival begins today and promises to be one of the best we have had in years, with performances occurring at multiple venues in the city, throughout the length of festival. Jazz music and musicians have captured the attention of many artists over time, offering subjects  and sounds full of vitality, emotion, and creative ingenuity. In honor of the festival, we will be posting a new jazz-related print everyday with our new blog series- Daily Dose of Jazz. We hope these images inspire you to check out some of the concerts going on in the next ten days, and to stop by our shop to see these prints in person.

To kick things off, we offer a group of prints by jazz-lover Bruce Waldman. Waldman was born in the Bronx in 1949 and studied at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Philadelphia College of Art. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Library of Congress, New York Transit Museum and many others. On his work, Waldman writes, “I think of my work as dealing much more with the turbulence of my emotions than about technique, process, or any intellectual method or idea. I use the techniques that I have learned as tools only. Whether I am doing a figure, a landscape or still-life, I am viewing from inside my body; and usually the image is speaking more about my feelings.”

Check out the prints from Waldman’s Jazz Musicians Series below:

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For more on the DC Jazz Festival, check out the organization’s website- DC Jazz Festival. To purchase prints by Bruce Waldman, check out our online website or come visit us in our Washington DC gallery. And don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for another Daily Dose of Jazz.

Past/Present: Daffodils

Today we have a new P/P post, featuring two prints of daffodils. Our older print comes from the book Die Pflanze in Kunst und Gewerbe (trans: The Plant in Art and Trade) published by Gerlach & Schenk, c. 1885. With over 60 monotone lithographs and color chromolithographs featured, the book visually integrates useful information about native and wild plants with decorative motifs. Several plates feature plants incorporated into decorative and stylized objects, like vases, gate design, intricate trellis work, and furniture. Other plates, like the one below, highlight the plants in  still-life compositions. Pastel colors and decorative flourishes embody this popular tome of Art-Nouveau floral design.

Our contemporary print comes from NY artist Emily Trueblood. Trueblood is known for her clean lines and bright blocks of color. Stylistically, her print featured below offers up a refreshing contrast to the more delicate and embellished work of Die Pflanze. No stranger to the OPG blog, more of her work can be seen here.

Image on Left: Die Pflanze, pl. 14. Published by Gerlach & Schenk, Vienna. Chromolithograph, c. 1885.

Image on Right: Daffodils by Emily Trueblood. Woodcut, 2008. Ed. 8/50.

New Additions: US Maps and River Longue

New to the Old Print Gallery website are several maps of the United States. The maps range from 1711 to 1851, and mark the exploration and development of settlements beyond the East Coast. Development across the continent was slow after the initial East Coast settlements were established ( Saint Augustine in 1656, Jamestown in 1607, New Plymouth in 1620 and later Detroit in 1700 and New Orleans in 1718). Knowledge of the vast Northern interior was limited to a few miles either side of river courses and to the southwest regions thanks to the establishment of Spanish and later French missions. Accordingly,  much of the cartographical information of the United States before the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and Lewis and Clark explorations of 1804-06 was scarce and dominated by misconceptions.  With the beginning of the Nineteenth century,  North American maps tell a story of the great settlement of the west, the exploration of territories, and their subsequent achievements to statehood.

1) A New Map of North America According to the Newest Observations. This copper plate engraving is by Herman Moll.  It was published in London 1711 and is from his “Atlas Geographus“ . In this map, California appears as an island on the Sanson model. The myth of an insular California has been discussed before on the blog (read about it here and here). Above California, the Straits of Anian are sketchily outlined. The Great Lakes all appear and the Mississippi River is correctly located. In the interior, another early American map misconception is present-  Lahontan’s mythical River Longue.  (Detail of River Longue  below).

French manuscript maps of the 1670s propose a vast flowing river joining the Mississippi to the Pacific. In 1703, Baron Lahontan wrote and produced a map of the “River Longue”  that stretched from the Mississippi to a great range of mountains in the west. He depicted a short pass through the mountains from which another river flowed (presumably) into the Pacific. He included accounts of Indian tribes who lived on islands in a great lake near the source of the river, and tales of crocodiles filling the waterways. The story of the large river flowing from the west fired the imaginations of many of his readers, since early exploration of North America was inextricably linked with the quest for a route to the Orient. The River Longue was thus a variant of the North West passage myth, and helped keep it alive. Lahontan’s concept was copied by virtually all cartographers through the 18th century.

2) A Map of the United States of America, with Part of the Adjoining Provinces. This copper engraving, with original hand color, was published June 2, 1791, by R. Wilkinson, London. It was engraved by T. Conder. This map is an early map of the United States, with little development in the West. The Tennessee area has special interest: Clarksville and Knoxville both appear, but not the name Tennessee. Instead the area is divided between “Cumberland” and “Holston,” while still joined to North Carolina.

3) Map of the Northern Part of the United States of America. By Abraham Bradley Jr. This copper engraving was published by Thomas & Andrews, Boston, 1797. It is the first state of two from the “Morse’s American Gazetteer.” Notable for being one of the earliest maps printed in America to extend to the Mississippi River, Bradley’s map is equally important for outlining States I (Ohio), II (Indiana), III (Illinois), IV (Michigan) and V (Wisconsin) — the new states formed from the Old Northwest Territory, as proposed by the Ordinance of 1789.  On this map, the Western Reserve is called New Connecticut.

4) United States. By John Tallis. This steel engraving was published by the London Printing and Publishing Company, c.1851. This map is from “The Illustrated Atlas and Modern History of the World” and is a highly sought-after decorative map of the United States. It includes two portraits, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, as well as inset views of a Buffalo Hunt, Penn’s treaty with the Indians, and Washington’s Monument. It also shows a strangely configured Texas and New Mexico, a pre-Indian Territory region called Western Territory, a massive Missouri Territory, and a strangely elongated Nebraska Territory extending northward to Canada.

5) Map of the United States : Engraved to Illustrate Mitchell’s New Intermediate Geography. By J. H. Young. Published by S. Augustus Mitchell, Philadelphia. Engraved by E. Yeager. This is an informative United States map, especially in the West.  Despite vast developments, many areas retain their territorial status, including Montana, Wyoming, Dakota, Arizona and New Mexico, all of which did not gain statehood until 1889 or later.

To view these, and the other United States maps, available at Old Print Gallery, visit our website ( here) or stop by our Washington, DC gallery, located in the heart of historic Georgetown.

U. S. Grant

Today, we offer a selection of our prints of Union General and 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Grant is best known for his control of the western theater during the Civil War and for forcing the surrender of the Confederacy at the Appomattox Court House in April of 1865. His presidency during the tumultuous and economically strained years of the Reconstruction was marred with political corruption and poor cabinet member selections, leading many political historians to rank his presidency among one of the worst in  American history. Nevertheless, during his two presidential terms, Grant made efforts that few had attempted before him, especially in the areas of African American rights, Native American policy, and civil service reform.

Below are several portraits and prints we have of Grant. Click on any print to view it in a larger size. Clicking on the first print allows you to view the prints in slideshow mode as well.

Honor to the Brave. Published by Henry Voight, New York. Two-stone lithograph, 1865. Lith. and printed by Chr. Kimmel & Forster, N.Y. This celebratory print depicts Columbia holding laurel wreaths above two triple portraits, one with army gnerals William Sherman, U.S. Grant and William Sheridan, the other with naval officers David Porter, David Farragut and Dahlgren.

U.S. Grant. Steel engraving; c. 1875. From the photograph preferred by himself.

The “Third Term” Trap. Thomas Nast. Published in Harper’s Weekly, New York. Wood engraving, June 26, 1875. Political cartoon depicting U. S. Grant and the Pennsylvania party eschewing a third term for Grant, while tryng to lure the Republican elephant up a plank.

Lieut. Genl. Ulysses S. Grant. General in Chief of the Armies of the United States. Published by Currier & Ives, 152 Nassau St. [New York]. Lithograph, original hand color, undated.

U. S. Grant. Steel engraving, c. 1865. Oval half-length portrait, in uniform, set within decorative border. Below is a vignette titled “Siege of Vicksburg”. Engraved after an ambrotype by Mathew Brady.

General U.S. Grant. John C. McRae. Engraved & Published by John C. McRae, 46 Courtlandt St. [New York]. Engraving hand colored, c.1865. Oval decorative portrait of Grant in uniform, under the phrase “Unconditional Surrender.” Around his image are scenes of the battles of Vicksburg, Fort Donaldson and Richmond and the surrender of Lee.

General Grant and Family. Published by Currier & Ives, 125 Nassau Street, New York. Small folio, hand colored lithograph. 1867. Text above title: “Gen. Grant. Jesse Root Grant. Ulysses Simpson Grant. Fredk. Dent Grant. Ellen Wrenshall Grant. Mrs. Grant.”

General Grant & His Family. Frederick B. Schell. Published by Daughaday & Becker, 424 Walnut St. Philadelphia. Mixed-media engraving, hand colored, 1868. Engraved by Samuel Sartain. Issued in 1868 – the year of Grant’s first presidential campaign. Grant and his eldest son are mounted and in uniform, depicted with his wife, Julia, his other children and the family dog. At rear is a faint view of the U.S. Capitol.

The Surrender of General Lee and His Entire Army to Lieut. General U.S. Grant April 14 1865. This memorable event terminated the Great Rebellion. F. Valois. Published by Thomas Kelly, 264 Third Avenue, between 22nd & 23d St. N.Y. Printed by Wm. C. Robertson. Toned lithograph, hand colored, c. 1866. With their armies in the distance behind them, the two great generals meet to end the Civil War in this imaginary scene. In fact, the formal surrender took place in the McLean house at Appomattox. But legend had them meeting outdoors under an apple tree. It is true that Grant met Lee the next day outside, on horseback, with staff officers nearby.

 

 

 

Past/Present: Black Sea

Today we have a new P/P post, featuring two maps of the Black Sea. Our earlier map is by Johann Baptist Homann. It is a beautifully decorative 18th century map of the Black Sea region. The map extends northward to include Moscow and Smolensk. Constantinople is also shown. Homann was a German engraver and publisher who established himself and his family in Nuremberg in 1702.  He published his first atlas, “Atlas Novus” in 1707, and in recognition of this achievement, he was elected to the Berlin Academy of Sciences.  In 1715, Homann was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. Homann died in 1724 and his business was continued by his family under the name Homann’s Heirs into the late 18th century.

The more recent map is a 19th century map, published by Alvin Johnson & Son in New York. This map is a large scale map of Russia, extending from the Arctic Ocean south to the Black and Caspian Seas. This map is a lithographic map, as opposed to the earlier printmaking method for maps- copperplate or steel engravings. Lithography, or printing from soft stone, largely took the place of engraving in the production of English commercial maps after about 1852. It was a quick, cheap process and had been used to print British army maps during the Peninsula War. The trend of using lithograph quickly caught on in America as well. Most of the commercial maps of the second half of the 19th century were lithographed and consequently less decorative, though accurate enough.

Image on Left: Tabula Geographica Qua Pars Russiae Magnae Pontus Euxinus seu Mare Nigrum et Tartaria Minor.  By Johann Baptist Homann. Published by Johann Baptist Homann, Nuremberg. Copper plate engraving, c.1720.

Image on Right: Johnson’s Russia. By A. J. Johnson. Published by Alvin Johnson & Son, New York. Lithograph, hand colored, 1878.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past/Present: C & O Canal

Today we have a new P/P post, featuring two images of the Chesapeake &  Ohio Canal. The Canal was built in the years between 1828 and 1850. In the 19th and early 20th century, the C&O Canal provided jobs and opportunities for people throughout the Potomac River Valley, from the tidal basin in Washington D.C. to the mountains of Western Maryland.  Cargo, mostly coal, was moved down the waterway on boats.  The rich harvest of coal from western Allegany County mines became the mainstay of canal shipping. A small world of canal enterprise developed around the boat basins and locks–stables, drydocks, hotels, saloons and warehouses were all created as a result of the Canal and it’s steady stream of workers. By1870, canal boats moved almost a million tons of freight, not only coal but building materials, lumber, and flour from local mills. It was a seven day trip down the canal from Cumberland, MD  to Georgetown. Although no longer functional, the canal still endures as a pathway for discovering historical, natural, and recreational treasures.

Our older print is from “Picturesque Washington”, a book published by J. A. & R. A. Reid, Providence, 1884-90. The print is a wood engraving, and has been hand colored with a light watercolor wash. Our contemporary print is by local printmaker Martha Oatway. The print comes from a series of monoprints depicting Lock 7 of the C&O Canal, located in Glen Echo, Maryland. Oatway was inspired by the reflections of the tree branches in the canal, and based her imagery on the watery abstractions.

Image on Left: Along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Published by J. A. & R. A. Reid, Providence. Wood engraving, hand colored, 1884-90.

Image on Right: C&O Canal Lock 7 Series. #12 by Martha Oatway. Monoprint on mylar, 2009. edition 1.

Capturing the Verve Opens Tomorrow

REMINDER….

Capturing the Verve: Prints and Bronzes by Robert Cook opens tomorrow (5/18/12). Stop by the gallery on Friday night, from 5-8pm, for the opening reception. Free wine, lively discussion, and a chance to see Robert Cook’s sculptures and prints all await you!