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:

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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: 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!

We have a wonderful series of prints from the publication I monumenti dell’Egitto e della Nubia, disegnati dalla spedizione scientifico-letteraria toscana in Egitto. The hand colored etchings from this publication are by Dr. Ippolito Rosellini of the University of Pisa and were published by Niccolo Capurro, Pisa, in 1834.

In 1822, Jean-François Champollion published the first correct translation of the hieroglyphs and the key to the Egyptian grammatical system. In 1827 Ippolito Rosellini, considered the founder of Egyptology in Italy, went to Paris for a year in order to improve his knowledge of the method of decipherment proposed by Champollion. The two philologists decided to organize an expedition to Egypt to confirm the validity of Champollion’s discovery. Headed by Champollion and assisted by Rosellini, the mission was known as the Franco-Tuscan Expedition, and was made possible by the support of the grand-duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, and the King of France, Charles X.

On the July 21, 1828, with four members, they boarded the ship Eglé at Toulon and set sail for Egypt. They travelled upstream along the Nile and studied an exhaustive number of monuments and inscriptions. The expedition led to the publication of the extensive I monumenti dell’Egitto e della Nubia, disegnati dalla spedizione scientifico-letteraria toscana in Egitto(1834) and Monuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie (1845).

Once published, I monumenti dell’Egitto e della Nubia, disegnati dalla spedizione scientifico-letteraria toscana in Egitto included discussion and illustration of ancient monuments, civil monuments, and religious monuments and the hieroglyphs found inside. It is made up of nine volumes, and is still consulted today in research. I monumenti dell’Egitto e della Nubia is one of the earliest publications to include accurate reliefs and inscriptions from the Egyptian monuments.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these prints, feel free to inquire about them on our website, by email (info@oldprintgallery.com)  or stop by our Georgetown gallery to see them in person.

Electrical Machines – Lee System of Electricity. Plate I. Copper plate engraving, July 31, 1789. Published according to Act of Parliament by C. Cooke, No. 17 Paternoster Row. Composite of technical illustrations depicting various electrical machines, including a medical machine.

Experiments on Fixed Air and other Elastic Fluids. See System of Pneumatics. Plate I. Copper plate engraving, Oct. 3, 1788. Published according to Act of Parliament by C. Cooke, No. 17 Paternoster Row. Composite of technical illustrations related to fixed air.

Chemistry. Tab. II. Copper plate engraving, 1789. From Chambers’ and Rees’ Cyclopaedia or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Composite of technical illustrations of containers used in chemistry.

Hydraulics & Hydrostatics. Tab VII. Copper plate engraving, 1789. From Chambers’ and Rees’ Cyclopaedia or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Composite of illustrations relating to hydraulics. Engraved by I. Taylor.

Electricity. Tab II. Copper engraving, 1789. From Chambers’ and Rees’ Cyclopaedia or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Composite of technical illustrations relating to electric air thermometers, a universal discharger and electricity-producing machines. Engraved by I. Taylor.

Perspective. Copper engraving, 1789. From Chambers’ and Rees’ Cyclopaedia or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Composite of diagrams relating to perspective. Engraved by I. Taylor.

Electricity. Copper engraving, 1789. From Chambers’ and Rees’ Cyclopaedia or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Composite of technical illustrations relating to the battery, conductors and lightning conductors.

Chemistry. Tab. III. Copper engraving, 1789. From Chambers’ and Rees’ Cyclopaedia or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Composite of technical illustrations relating to furnaces. Engraved by I. Taylor.

To view more prints in this series, visit our website.

Julliard. Bronze, 1986.

The gallery is in full preparation mode for our new May show- Capturing the Verve: Prints and Bronzes by Robert Cook, which opens next Friday 5/181/12. The walls are being painted; shelves for the sculptures are being installed. Seeing a show come together- from it’s initial idea, to communications with the artist, to selecting the pieces and creating press materials for a new show, all up to the final stages of installation-  is always exciting and rewarding for us at the gallery.

Likewise, learning about the process and steps an artist takes to create his final print or sculpture can be just as revealing and exciting. Many of Robert Cook’s sculptures are created using the lost-wax process. Below you can read an excerpt from his book “Circles and Cycles: Robert Cook” ( Jasillo Press, Rome, 1997) which chronicles Cook’s introduction and experimentation with the method.

” On moving to Rome in 1948, wax began to take over in earnest. In the studio next to mine the well-known sculptor Pericle Fazzini was constantly retouching his small figures in wax. They had to be done first in clay then in plaster from which a piece-mold was made. Into the piece-mold wax was poured and allowed to sit until the foundryman deemed it coll enough to empty, leaving a layer of wax of the correct thickness for casting into bronze, perhaps the thickness of cardboard. So the waxes I saw him retouching were hollow. He was using heated spatulas for this and had to be careful not to remove or to add too much wax, so that it remained of uniform thickness for casting.

Offenbach I . By Robert Cook, Bronze, 1980. Skirt made from a thin slice of natural beehive.

This process required too many steps for me so I gradually began cutting down until I was modelling the final version directly in wax. The biggest disadvantage in this process was that I had to keep the wax from 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick so that it would cast well in bronze. If the wax were too thick, the flowing bronze would become porous and would withdraw from the thinner sections of the casting. Anyway it would make a bronze that would be too heavy for practical purposes. If the wax were too thin the bronze would flow badly, leaving holes in the thinnest parts. Another difficulty-if you consider it so- is that only one bronze can be obtained from the original wax in what is know as the lost-wax process. “

“As I made larger and larger pieces in wax I wearied of cutting them in sections to hollow out the excess wax, and then reattaching them as one does in ceramics. So little by little, I began thinking in hollows and solids– or white and black if you will. After all, in a line drawing the viewer’s mind reads negative as well as positive without even thinking about it.”

Medal Swaying. Bronze, 2006. Both the front and back side are pictured.

“Another fascinating problem I have posed for myself is medals and circles done directly in a sheet of wax. Where there is raised or convex form on one face there must be a corresponding concave form on the other. In addition the obverse and the reverse should have a rapport of some sort, be it in subject, time, space, or sentiment. Sometimes I perforate the surface which gives an additional opportunity to connect them. For me it is far more absorbing pastime than doing crossword puzzles. “

To see the works included in Capturing the Verve: Prints and Bronzes by Robert Cook, visit our website. If you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to write something in the comments section below, or email us directly at the gallery at info@oldprintgallery.com. We hope to see you at the opening next Friday!