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Circus Elephants

$1,950.00

Description

This lithograph by John Steuart Curry was made from the oil on canvas which is held by the National Gallery of Art.  (That webpage is worth looking at for Robert Torchia’s excellent essay about the work.)

Circus Elephants presents 12 elephants standing in a line under a tent, eating hay. Their massive forms diminish as they recede diagonally into the background, interrupted only by two tent stays that lean toward them and divide the space. The various positions of the elephants’ trunks give the scene a sense of gentle undulation. The artist captured the figures and expressions of the two elephants on the right very effectively, with the result that they have a greater sense of individual personality than their companions and seem to converse with one another. The small head of the zebra in the left foreground accentuates the elephants’ enormous bulk.

An example of this print is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Circus Elephants was printed in Life magazine in 1943.

Additional information

Signing, Dating, and Titling

Condition

Excellent Condition

Type

Modern Print-Makers, Old Etchings

Details

Medium:
Lithograph
Paper:
Rives tan wove paper.
Publisher:
Associated American Artists, Ltd., New York
Date:
1936
Signature:
Hand-signed in pencil by the artist en recto lower right.  Titled (just as “Elephants”) and dated in pencil by the artist en recto lower left.
Edition:
This is from an unnumbered edition of 250.
Framing:
This work is custom matted and framed in a solid walnut frame behind 99% UV-filtering conservation glass. All conservation materials.
Condition:
Excellent condition.  Well-inked and crisp lines.  Full margins.
Framed Size:
15.75 in. (h) x 18.675 in. (w) x 1.125 in. (d)
Sheet Size:
11.375 in. (h) x 16 in. (w)
Image Size:
9.0 in. (h) x 12.75 in. (w)
Literature:
Catalogue Raisonné:  Cole 28.

Price & Purchase

Price:
$1,950