Artist: John Marin (American, 1870 - 1953).
Title: "Downtown, the El [deluxe edition before steel-facing]".
Medium: Etching with drypoint.
Date: Composed 1921. Printed 1921.
Dimensions: Overall size: 11 x 14 in. (279 x 356 mm). Image size: 6 7/8 x 8 3/4 in. (175 x 222 mm).
Lot Note(s): Signed in pencil, lower left; signed and dated in the plate, lower right. Edition of 30. Cream wove unwatermarked (possibly Whatman) paper; the subsequent "New Republic" edition was printed on watermarked Van Gelder Zonen paper. Full margins, deckle edges four sides; margins measure from 2 to 2 1/2 inches. Superb, bold, crisp, and richly inked impression with plate tone. Condition: image in fine condition, sheet in very good condition; slight light staining and overall mild toning; remains of hinging tape, verso; left, right, and bottom margins folded back for framing; staining verso (probably from backing paper when framed) does not telegraph through to recto; three repaired 1/8” marginal tears in the margins, nowhere near the image; marginal pencil notations; any imperfections would be masked by framing. Literature/catalogue raisonne: Zigrosser 134. Provenance: Private Collection, Scottsdale, Arizona. Comment(s): According to ‘Gordon’s Art Reference’ another example of this very rare first printing sold at a record price of $12,000 at Swann Auction Galleries, New York, March 9, 2010, lot #222. Please note that our example is from the original edition of 30 published by Alfred Stieglitz in 1921. There was a subsequent steel-faced edition, published in New York and printed by Peter Platt, which was included in the New Republic Portfolio, Series 1, in 1924. The second edition size is variously given as c275 to c500-600, with the former probably being correct. According to Zigrosser, the total edition of the New Republic portfolio exceeded 500, but the quota for Marin prints was divided between this print and another of his etchings. Compositionally, ‘Downtown, The El’ expresses the energy of the city through bold diagonal lines that cut across the composition. Remarking on this etching, Marin noted: “I see great forces at work – great movements – the large buildings and the small buildings – the warring of the great and the small -- influences of one mass on another.” Image copyright © Artists Rights Society, New York. [29278-3-6000]

Condition: image in fine condition, sheet in very good condition; slight light staining and overall mild toning; remains of hinging tape, verso; left, right, and bottom margins folded back for framing; staining verso (probably from backing paper when framed) does not telegraph through to recto; three repaired 1/8” marginal tears in the margins, nowhere near the image; marginal pencil notations; any imperfections would be masked by framing.