Oct 08, 2019 - Sale 2518

Sale 2518 - Lot 6

Price Realized: $ 16,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
AARON DOUGLAS (1899 - 1979)
Emperor Jones.

Four woodcut prints on cream Japan paper, 1926. Together 205x660 mm; 8x26 inches; each 205x140 mm; 8x5 1/2 inches, full margins. A later edition (of 3), printed in 1972. Each signed, titled, and numbered 8/10 in pencil, lower margin.

Titles include: Bravado * Defiance * Flight * Surrender.

Each superb, dark impressions of these scarce prints. It is estimated that the artist printed approximately 100 impressions - a small edition of prints at the time of publication, then three later editions and occasional printings outside the edition. Douglas was originally commissioned by Theatre Arts Monthly to design a series of woodblock illustrations for the Eugene O'Neill play Emperor Jones in 1926. These later editions were made with printmaker Stephanie Pogue who helped Douglas reprint this series and his etchings The Junkman and The Window Shopper.