Albee, Grace (1890-1985) A Small Archive of Prints.
Including a portrait of her five sons, printed in brown ink, unsigned; a small print of her son John from an edition of seventeen; two small illustrations for book publication, including a signed copy of a portrait of the Duc de la Rochefoucauld used as the frontispiece of A Little Book of Aphorisms, published by Scribner's in 1947; several original drawings of Pre-Columbian Mexican terra cotta figures; three unsigned proof copies of Guardian of the Border; and two copies of Collector's Item, each signed and dated from an edition of fifty; with other related material.
Rhode Island native Grace Thurston Arnold Albee enjoyed a sixty-year career as an artist and printmaker, creating more than 250 original prints, and excelling at wood engraving. She also gave birth to five sons in nine years and raised them while working, studying and traveling. In the late 1920s and early '30s Albee and her family lived in France, where she continued her exploration of printmaking and art studies. Her first one-person show was held at the American Library in Paris in 1932. Albee was the first female graphic artist to be granted a full membership to the National Academy of Design.
This and the following lots of her work showcase a wide swath of her oeuvre, including images created in France, seascapes, still lifes, depictions of the American rural landscape after the Depression, and personal work like the portraits of her sons. All of the Albee lots in this sale descended through her estate and represent the artist's retained copies of her own work, including multiple states and work in progress. Prints that are unsigned were meant for the artist's use and not for the commercial market.
