May 09, 2013 - Sale 2313

Sale 2313 - Lot 175

Unsold
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
CRAMER, KONRAD. Original Calligraphic Manuscript festschrift for his mother-in-law's 70th birthday. 10 leaves watercolored by Cramer, each in black and orange calligraphy, with decorative initials, 5 plates featuring a large illuminated initial; the final leaf is signed "Florence, Margot, and Konrad." Following the Mss is a 3-page letter from the artist's wife, Florence Ballin Cramer, an artist in her own right, illustrated with two small, charming watercolor vignettes of a mother and a baby. Np, 14 May 1915
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Cramer emigrated to Woodstock, NY from Wurzburg, Germany in 1911 at the age of 23. His exposure to the formative ideas of Der Blaue Reiter group in Munich drove him to create some of the earliest American works of abstract expressionism. His friendship with Alfred Stieglitz and his circle enabled Cramer to promote his works and eventually delve into photography. Though it shows more of his formal training at Karlsruhe rather than his budding abstraction, this is a charming hand-made tribute to his wife's mother when he was just 23.