Oct 07, 2021 - Sale 2581

Sale 2581 - Lot 13

Price Realized: $ 8,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
JAMES LESESNE WELLS (1902 - 1992)
Group of 5 linoleum cuts.

Each on cream thin Japan paper, circa 1930. 387x273 mm; 15 1/4x10 3/4 inches (sheet), full margins.

This illustrative series is a very scarce example of printmaking from the Harlem Renaissance era. James Lesesne Wells's early career as a printmaker is characterized by his easy mastery of block prints. Wells also was very successful in having this graphic work widely published in leading black periodicals like The Crisis and Opportunity; his illustrations accompanied the writing of the likes of writers Alain Locke, Marianne Moore, Willis Richardson and Carter Woodson.