?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
MARTIN LEWIS The Equilibrists.
Drypoint and aquatint, 1939. 253x403 mm; 9 7/8x15 7/8 inches. First state (of 2), before the reduction of the plate. One of only 5 artist's proofs from the edition of only 10 in this state. Signed and inscribed "trial proof" in pencil, lower margin. A superb impression of this extremely scarce print.
After the first 10 printings, Lewis (1881-1962) cut the plate into two sections and reworked both as separate compositions. There is only one known impression of each of the two smaller second state plates: states IIA and IIB. The state IIB impression, which was taken from the right side of the plate, is in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
We have found only one other impression of the complete plate at auction in the past 30 years.
Provenance: Patricia Lewis (the artist's daughter-in-law), with her ink stamp verso. McCarron 127.
