?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
SZYK, ARTHUR. Adam and Eve * Solomon. Together, two early ink drawings with watercolor. Adam and Eve measures 233x194 mm; 9 1/4x7 1/4 inches. Signed "A. Szyk 1910 Wilno" in lower margin. With gold and rose watercolor tints applied. Tipped to window matte, contemporary notations and partial stamp on verso, obscured. Solomon is 318x254 mm; 12 1/2x10 inches. Signed "Arthur Szyk 1930 Wilno" in lower left corner, captioned "Ze Zbiorow Maksymiliana Goldstein." With crude and bright hand coloring applied. Verso blank but with tape remnants from early framing. From the Collection of Marysm Goldstein; to Stanley Wattenberg; to present owner through descendants. Wilno, 1910; 1930
Two unusual and early creations by Szyk. While not typical of the later saturated and highly detailed miniature work for which he is best known, they are not entirely uncommon to his early illustrated works in Poland, which were also mainly religious in theme. The two pieces reflect stylistic tendencies of his such as elaborate borders, foliage and fabrics, and a nod to renaissance traditions of illumination. Each bears an Autograph Letter Signed, attached to the verso, in Polish, by Stanislaw Dabrowski, who was the sworn judicial assessor for Szyk's work and of arts in the city of Krakow stating that the work was from the Collection of Marysm Goldstein and an authentic and original work of art by Szyk (basic translation). The ALS on the Adam and Eve piece is on the letterhead of the Stanley Wattenberg Art Gallery of Long Branch, NJ, known American dealer of Szyk's material in the states. The second letter is likely on the same letterhead but torn along the top. Each letter dated 14 October 1959.
