Color lithograph, 1951. 330x268 mm; 13x10 1/2 inches, full margins. Artist's proof. Signed, titled, dated and inscribed "A/P" in pencil, lower margin. A scarce impression of this fine print.
The lithographs Girl in White Blouse and An Evening in Blackburns mark the first appearance of Laidman's work at auction.
New York City native Tom Laidman first studied art at the Art Student's League with Will Barnet, and printmaking with Robert Blackburn. In 1948, Laidman, alongside Blackburn and Barnet, became one of the founding members of Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop. He recalled the experimental studio atmosphere: "There was an open arrangement, whereby students and artists had unlimited access. . . . Bob was a dynamo of energy . . . He'd go right to the stone, draw an image, etch it, roll it up, and print it. Then he'd draw on another stone, print that over his first image, then evaluate the result. He always had five or six blank stones around while he was working. He used them like paintbrushes."
Laidman worked as an art supervisor until 1983, recruiting and training art teachers in the New York City public schools system. He was also a charter member of the Noho Gallery from 1975 to 1980, and on the board of directors of the Audubon Artists. In 2003, the Library of Congress presented the exhibition Creative Space: Fifty Years of Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop, which included Tom Laidman's 1954 woodcut Waterhole.
