Maya Workers, Two Builders --1929, Lithograph on zinc.

Morse 90. Edition 11, 2nd state. Signed in pencil.

Image size 7 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches (185 x 116 mm); sheet size 11 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches (298 x 198 mm).

A fine impression, with full margins (1 1/4 to 2 3/8 inches) on cream wove paper, in excellent condition. Printed by George C. Miller.

$425.

Negro Head --1942, Lithograph.

Morse 458. 5 proofs only. Signed in pencil. Initialed and dated in the stone, lower right. Inscribed For Sid. lower left and J C - 252 in the lower left sheet corner.

Image size 9 x 7 inches (229 x 178 mm); sheet size 14 x 10 1/8 inches (356 x 257 mm).

A fine impression, with full margins (1 1/4 to 2 1/2 inches), on cream wove paper, in excellent condition.

This portrait derives from a figure in the mural done for the McDonough, Georgia, Post Office in January-February 1942, first painted November 1941 (JC diary).

SOLD

Picture Book --c. 1930-1934, 32 Subjects, 373 Color Lithographs.

Morse 121 through 152. The Picture Book was published in an edition of 500. Each copy was numbered and signed on the colophon page by Charlot, Lynton R. Kistler and Merle Armitage. The individual prints were signed in the matrix. During the printing the artist compiled 5 complete sets of the progressive proofs of all 32 subjects. One set was divided among copies 1-32 of the published edition, each book containing the progressives of one print. The other 4 sets were bound in 4 volumes each and given to: (1) the aritst, (2) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (3) Lynton Kistler, (4) Merle Armitage. Each set also contains the key-plates of all 32 images, the 8 ruled spaces with vignettes, and the 8 additional sketches, all printed offset in black.

The 4 volumes offered here represent the set given to Merle Armitage, which is noted in the catalogue raisonée of Charlot's prints as having not been located. They are beautifully bound with hand-printed cloth covers and endpapers designed by the artist, and 1/4 leather spines. The first page is inscribed Merle Armitage in dark grey calligraphy by Charlot. The following page is an original Charlot watercolor with pen and ink, a study for Builder, Picture Book number 15, Morse 133. Inscribed by the artist in pen For Merle Armitage. Merry Christmas 1933. Jean Charlot. L.A.

Charlot began his Picture Book with the idea not of "art for art," but rather art for the people. He was inspired by the tradition of the Images d'Epinal, Guadalupe Posadas, and penny sheets. He also saw the Picture Book as sharing in the Medieval and Rennaisance tradition of the artist's studio source book. Thus, the Picture Book provides a complete repertory of the themes and motifs Charlot had employed in his art up to that point in his career.

The 4 volumes include 373 progressive color proofs for all 32 lithographs of the Picture Book as follows: In Church, The Rocking Chair, Fiesta Head-Dress, Coiffure, Idol, Tondo I, Cargador, Woman Washing, Luz, Sacrifice of Isaac, Plaza, Tondo II, Builder, Dance at Dawn, The Yellow Robe, Leopard Hunter, The Petate, The Iron Bed, Raising of Lazarus, Bathers, The Rebozo, Arches, Pastoras, Tondo III, Malinche, Jarana, La Nana, Maya Workers, The Brass Bed, Motherly Care, Naval Skirmish, and Grace.

For a background essay and complete listing of the contents of this important and scarce record of the artist's working methods, please contact us.

$18,000.