Houston Street Burlesque - 1928, Lithograph.

Robinson and Pirog 37. Edition 50. Signed and dated in pencil.

Image size 9 13/16 x 8 inches (249 x 203 mm); sheet size 15 9/16 x 11 1/2 inches (395 x 292 mm).

A fine, rich impression, with full margins (1 5/8 to 2 15/16 inches), on cream wove paper, in excellent condition.

Exhibited: Weyhe Gallery, 1928; Downtown Gallery, 'American Print Makers Second Annual Exhibition', 1928; Print Club of Philadelphia, 'Modern Lithographs', 1929; Mexico City, 1929; American Institute of Graphic Arts, 'Fifty Prints of the Year', 1930 (traveling exhibition); June 1 Gallery, 'The American Women Printmaker', 1985; Loyola Marymount University, 'The Spirit of the City: American Urban Paintings, Prints and Drawings', 1986; Sylvan Cole Gallery, 'Mabel Dwight Lithographs', 1986; American Federation of Arts, New York, 'In the Eye of the Storm; An Art of Conscience, 1930-1970.

Illustrated: The New York Times, Dec. 2, 1928; New York World, Dec. 9, 1928; The Arts, March, 1930; Jewell 1930; AIGA 1932; Cary 1930; Salpeter 1937; In the Eye of the Storm: An Art of Conscience, 1930-1970, Francis K. Pohl, Chameleon Books Inc., New York, NY, 1995.

Collections: NYPL, PMA, Yale.

Minsky’s National Winter Garden was a well known burlesque theater on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Dwight made quick sketches at Minsky’s, hiding her work from view with a large handbag. She also illustrated an article, “The Last Days of Burlesque” for Vanity Fair (August 1929) with scenes from the burlesque theater.

SOLD

The Great Trapeze Act- 1930, Lithograph.

Robinson and Pirog 48. Edition 40. Signed and dated in pencil.

Image size 8 11/16 x 13 3/8 inches (205 x 329 mm); sheet size 11 1/2 x 15 7/8 inches (292 x 403 mm).

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

Exhibited: Art Institute of Chicago, 1930; American Artist’s Congress, 1936; Society of American Etchers, 1937; Weyhe Gallery, 1932, 1938; Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, 1973; Philadelphia Museum of Art 1980, 1992.

Illustrated in Theatre Arts Monthly, August, 1931; New York Times, Jewell, Jan. 9, 1932; The Artist in America: Twenty-four Close-ups of Contemporary Printmakers, Zigrosser, Knopf, 1942; American Artist 13, Zigrosser, 1949; 14 American Women Printmakers of the '30's and 40's, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, 1973.

Collections: Philadelphia Museum of Art; Randolph-Macon.

“The modern circus has lost its innocence, and it robs us of ours...Most adults remember the circus when it was a thing of human proportions, when the clowns were jolly fellows you might even shake hands with, where you saw so many wonderful things in one small tent that they lasted you all these years...Now the clowns are a running blur in an arena a block away from you. But many people never see the arena nowadays; they just get closeups of the "ten cents, only one dime" buzzards who buzz thicker than flies around the old time lemonade bowls. Altogether they must cart the contents of a wharehouse through the aisles and over your toes, at each performance –hundreds of Kewpie dolls in one basket, a basket large enough to blot out all of the Great Trapeze Act...” –Mabel Dwight, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Lithographs, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997.

SOLD

White Mansion- 1934, Lithograph.

Robinson and Pirog 72. Edition 50. Signed and dated in pencil.

Image size 11 x 15 5/16 (318 x 248 mm); sheet size 15 7/8 x 23 inches (376 x 291 mm).

A fine, rich impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 7/8 to 4 1/16 inches), in excellent condition. Printed by George Miller.

Collections: Milwaukee; Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Seattle.

$1100.

Merchants of Death- 1935, Lithograph.

Robinson and Pirog 74. Edition 40. Signed and dated in pencil; titled in pencil, verso.

Image size 8 1/16 x 12 15/16 inches (205 x 329 mm); sheet size 11 1/2 x 15 7/8 inches (292 x 403 mm).

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

Exhibited: Print Club of Philadelphia 1935; Downtown Gallery 1935; Art Institute of Chicago 1935; American Artist’s Congress 1936; Society of American Etchers 1937; Weyhe Gallery 1938; Donald H. Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College 1989; University at Stony Brook 1990; Philadelphia Museum of Art 1992.

Illustrated in New Masses, October, 1935; L'Amérique de la Dépression, Artistes Engagés des Années 30, Musée-Gallerie de la Seita, Paris, 1996.

Collections: Philadelphia Museum of Art; Vassar.

“The Profiteers of Death are hardy, long-lived... their only interest is self-interest and their only god is profit. As munition manufacturers they have no country. As politicians their interest is in a strong ruling class and the concentration of privilege.... But they seldom realize that death is their leader. He loves them for he knows that sooner or later they will fill his coffers. He knows that they are breeders of wars and revolutions.... Their tenacity and immemorial stupidity pass all understanding; they are creatures vastly sharp-sighted, but incurably shortsighted. In this country they hate the ideal of Democracy, but they are glad of its loose rein, which has given them plenty of rope.” –Mabel Dwight, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Lithographs, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997.

SOLD

Christmas in Paris- 1939, Lithograph.

Robinson and Pirog 98. Edition 25. Signed, titled and numbered 14 in pencil. Stamped FEDERAL ART PROJECT NYC WPA in the lower left margin. Scarce.

Image size 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches (241 x 318 mm); sheet size 11 7/16 x 16 1/16 inches (291 x 408 mm).

A fine, rich impression, with full margins (15/16 x 1 3/4 inches), on cream wove paper, in excellent condition. Scarce.

Exhibited: Weyhe Gallery, one person show, 1928.

Collections: Ackland Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of American Art, New York Public Library, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Queens, University of Alabama, University of New Mexico.

$1900.