Fine Art Prints, part 2

Fine Art Prints, part 2 will concentrate on Edward Gorey lithographs and serigraphs.

Over the years, there have been prints, both individual images and series prints, made from Mr. Gorey's artwork. In the prints shown here, Mr. Gorey usually had very little or no direct involvement with the production process, apart from signing them. Images were chosen from his books or from pieces or art which he created for other purposes. As will all statements of this kind, there are exceptions!
The most visible collection of signed/numbered prints by Edward Gorey are the Signals Prints. This series of 10 images was produced to be sold through the Signals Catalog, and the prints were created from highly detailed original artwork made expressly for this set. These prints are welcome additions to any Gorey collection. I am showing the first and last print from the series. For more information on these prints, see my posting from Sunday October 25, 2009. Prints from this series often appear in on eBay, and recently have been included in collections being sold at auction. The quantity of impressions made for this series is large - especially for the unsigned/numbered examples, which should keep the prices reasonable.

The earliest series of prints made from Gorey images were a set of seven serigraphs produced in 1975 by Diogenes Verlag for their Galerie Daniel Keel in Zurich Switerzerland (according to Malcolm Whyte in Goreyography). I have not seen any of these prints in person, but they look like offset lithographic reproductions, not serigraphs (screenprints). The line quality displayed in these prints is not usually possible using the screenprinting process. The series was produced in a signed/numbered edition of 125 impressions of each of the seven images. Each image in this series was culled from Mr. Gorey's previously published The Blue Aspic and The Other Statue. A reader of this blog forwarded the image of one of the prints shown to the left (shown here with permission). It would be interesting to know if the prints were sent from Europe to Mr. Gorey for signing, or if he perhaps signed them during his only trip overseas in 1975.

A popular print produced by Gotham Book Mart is a lithograph which shows a man sitting in a chair in a library reading, with multiple cats lounging about him. While untitled, this print is often referred to as Man with Cats. This image was produced in a rather large edition of 750 numbered and 26 lettered (A to Z) prints - all prints are hand signed. I am showing print Z/26, which I thought was highly appropriate for the image.

English Soup is an offset lithograph black and white image showing two Figbash characters disporting themselves - one holding an umbrella, the other a large tureen. This image was made in an edition of 300 numbered copies. I am showing copy #260/300

There is an ongoing series of prints created by the Edward Gorey House featuring prints of various images, sizes, and limitations. The editions are available unnumbered, numbered, or lettered. The numbered/lettered editions are all "signed" using embossed representation of Mr. Gorey's distinctive signature. The House usually produces three different editions each year. These prints are affordable, feature fantastic Gorey images, and are only available from the Edward Gorey House. For more information on these prints, go to www.edwardgoreyhouse.org.

The next journey (in a future post, or probably posts) into the world of Gorey prints will focus on his etchings and colographs.