French artist and etcher Emile Leroi

I collect and sell the works of French artist and etcher Emile Leroy (1887-1944). His prints portray Paris and its environs. The quality is better than many tourist market etchings of the period and evidence a real love of architecture.

People and trappings of the period, cars, vendors, etc. are mainly absent from his work. In an era when many Paris etchers choose to have their work hand colored, Leroi's was in black and white. His etching had bold titles that announce the location. These titles are done "in the plate" instead of being written by hand.

Research indicates that his studio was located on rue du Moulin in Caen France. Caen is a port city in northern France in the Normandy region. It takes about 3 hours to travel from this city to Paris. The website Drouot sold the brass plaque that was originally affixed to the exterior of his studio. It was embossed with the words Emile Leroi Artiste-Graveur.

Here is a sampling of the works by Emile Leroi that I have sold in the past:

Notre Dame De Paris_La Grande Galerie

Paris Chimeres Le Notre Dame

Porte des Cordeliers, Falaise

Boat on Seine with Notre Dame Cathedral in background. Untitled!

Honfleur Clocher Ste Catherine

Caen - Old Door Ste Gilles

I recently purchased a small lot of his etchings and they were all printed on paper watermarked Normandy Vellum. How appropriate since he worked in the region! The back of gargoyle print still had the label from the shop that sold it. The label reads "Au Jongleur Notre-Dame, 8 Rue Cloître Notre Dame, Paris".

Sellers label

Paper with Normandy Vellum watermark (color of the paper enhanced to show mark).

Paper Conservation - Mat Burn, Toning, and Laid Down

Last week I purchased three prints, all from the same sale, and decided that now would be a good time to document their before and after transformation. I'll show some of the most common condition problems with vintage or antique works on paper. The list is as follows:

• Toning - discoloration of the paper due to prolonged (were talking decades) exposure to sunlight. The paper goes from white to yellow or brown.
• Mat burn - the acid from the paper fibers in the mat cause a discoloration to occur where the mat sat on top of the print.
• Laid Down - framers of yesteryear thought nothing of slathering the back of the print (or part of the print with) glue to achieve a perfectly smooth look and the make sure the art would stay where it was placed. This too can damage and discolor the print over time.

All of the prints I purchased had one problem or another. Although they are not especially expensive pieces I decided to clean, re-mat, and re-frame them in an effort to restore their look. This type of undertaking does not always make economic sense. I don't end up making much for my time! It is a measure of my love for old things and restoration.

In the first photo I show the prints submerged in the bath and set out on our front lawn. Not sure how the neighbors feel about this...oh well.

Paper Conservation

This cute print oddly entitled "Self Portrait" is a good example of what mat burn can do to a print. Notice that the center of the print is bright and white, it's the only the margins that are discolored. Also contact with the corrugated cardboard backing has caused a striped pattern to appear on the back, which can also be seen faintly on the front.

mat burn- etching of a cat

The print below dates from the 1920's and suffers from toning. Toning can really rob a print of its "life" and it can even obscure some of the details in the scene. It's titled "Wien Beethovenhaus" and will fit in well with all the other music related prints on the site.

Print with toning or discoloration

I saved the best for last. An antique print with good subject matter and a lovely slightly Japanese style. The framer had glued it down to a backing board and then put glue along the edges to mount the mat. You can faintly see the stains in the margins (especially at the top).

At this stage I had already begin the paper conservation process. I had submerged the print to separate it from the backing. I then manually removed the discolored mat and brittle glue on the front. I hoped that further treatment would lighten or remove the glue stains.

Print that was "laid down"

Here are the after photos and I am basically happy with the results. Now you can actually see Beethoven's House and read the title. The etching of the cat not longer suffers from heavy mat burn, but a slight touch of it can still be seen. In the last photo you can see that the glue stains have disappeared.

Wien Beethovenhaus

"Self Portrait"

Vintage color etching

Here are the original frames. All of them are sound and go well with the artwork. Given the price of framing today I often offer the piece with a frame if I can. The task now is to replace the mats and backing with acid free materials and re-fit the art into the frames. If the mats and baking are not replaced the damage I just fixed can occur all over again.

Currently I do not have the equipment or the knowledge to cut mats and David Gee is the framing wizard who will do this part of the job. He will also touch-up one of the frames making the wear on the sides almost invisible. Below you can see the final results.

I hope you will consider some of prints that I have for sale at affordablevintage4u on eBay.

The original picture frames

The textured mat offsets the rough paper of the print.
The brown wood frame is in great condition.

No more red mat! Now it's fits in with any decor and compliments
the silver frame.

David Gee touched up the frame's green paint and the gold accents.
He choose an off white mat with a hint of green

The Biography and Images of artist Vaughan Trowbridge

Information and images of the work of American artist Vaughan Trowbridge are scattered over the internet. It certainly took be some time to piece together a cohesive picture of the man and his work. So I thought I'd collect some images of his work from around the net and share a brief biography.

It is a gift of the internet that we can now know this once semi-obscure artist better.

Vaughan Trowbridge -  American - 1869-1945

Etcher, painter, and illustrator, Vaughan Trowbridge was born in Queens, New York, in 1869. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn with a degree in banking in 1889 and then went on to work as a clerk for the Susquehanna Railroad. Nine years later he left the work-a-day world behind and went to study art in Paris. He studied with Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. He remained a resident of Paris for the rest of his life and was active through the 1920s.

Venice 

Etching of Granada, Spain - fr Albion Prints

Canal, Bruges - fr Annex Gallery

The Ancient Chapel of the Chartreuse, Avignon

Book Illustrated by Vaughan Trowbridge

Illustration fr Paris and the Social Revolution

Limoges, 1912, etching - Plattsburgh State Art Museum

Storm, Champagne Sur Seine

Bassin Du Dracon, Versailles 

In the early part of his artistic career Vaughan Trowbridge did a series of non-color etching of New York City. These etchings are part of the collection of Museum of the City of New York. This part of this artistic output is not to be missed. Please click here to see the 10 works they have posted online.

Riverside Drive - Vaughan Trowbridge

In 2011 This view of the Grand Canal in Venice by Trowbridge done in 1905 was featured in a exhibit called Venetian Views at the Indianapolis Museum of Art:

Grand Canal Venice - Vaughan Trowbridge 1905

Market Square in Quimper, France, 1909 -  Principia College Collection

Street Scene, 1907, St. MaClou Rouen, France - Principia College Collection

The Forge, Limoges 1902 - Collection De Young/Legion of Honor

Ellen Oakford and the Etching Revival

From the early 1800's up until the 1875 the medium of etching was used mostly to reproduce paintings. Long gone were Durer, Rembrant, and Piranesi who along with others produced beautiful original works of art in the medium. However, around 1870 things began to change. Great artists again became interested in the medium and so began what came to be called the Etching Revival in the United States.

This revival period also included a small group of talented women artists. Their work and biographies are documented in the book "American Women of the Etching Revival" by Phyllis Peets. This group of woman artist includes Mary Cassat, Mary Louise McLaughlin, Mary Nemo Moran, Ellen Day Hale, Blanche Dillaye, Eliza Pratt Greatorex, and Ellen Oakford.

Presented here is a small archive of the work of etcher and teacher Ellen Oakford, which was purchased directly from her family. Most of the works are printed on thin tissue-like laid paper. Only scattered examples of her work appear on the internet and I thought more was needed. Works like these can be for sale in my eBay store affordablevintage4u

Portrait - Etching by Ellen Oakford

Landscape - Etching by Ellen Oakford

Portrait of a Lady - Ellen Oakford - 1887

Lansdcape Etching by Ellen Oakford - Signed with Initials on Verso

Woman in Orchard with Book - Etching by Ellen Oakford

American Women of the Etching Revival - Peet

Wood Engraving - 1930s Illustration by artist Frank Peers

The cover of the 1933 novel The Last Adam contains a paste-down copy of a woodcut by artist Frank Peers. From information on the internet it would seem that Frank Peers worked primarily as a book illustrator, but so far no one had identified this lovely book cover at his. Such a nice wood engraving!

Color Etchings with Aquatint - Jean Louis Andre David or Louis Davril

When I purchased these 3 color works by Louis Davril I misread the signature as David. To compound the problem there was not much accessible information about Jean Louis Andre David and only a few examples of his work on the net. Most of the information came from the website artoftheprint.com. According to their notes David specialized in marine subject matter: "Most of David's aquatints portray scenes in and around major French ports". The signature on an etching they sold, identified as David,  matched mine exactly.

The Art Of The Print has been selling works on paper since 1986 and is normally a wealth of good information but like me they make mistakes too.  So below are works now correctly identified as belonging to Louis Davril.

"La Barriere" or "The Fence"

                  "Rue Basse Des Tanneurs Amiens"

"Hiver en Flanders" or "Winter in Flanders"

Borin Art Products Corp, Chicago - Vintage Prints

I just acquired a large vintage print entitled Young Shipbuilder. The print impressed me with its quality and artful look. The label on the back reads "Vivitone Etching - each color applied with an intaglio plate by the Vivitone etching process. An authentic replica which retains the depth and blended colors of the artists original. Made by Borin Art Products Corp. Chicago, Ill."

Young Shipbuilder

Borin Art Product Corp - Vivitone Label

You can find many beautiful prints by Borin on different websites. In excellent condition, with original frame, these prints generally sell for $50-$150 (depending on size, age, artist, and quality of the image). The heyday of Borin Art Product Corp was the 1920's - 1940's. Unlike other companies that produced similar prints, Borin seemed to publish artwork that would appeal to both men and women. Certainly my print of the shipbuilder would look great in a man's den or office.

Below are photos of 5 other Borin prints. One by the well collected artist R. Atkinson Fox dates to the 1920s as do at least 2 other examples. Being a fan of silent movies my favorite is Arabian Love a clever move to capitalize on Valentino's popularity as the sheik without paying an royalties. Also a recent Kovels blog mentions an artist by the name of Alfred T. Terone who worked for Borin producing original artwork that was then mass-produced. So it would seem that Borin reproduced art by both well know artists and artists who employed directly by the company.

Title Unknown

Holland Flower Market 1928

R. Atkinson Fox print

Borin Mark with copyright symbol

1928 Arabian Love

Under Tripoli Skies - Signed La Tessa

Currently ebay has a 1940's photo of a Nathan Borin described by the press as a Chicago art dealer. He is news because he is one of the "Battling Borins", famous for their 150 appearances in court during their 14 year marriage. Here he announces plans to wed the former Miss Miami Beach, Janet Shore, 32 years his junior. I 'm not sure this is the same Borin who owned the art products corp. but it seems likely. If so he had an eye for beautiful art and beautiful women, but as husband he was not so good.

Photo from ebay seller Historic Images