Posted 11 years ago
mikelv85
(1232 items)
I've been finding a lot of nice art work lately.Mid -century oils and prints. I usually don't post them because they are hard to photograph and there is no category for them on CW (at least oil paintings.) The one I found today is actually by a known artist "Ferdinand Jean Luigini" so I thought I'd post it. It's complete in it's original frame and for once no one tried to open it. The mat is a bit yellowed but that really doesn't bother me. All the labels are there which is great. Seems to be original. Signed in pencil on the etching by the artist. Numbered on the tag ,but no date. Title says Ostende Belgium, but "Quai Sur La Dyle" is the proper title. Most of these were done in the 20's and Luigini died in 1943. So I figured he had to be alive to sign this. It looks like an authentic signature. It appears to have been bought in France with it's mat and then framed here in good old Cleveland Ohio. A nice find and worth a bit too ! -Mike-
Artist Bio and History:
Ferdinand-Jean Luigini (1870-1943) studied art in Paris under Emile Verhaeren. He began exhibiting his landscapes and architectural renderings in Paris in 1892 with the Salon des Artistes Francais. Within several years his art was regularly shown in London, Brussels, Amsterdam and New York.
Ferdinand-Jean Luigini was equally famous for both his large colour aquatints and for his watercolours. One contemporary scholar wrote, “Ferdinand Luigini, a brilliant watercolour artist, succeeds in lending his etchings the fascination of glowing pictures. The deep rich tones are obtained by very careful biting. His style varies with his subject. Some of his plates ... show the broad sweep of the painter’s brush bent upon rendering the atmosphere of large spaces. ... His most successful plates portray the autumnal aspects of Flemish landscape. * These words clearly apply to this large, beautiful aquatint and etching.
The artistry of the original aquatint and etching printed in colours reached its most creative era in the 1920’s decade. Fine artists throughout Europe and America produced outstanding work in this demanding medium, however, etchers in Austria and France led the way. Famous Austrian artists of the period included Luigi Kasimir, Max Pollack and Hans Figura. Some of the many great French artists were Raffaelli, Manuel Robbe, Helleu, Armand Coussens, Gustave Henri Marchetti and Ferdinand-Jean Luigini.
Found some more info on where this print was made:
Beginning in the 1920s and lasting until the 1960s, Sidney Lucas owed The Old Print Center in New York and ran a gallery named the Camilla Lucas Gallery, named after his mother. He was in the business of both wholesale art publishing and retail art sales, dealing with modern and contemporary prints as well as reproductions of prints.
As another venture, Lucas formed the Paris Etching Society, where he traveled to Europe and commissioned prints by primarily French and Flemish artists. These were all original, hand-colored aquatints or etchings and they were usually signed, and sometimes titled, in pencil by the artists. Supposedly the runs for these prints were between 350 and 500. These prints can be identified either by a “Paris Etching Society” imprint or the initials “SZL” inside a triangle or circle.
I bought this in place of the two that got away. Went back for them the other day and they were gone. This one was there and I snapped it up. Plenty of documentation on the back. Here again you would never figured out this signature was F.J. Luigini. Maybe eventually ,but he is well known and this is probably worth more than the two I missed out on. My thought is there's always something else out there just have to find it.
mikelv85,
Hello, my name is Derrick and I live in Canton Ohio. Oddly enough I found you by searching this artist's name (Ferdinand-Jean Luigini). My father in law has one of these etchings I believe, signed and numbered although it does not have the SZL seal anywhere on it. Now this thing is in rough condition, in a frame but it was obviously well before preservation quality framing. The paper on the back is basically crumbling, it has no mat, a few water stains along the outer edge, and its fading. Now, I've been wanting to upgrade the mounting and glass to preservation quality but there is obviously some reservations and a strange story behind it. My father in law's father was in World War Two, and died in the 60's. The story is he sent this back to his mother, supposedly from Hitler's office, and she had in framed, most likely in the 40's. Now, the people who were directly told this from his father are deceased, so rest assured I'm taking all this with a grain of salt, but I really want to know what the smartest plan would be here. I work at Michael's part time and we are certified by the Library of Congress to do archival mounting and fitting and I've done it with a lot of very old pieces. I would use the original frame just line and mat it properly but I don't want to go messing with the frame job if it ruins the integrity of the piece. I haven't even taken off the paper on the back so I have no idea how its mounted or whats in there other than a cardboard backer and finishing nails I can see through the worn parts of the paper backer. From research I do know that many were from the paris etching society and I believe the title of this one is "Ramage." It's print number is on the left bottom and it's either 485 or 185 (Hard to read the writing) out of 550 and it has the F. J. Luingini signature on the right (Also hard to read and took a fair bit of research to uncover.) SO ANYWAY. I am not an art collector, just a framer but I have a great appreciation for art, so I am just looking for some advice. If you have any or not, a reply would be greatly appreciated but I know this is an older post I am re-hashing. Regardless, thank you very much for your time.
Derrick
Hi Derrick...Well I can't really add much in terms of advice. You seem to have all the proper materials at your disposal. I would say restore the frame and use non-glare UV glass and acid-free matte and papers. It's likely to be very fragile so removing it from the frame is a gamble. I don't know if restoring the actual print through a conservator is cost effective as I don't believe these to be really valuable. A lot depends on how much color loss and paper damage from the sunlight. If your story could be proven about Hitler's owner ship I think you'd have something special. Hope all goes well :) -Mike-
Hey I appreciate it Mike,
I guess the thing making me hold off was the story and wondering if you knew if appraisers held any magic way to prove such an outrageous story that me tampering with the piece would keep from happening. But that's what I thought, short of me opening it and finding "property of Adolf Hitler" I think that's going to be a lost cause. I might as well do what's right for the piece and preserve it.
Thanks again,
Derrick
Does anyone know of the triangle label with SLC initials title Venice. The label reads Etchings carrying this label are genuine original french etchings imported from Paris. The artist placed on this etching the triangle trademarK enclosing the letters SLC as a special identification.
He mentions a little about the circle or triangle would be from the Paris etching society, but hopefully he answers back I'm ignorant of the seals. I did end up finally taking mine out of the frame and put some mats and good glass on it (although the glass was the old heavy/wavy stuff). But the strange part is mine didn't have a seal at all. Just the etching printed and colored and signed and numbered with pencil. I just have no idea what it means.