1920/1977 French Block Print The Way of the Cross Jean Charlot (1898-1979)(Mod)9

Up for sale from a recent estate in Honolulu Hawaii this very rare 1920/1977 French limited 2nd edition 5/30 black and white woodblock print that is titled No.9 "Third Fall" and was created by the well known artist Jean Charlot (1898-1979).

If you are wondering why the dates given are 1920 and 1977 here is a little bit of the backstory. Jean Charlot was a soldier in WWI. He carried with him a set of wood-planks on which he carved the designs for the Way of the cross print series. In 1920 after the end of his service he was able in France to print a first edition (limited to a number of 15 sets) of the Way of the Cross on thin cardboard. Throughout the next half century he carried the woodblocks with him from France to Mexico and to the USA and later to Hawaii. In this odyssey only a single block was lost, the fronts-piece, that was reproduced for the folio in a silkscreen version. Lynton Kistler was able to publish this small series of prints (limited to a run of 30 sets) in 1977 from the original warping, splitting and aging blocks. The condition is described above - for more information please check the photos.

Measurements:

Print 17 inches x 10.75 inches

Sheet 23 inches x 17.75 inches

More about the artist:

Jean Charlot was born in France in the 1880's. He had Aztec ancestors and moved with his mother to Mexico after studying at the Ecole de Beaux arts in Paris and serving as an artillery officer at the end of WWI. He quickly established himself in the art community of Mexico City in the very early 1920's and befriended Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Orozco, main figures in the Mexican Mural movement of the early twenties that quickly spread to the USA.

Charlot and the others visited the USA and taught - mostly in New York City - the true fresco technique, which Charlot taught to the other Mexican muralists. In 1947, Jean Charlot moved his family to Colorado Springs, Colorado to take over as head of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Art School from which Boardman Robinson had just retired. He also taught at the private school for boys in Colorado Springs, The Fountain Valley School.

Charlot resigned over a dispute involving tenure and other differences of opinion with the administration of the Art Center. He moved to Hawaii to teach at the University and remained there for about thirty years until his death in 1979. He won many awards for his work.

He has written many scholarly essays and books and lectured and taught at a host of schools. He is the person who singlehandedly resurrected the work of Jose Guadalupe Posada, the great Mexican engraver of popular art - especially the "Day of the Dead" skeleton figures that are so well known today.

Condition: 

The print is in good pre-owned condition, it was never framed before, you are receiving only one print, to make this easy you will receive the item shown in the first two photos the additional pages shown are just to show what the folio and front page look like they are not part of the sale, the folio was printed in a edition of 30,