DORIS SEIDLER
- and the mark of Atelier 171950-1955
An unusual path led Bri0sh-born Doris Seidler to art Born Doris Falkoff in 1912 to parents who owned a leather goods shop, there are no men0ons of formal art training, private or otherwise, and no records of artworks from her early years. She married Jewish fur broker Bernard Seidler in 1932, and, in 1940, with a Nazi invasion of England on the horizon, they immigrated to the United States with their son, David. SeMling in New York City, Doris soon began pursuing art classes. She enrolled in courses at the New School for Social Research (NSSR), where she met printmaker Stanley William Hayter. This would prove to be a fortuitous confluence of events.
Hayter, himself a Bri0sh evacuee, had also relocated to New York City – from Paris in his case – to escape the rise of Nazi Germany He took a posi0on at the NSSR while reestablishing his famed experimental printmaking workshop, Atelier 17. Founded by Hayter in Paris in 1927, Atelier 17 had quickly gained acclaim among leading Abstract Expressionists and Surrealists such as Max Ernst, Joseph Hecht, Joan Miro, Helen Phillips, Pablo Picasso, Louise Bourgeois, Salvador Dali, and many others. At the NSSR in New York the studio con0nued to be a hub of collec0ve crea0vity, and Seidler’s curiosity was piqued. Hayter encouraged her to try her hand at printmaking.
Exactly when Seidler printed her first intaglio work isn’t en0rely clear, but the earliest prints known to us appear in 1950. By then, Hayter had returned to Paris, but the influence of his studio on Seidler’s work had made its mark. In her earliest prints, the vivacity of the “automa0c line” –a key element of the Atelier 17’s crea0ve ethos – is clear in her etchings and engravings, and within just a couple of years her style had evolved to include a rich tonality that emerged from her use of aqua0nt. Her earliest imagery borrowed from Surrealism, but by 1951 she had turned to Abstract Expressionism, finding inspira0on in urban skylines, flora, and the cosmos.
Doris Seidler would go on to have a successful career and con0nued to pursue art un0l well into her 90s. She would embrace new printmaking techniques and would also con0nue to paint, draw, and, in her later years, to pursue collage. However, the 1950s remains fundamental to her style, and echoes of this 0me appear in the work she would produce un0l her death in 2010. In this catalogue we’ve chosen from our inventory the works that reflect her singular brilliance at a 0me when ar0s0c ingenuity had taken the American art world by storm.
Procession
Burin drypoint, 1950; 10 x 7-7/8” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; inscribed “/5”; edition of five impressions; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on heavy, cream wove. Inventory number 19911. $750.00
Triad
Burin engraving and drypoint, 1950; 7 x 5” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned 2/5; monogrammed in the plate, upper left; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on heavy, cream wove. Inv. no. 19912. $800.00
Forum
Drypoint, 1951; 13-7/8 x 10-7/8” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned “P 3/4 ed. 25” (proof 3 of 4 from outside of the edition of 25); inscribed, verso: “Coll. Brooklyn Museum”; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on textured ivory wove. Inv. no. DOS172. $2,500.00
Garden of Dreams
Burin engraving, printed chine collé, 1952; 11-7/8 x 10” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; Artist's Proof from an unstated edition; inscribed, “1st state and “Atelier 17 – Coll. D.S.” (collection the artist); printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove. Inv. no. DOS164. $1,500.00
Moonlight & Structure
Engraving, etching, aquatint, and gouge, printed in color as a monoprint, trimmed to platemark and tipped onto support sheet, 1952; 4 x 4-7/8” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned 1/1; inscribed “Atelier 17” in lower left corner; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove. Inv. no. DOS174. $1,200.00
Moonlight & Structure
Engraving, etching, aquatint, and gouge, printed in color as a monoprint, trimmed to platemark and tipped onto support sheet, 1952; 4 x 4-7/8” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned 1/1; inscribed “Atelier 17” in lower left corner; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove. Inv. no. DOS175. $1,200.00
Invaders
Burin engraving on plexiglass, 1953; 16-1/16 x 12-1/16” image; pencil signed, titled, and dated; Artist’s Proof; inscribed “burin eng on plexiglass / Atelier 17 Coll. DS” in lower margin, and “engraving on plexiglass, for Marc” on verso, pencil; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on fibrous ivory wove. Inv. no. DOS171. $2,000.00
Reflections – Landscape; or: Landscape #1
Etching and aquatint, 1953; 10 x 11-7/8” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned 3/25; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on cream wove, probably Van Gelder; reference: British Museum no. 2003,0930.4. Inv. no. DOS162. $2,200.00
Progression
Mixed technique intaglio from two plate, 1953; measurement (each): 6 x 19-7/8” platemarks; pencil signed, titled, and dated; proof; inscribed “plates (2 copper) used in 1964 for Arkhaios XIX / purchased 1965 by from Terrain Gallery 39 Grove St N.Y. / last print” and verso: “Atelier 17 – Coll. DS”; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on cream wove. Inv. no. DOS196. $1,500.00
Daedalus - Theme
Etching and aquatint, 1953; 21-13/16 x 9-7/8” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; inscribed in lower margin: “Atelier 17 / 1st Prize Creative Graphics, listing in New Talent. / British Muse. exh. 1996 / Last print”; editioned 1/25; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove; reference: British Museum no. 1994,0515.31. Inv. no. DOS157. $2,000.00
Plant Forms
Aquatint, etching, and engraving (gouger), 1954; 16-15/16 x 13-7/8” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned “Trial proof ed. 25” (proof from outside of the edition of 25); inscribed in lower margin: “Portland Museum of Art 1954 / Contemporaries Gall. N.Y. 1957”; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove; reference: British Museum no. 1994,0515.32. Inv. no. DOS161. $2,000.00
Moonworld; or: Nocturne
Etching and aquatint, 1954; 14-3/4 x 17-3/4” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned “proof ed. 25” (proof from outside of the edition of 25); printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove; reference: British Museum no. 2003,1930.3 (later state, shown vertical). Inv. no. DOS158. $2,000.00
Fetish
Etching and aquatint, 1954; 20 x 9” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned “2/X”; inscribed on verso: “DS.H.” after signature, and “Atelier 17. Coll. DS.”; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on tan Douglass Howell wove. Inv. no. DOS163. $1,800.00
(Untitled abstraction)
Burin engraving, printed in color, 1954; 4-3/4 x 2-1/8” platemark; pencil signed and dated; edition size not stated; inscribed in lower margin of mounting sheet: “Atelier 17 / Burin / Coll. 54”; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on smooth cream wove mounted to heavier antique-white wove. Inv. no. DOS129. $750.00
Aftermath
Etching, aquatint, softground etching, and engraving, 1954; 15-7/8 x 19-3/4” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned 1/25; inscribed in lower margin: “collection D.S. / Reviewed by N.Y. Times / Exh. SAGA / Library of Congress / British Museum 1992”; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove; reference: British Museum acc. no. 1990,1215.36 (their image shows signature running down left margin). Inv. no. DOS159. $2,700.00
The City – Night
Etching and aquatint, 1955; 14-7/8 x 11-13/16” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; editioned 8/25; inscribed in on verso: “9/25/1995”; state ii/ii; printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove tipped onto heavier support sheet ; reference: British Museum acc. no. 1992,1103.130. Inv. no. DOS168. 2,500.00
City Night; or: The City; City Daedalean Aspect
Etching and aquatint, 1955; 14-7/8 x 11-13/16” platemark; pencil signed, titled, and dated; proof from outside of the edition of 25; inscribed in in lower margin: “2nd take” (proof from second state); printed by the artist at Atelier 17, NY; on ivory wove; reference: British Museum acc. no. 1992,1103.130. Inv. no. DOS166. $1,800.00
