John Ross Retrospective

1. Quadros. Collagraph, 1972. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Artist proof.” Image size 20 1/2” x 20 1/2” (52.1 x 52.1 cm). Very good condition. #91945-1 $1,250.00

JOHN ROSS 1921-2017 VOLUME LXXVII

May 2018 2017

NUMBER 2

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2. Top of the Town. Solar plate etching, 2014. Artist’s proof. Signed and titled in white pencil.

Inscribed “A/P.” Image size 15 15/16 x 16 15/16” (40.3 x 43 cm). Very good condition. #865471 $1,000.00

3. Bridge and the Drive. Solar plate etching, 2014. Artist’s proof. Signed and titled in white pencil. Inscribed “A/P.” Image size 15 7/8 x 19 7/8” (40 x 50.5 cm). Very good condition. #86545-1 $1,000.00

­VOLUME LXXVII

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Robert K. Newman, Editor

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NUMBER 2

REMEMBERING JOHN ROSS (1921-2017) John Ross has been represented by The Old Print Shop for many years.

John was energetic, creative, and collegial. He liked people and it showed.

He would start projects and bring in other artists. He was always coming up with new ideas and ways to make them work. As an artist he was involved with many portfolio projects. Some were started by him and to others he supplied a print.

He became interested in the Artist Book and started High Tide Press to produce them. He produced his own art books and got other artists involved to help publish their work. As a teacher he taught printmaking and drawing for many years, and it is interesting that many of his students continued taking evening classes with him.

I will miss my conversations with John.

EXHIBITION IN OUR GALLERY MAY 1 through JUNE 8, 2018 OPENING WITH FAMILY SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2018, 1 P.M. – 4 P.M.

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4. New York Fantasy. Pastel, pencil, and felt pen, 2014. Titled and dated in pencil on verso.

Signed lower right with felt pen. Paper size 23 5/8 x 19� (60 x 48.3 cm). Very good condition. #85000-1 $950.00

5. New York Skyscrapers. Pastel, pencil, and felt pen, 2014. Titled and dated in pencil on verso. Signed lower left with felt pen. Paper size 23 5/8 x 19� (60 x 48.3 cm). Very good condition. #85001-1 $950.00

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6. The Art of Fruit Desserts. Published by High Tide Press, East Hampton, New York.

2003. Edition 36. Fruit wrappers used on the title pages were collected in Florence, Italy, in 1958-59. Collagraph images by John Ross. Printed on 2-ply Rising museum board.

Quotations and recipes printed on Lenox 100 paper. All images and text printed on a Vandercook 219 proof press in the East Hampton print workshop of the High Tide Press.

Paper size 11 1/4 x 8 1/16”. Signed in ink on colophon, outside the edition, artist’s personal copy.

Very good condition. #81629-1 $1,250.00

7.

Metropolis.

Published by High Tide Press, East Hampton, New York.

1995.

Edition 15. Collagraph images. An accordion fold book with 14 x 11 inch pages. John Ross preprinted binder’s cloth. Book then bound by James DiMarcantonio with red slipcase.

Size 14 3/4 x 10 3/4” (37.5 x 27.3 cm). Signed in ink on the colophon page by John Ross, numbered “A/P.” This is the preliminary mockup for the book and box entirely handmade by John Ross to see how the production would work. Good condition, box hand glued and has some minor wear that is typical for a studio mockup. #81623-1 $3,000.00

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REMEMBERING JOHN ROSS (1921-2017) John Ross was born and raised in the Highbridge section of the Bronx.

He discovered his love of drawing as a young man, sketching his friends and their pets in the building in which they lived. He is remembered today as an outstanding printmaker, painter, author, and educator.

He co-authored The Complete Printmaker with his wife, Clare Romano.

The book, which is still in print, was updated by their son, Tim Ross.

Ross taught printmaking at The New School for over fifty years and was a professor of studio art at Manhattanville College for twenty-two years.

He founded the High Tide Press, producing nineteen artists’ books. He printed his own work and also collaborated with other artists and poets. A complete set of his artists’ books are in the Beinecke Rare Books Library at Yale University.

Ross was a member of the Society of American Grapic Artists and served as president from 1962 to 1965. He was elected Academician in the National Academy of Design in 1983.

Ross graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and received a BFA from Cooper Union School. He enrolled into Cooper Union in 1939, and in his second year he met the love of his life, Clare Romano. She first saw Ross, who was a big fan of jazz music, playing a T-square like a saxophone, while sitting underneath the table in the cafeteria. Like many of his era, Ross’s education was interrupted by WWII. In the spring of 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. The Army quickly identified his ability to draw and sent him to train to be a cartographer (mapmaker).

Before he was deployed to southern Italy in 1943, he returned to New York City and married Clare Romano. As a mapmaker his job was to create maps for the bombing missions the next day. He and the other cartographers would wait for the planes to return from the day’s run.

The mapmakers would analyze the images from the planes’ cameras to determine the results of the previous mission. They then drew the maps for the missions the next day. After the war, Ross remained in southern Italy helping with the construction of airfields and other logistical activities, and he developed a lifelong love of opera.

Clare Romano was a first generation United States citizen. Her parents emigrated from Italy, and as fate would have it, Ross was stationed in Italy near her ancestral home. On days off, he would visit the relatives, as well as attend opera productions. After his return to New York, he went back to Cooper Union and finished his studies. At Cooper he studied with Morris Kantor and Will Barnet, both of whom would be lifelong friends.

In the late 1940’s with their good friends, Al and Lotte Blaustein, they decided to go to Europe. The length of the trip was extended to nine months because at the time it was cheap to live in Europe, less than $3 a day. They acquired a car in Italy and were driving into the Alps. The car was small with a tiny engine and at one point in the climb into the Alps, they were not sure the car was going to make it. He joked that he could have gotten out and walked faster than the car was traveling. They took a silly photograph of Clare pulling on a rope as if she were towing the car.

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8. Pueblo Plaza. Pastel, undated. Signed “John Ross” in lower left. Paper size 22 1/8 x 30” (56.2 x 76 cm). Very good condition and color. #79019-1 $5,000.00

9. Monuments. Collagraph, undated. Edition 75. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “21/75.”

Image size 16 x 31 15/16” (40.5 x 81 cm). Very good condition. #78176-1 $2,000.00

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10. Gorge. Collagraph, undated. Edition 50. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “3/50.”

Image size 17 3/16 x 24” (44 x 61 cm). Very good condition. #78159-1 $1,250.00

11. Totem. [A.P]. Collagraph, undated. Edition unknown. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Artist’s proof.” Image size 18 7/8 x 23 3/4” (45.3 x 60.5 cm). Very good condition. #78157-1 $1,250.00

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12. Upper Chasm. / Lower Chasm. Collagraph, 1988. Edition 50. Diptych. Signed and titled in pencil. “Upper Chasm” inscribed “29/50” and “Lower Chasm” inscribed “19/50.” Paper size 20 x 22 1/2” (76.3 x 57 cm) each sheet. Very good condition. #78152-1 $3,950.00

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13. Portraits of the Twentieth Century. Published by High Tide Press, East Hampton, NY. Edition 17. The images in the book were created by John Ross and completed by a variety of methods including the woodcut, soft ground etching, and the collagraph. Text written by Lloyd Jonnes of Washington, DC. All the printing of type and images was completed by John Ross in the High Tide print shop in East Hampton, New York. Twenty-eight pages with nine portraits in eight prints, two are pop-ups. Open leaf size 11 3/4 x 16 3/4” (29.8 x 42.5 cm). Bound in brown cloth with slip case. The nine portraits in this volume are red cloth with matching slip case. Inscribed “4/17.” Signed in ink by John Ross and Lloyd Jonnes.

Very good condition. #61941-6 $1,750.00

14. A Home for Hominstructs. Published by High Tide Press, East Hampton, NY. Edition 15. Accordion folded with each leaf containing an original collagraph by John The plates were made in Venice in 1994 and printed in 1995-6 at the High Tide print Paper size 14 x 10” (35.5 x 25.4 cm). Inscribed “4.” Signed in pencil on colophon Very good condition. #62157-1 $2,000.00

1996.

Ross. shop. page.

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15. Typopolis. Published by Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione and High Tide Press, East Hampton, NY. 2002. Edition 25. Accordion folded and attached into black binding with a sculpted title embedded into the front cover. Twenty-three pages profusely illustrated, almost all type is from Tipoteca Italiana, text arranged by John Ross to create images. Some typesetting was

by Ivano Da Barp and the linotype composition was set by Kent Lefebvre. Binding by James DiMarcantonio of the Hope Bindery. Size 13 3/8 x 9 1/4” (59.4 x 23.5 cm). Inscribed “16.”

Signed in pencil on colophon page. Very good condition. #62158-2 $2,000.00

16. Type Faces, Design and Prints by John Ross. Published by Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione and High Tide Press, New York. 2007. Edition 20. Accordion folded and attached into grey cloth binding with an embedded sculpted book front in the form of a printing frame. Thirty-five pages profusely illustrated, from type at High Tide and Tipoteca Italiana.

Text designs by John Ross and printed on a Vandercook press. Size 12 3/8 x 11” (31.4 x 27.9 cm). Signed in ink on the colophon page and numbered “16.” Very good condition. #62159-2 $2,300.00

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17. (left) San Polo. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, 1990. Signed in pencil “Ross” in lower left, titled lower right. Inscribed on verso “1 pm from the Balcony.” Paper size 13 1/2 x 9 5/8” (34.3 x 24.5 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94582-1 $850.00 18. (right) Rio Toletta. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, 1990. Signed in pencil “Ross” in lower center, titled and dated “July 9, 1990.” Paper size 13 5/8 x 11” (34.6 x 27.9 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94581-1 $850.00

19. (left) From Ponte del Modena. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, 1991. Signed in pencil “Ross” lower left, titled and dated lower right. Paper size 13 1/2 x 9 5/8” (34.3 x 24.5 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94583-1 $850.00 20. (right) Boats under Bridge. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, 1992. Signed in pencil “Ross” lower right, titled center dated left. Paper size 13 1/2 x 9 5/8” (34.3 x 24.5 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94584-1 $850.00

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21. (left) San Polo, The End. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, 1991. Signed in pencil “Ross” lower right, titled and dated lower left. Paper size 9 5/8 x 13 5/8” (24.5 x 34.6 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94585-1 $850.00 22. (right) Gondolas. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, c.1991. Signed in ink “Ross” lower right. Paper size 9 5/8 x 13 5/8” (24.5 x 34.6 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94586-1 $850.00

23. (left) Ca Razzonico. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, c.1991. Signed in pencil “Ross” lower right, titled lower left. Paper size 11 x 13 5/8” (27.9 x 34.6 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94588-1 $850.00 24. (right) Dorsoduro. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, 1990. Unsigned, titled, and dated “July 9, 1990” lower right. Paper size 11 x 13 5/8” (27.9 x 34.6 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94587-1 $750.00

25. (left) From Seguro. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, 1991. Signed in pencil “Ross” lower left, dated lower left, titled lower right. Paper size 11 x 13 5/8” (27.9 x 34.6 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94589-1 $850.00 26. (right) San Agnese. (Venice.) Color pencil and graphite, c.1990. Signed in pencil “Ross” lower left, titled lower right. Paper size 11 x 13 5/8” (27.9 x 34.6 cm). Very good condition and color, save for tack holes in corners where artist hung on wall. #94590-1 $850.00

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27. Venetian Palace Window. Drawing, watercolor and stencil painting, undated, circa 1970.

Locations noted: Palazzo Nani, Franchetti, Loredan Cini, Palazzo Mangilli, Ca d’Oro, Ca Pesaro, [Palazzo] Corner Spinelli, [Palazzo] Corner Valmarana, Ca Bembo, Ca Pesaro, and other noted details. Signed in pencil. Paper size 38 x 27 3/4” (96.5 x 70.5 cm). Framed size 45 x 32” (114.3 x 81.2 cm). Good condition. #93738-1 $3,250.00.

REMEMBERING JOHN ROSS (1921-2017), continued

This was their first trip to Europe, but it would become one of many.

In 1949 they studied briefly at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau before returning to New York. On their return Ross furthered his studies at The New School for Social Research with Antonio Frasconi and Louis Schanker.

Ross was successful as an artist and commercial illustrator. As an illustrator he worked on advertising campaigns and designed record jackets for Columbia Records and others.

John Ross and Clare Romano also collaborated on many book projects, including Manhattan Island written by May Garelick, illustrated by them, and published in 1957. In 1953 they moved to Englewood, New Jersey. He designed and had house built with a large studio for their work, where they raised their sons, Timothy and Christopher.

Ross joined the faculty of Manhattanville College in 1964 where he taught studio art until 1986. He designed the BFA program and served as chair of the art department from 1966 to 1972.

The United States Information Agency selected him to be an artist in residence in Eastern Europe, where he taught printmaking in Yugoslavia and Romania. It was during this time that he helped develop the collagraph technique, in part serendipitously. He was getting copper plates for etching from Vienna when the supply ran out.

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28. Venice Saved from the Sea. Conte crayon and pastel drawing, undated. Signed and titled in pencil. Sheet size 22 1/8 x 30” (56 x 76.2 cm). Good condition. #92833-1 $2,200.00

29. Venice Saved. Etching, undated. Artist’s proof. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Artists proof.” Paper size 22 x 30” (56 x 76.3 cm). Very good condition. #66631-1 $900.00

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30. Screech Owl. Collagraph and typeset, 1998. Artist’s proof for the book, Birds of Manhattan, published by High Tide Press in East Hampton, NY. The book was conceived, designed, illustrated, and printed by John Ross in collaboration with Lloyd Jonnes, who wrote the text. Signed in pencil. Paper size 13 7/8 x 14” (35.3 x 35.4 cm). Very good condition. #94465-1 $400.00

31. Bald Eagle. Collagraph and typeset, 1998. Artist’s proof for the book, Birds of Manhattan, published by High Tide Press in East Hampton, NY. The book was conceived, designed, illustrated, and printed by John Ross in collaboration with Lloyd Jonnes, who wrote the text. Signed in pencil. Paper size 13 15/16 x 13 15/16” (35.4 x 35.4 cm). Good condition, some foxing. #94461-2 $350.00

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32. Birds of Manhattan. High Tide Press. East Hampton, NY. 1998. Edition 40.

Conceived, designed, illustrated, and printed by John Ross in collaboration with Lloyd Jonnes, who wrote the text. The illustrations are printed from collagraph plates by John Ross.

The text type is Palatino, set by Kent Lefebvre at Signs Plus in Holyoke, MA. Headlines are from wood type in the High Tide Collection. All the printing was done on a Vandercook 219 proving press at the High Tide workshop in East Hampton, New York. A wonderful artist book. There is a sculpture of a cardinal embedded into the front cover. Also there is a protective matching slip case in grey cloth. Thirty-six pages, containing thirteen double-page collagraphs plus title page and colophon page. Inscribed “26.” Signed in pencil on colophon.

Book size 14 x 7 1/4” x 1 1/4” (35.6 x 18/4 x 3/2 cm). Very good condition. #61939-5 $1,750.00

REMEMBERING JOHN ROSS (1921-2017), continued

Ross and Romano devised a process of gluing together textures on a cardboard backboard and printing on an etching press – a kind of printed collage – a process for which they would become famous.

He embraced the process, as he enjoyed the freedom of the variety of the textures and the creative ability to arrange them at will. The term “collagraph” comes from the Greek word “koll” or “kola” which means glue, and “graph,” indicating the activity of drawing. The way Ross applied the process he combined intaglio and relief, wiping ink into the plate like intaglio, then rolling color ink like relief. The two were instrumental in developing the collagraph as a print medium: he taught it at Manhattanville College and The New School, and Romano taught it at Pratt.

One of the most useful printmaking techniques for my images,” said Ross “is the collagraph, which I helped to develop. The plates for this method are generally made of mat board with gesso adhering paper, fabrics, cardboard, and found objects to the mat board base. Razor blades can cut lines and other shapes to place on the base. From these ordinary materials, I can create city streets, mountains, canyons, pueblo dwellings, oil refineries, skyscrapers, and other constructions, either realistic or visionary.”

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33. Voyage. Collagraph, undated. Edition 75. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “21/75.”

Image size 19 1/16 x 23 3/4” (48.4 x 60.3 cm). Very good condition. #66623-3 $850.00

34. (left) Atrium. [color.] Collagraph, undated. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Artist proof.” Image size 24 7/8 x 19 1/2” (63 x 49.5 cm). Very good condition. #92822-1 $1,200.00 35. (right) Atrium. Collagraph, undated. c.1970’s. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Proof.” Image size 24 3/4 x 19 1/2” (63 x 49.6 cm). Good condition. Lower right corner has gentle paper fold well outside of the image. #92821-1 $850.00

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36. Till the Morning Comes. Collagraph, c.1980. Edition 75. Signed and titled in pencil.

Inscribed “48/75.” Paper size 24 1/2 x 37” ( 62.2 x 93.9 cm). Very good condition. #89448-1 $950.00

37. (left) Ancient Places. Collagraph, undated, c.1980’s. Edition 17. Signed and titled.

Inscribed “2/17.” Sheet size 16 x 13 5/8” (40.5 x 34.6 cm). Good condition. #94269-1 $450.00 38. (right) Renaissance City. Collagraph, 1985. Edition 15. Signed and titled. Inscribed “1/15.” Sheet size 16 1/8 x 13 7/8” (40.9 x 35.2 cm). Good condition. #94268-1 $400.00

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39 . Island Silhouette. Collagraph, undated. Artist’s proof. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Artists proof.” Image size 11 x 25 1/4” (27.8 x 64.4 cm). Very good condition. #769711 $900.00

40. Hydra. Collagraph, undated. Edition 75. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “38/75.”

Image size 18 1/4 x 30 1/4” (46.3 x 76 cm). Very good condition. #76963-1 $1,500.00

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41. City of Dreams. Collagraph, undated. Artist’s proof. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Artist’s proof.” Image size 35 1/4 x 28” (89.4 x 71.2 cm). Very good condition. #68465-1 $1,500.00

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42. Manhattan Island. [Study Drawings.] Drawings and watercolors, 1957. Group of eleven of thirteen drawings for the mockup of the book, Manhattan Island, illustrated by John Ross and Clare Romano, text written by May Garelick. The woodcuts that illustrate the book were done by both John and Clare. Ross stated that he did the mockup of the book so these drawings are by him. Paper size 14 x 16 7/8� (35.5 x 43 cm). Good condition. #72666-1 $6,000.00

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REMEMBERING JOHN ROSS (1921-2017), continued

In 1986 John Ross and Clare Romano sold their home in Englewood, New Jersey, and moved back into Manhattan in the Gramercy Park area.

They had also purchased land in Springs (on the bay side of East Hampton), and Ross designed and built a beautiful home with three studios, one for his wife, one for him, and one as a printing studio. They traveled extensively in Europe and across America. Clare Romano was the summer printmaking teacher at Pratt. The summer program was in Venice, Italy, so for twenty summers in a row they were in Venice.

Around this time, Ross began a new career as artist, designer and publisher of artists’ books, and established the High Tide Press in 1991. His own books had a wide and inventive range, sometimes with a Venice-related theme, and he also published books by other artists, such as Frederico Castelon. In 1998, his Birds of Manhattan, with Lloyd Jonnes as author of the text, was chosen for “50 Books / 50 Covers,” by the American Institute for Graphic Arts in New York.

During their time in Venice, Ross became involved with the Typographical and Printing Institute in Valdobbiadene in the Veneto. He collected antique typefaces which he printed with and in some cases used as sculptures on book covers. He had thousands of antique typefaces and in his ninties he donated them and his Vandercook press to the Center for the Book Arts.

John Ross and Clare Romano were both consummate artists. Wherever they traveled, they produced art.

Over several years they spent time in the Southwest, producing a remarkable body of collotypes, paintings, and drawings of the New Mexico landscape.

Ross’s accolades include the Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant for Printmaking in 1954; five MacDowell Colony Fellowships from 1977-1983; the National Arts Club Printmaking Award in 1995; the National Academy of Design – Shatalov Prize in 2001; and the Society of American Graphic Artist’s Award in 2005. Ross’s work has been widely shown including over sixty solo exhibitions.

His work is in the collections of the Boston Public Library, Boston, MA; British Library, London, UK; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; National Academy of Design, New York, NY; Newark Museum, Newark, NJ; Philadelphia Public Library, Philadelphia, PA; Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, among many others.

John Ross, 96, died peacefully in his sleep on November 29, 2017. He is survived by two sons, Timothy, also an artist, and Christopher, a medical researcher, and by a granddaughter, Hilary, who is a graduate student at Tufts University.

Key to some of the buildings in “Homage to the City” - 1. Glamis Castle, Scotland; 2. St. Elizabeth, Marburg, Germany; 3. Bell Tower, Santa Maria Del Fiore, Florence: Giotto; 8. Temple of Eridu, Mesopotamia; 12. Pyramids at Gizeh, Egypt; 13. Roman Aqueduct; 14. Tower of Babel, Breughel; 15. Colosseum in Rome; 17. San Marco Cathedral and Campanile, Venice; 20. Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem; 24. Bridge of Sighs, Venice; 25. Obelisk, Egypt; 30.

St. Basil’s, Moscow; 33. Embarcadero Center, San Francisco: John Portman; 34. Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia; 35. Empire State Building, New York; 36. Chrysler Building, New York; 37. Woolworth Building, New York; 39. Flatiron Building, New York; 42. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco; 48. John Hancock Center, Chicago; 52. Eiffel Tower, Paris; 55. Great Wall, China; 56. Osaka Castle, Japan; 75. Sears Tower, Chicago: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

43. Homage to the City. [triptych in purple.] Collagraph, undated. Edition 25. Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed “III” and “2/25.” Total size 30 x 66 15/16”(76.2 x 170 cm). Paper size of each sheet 30 x 22 5/16” (76.2 x 56.6 cm). Very good condition. #76927-1 $2,500.00

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