The Wrestlers

Details

HENRI GAUDIER-BRZESKA (1891-1915)
The Wrestlers
linocut, circa 1914, on cream wove paper, signed by the printer in black ink, numbered 17/50, printed and published posthumously by Horace Brodzky
Block 222.25 x 279.4 mm.

Provenance

with Fine Art Society, London, where purchased by the present owner in July 2006.

Literature

H. Brodzky, Henri Gaudier Brzeska, London, 1933, p. 129, another impression illustrated.
Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design & Department of Paintings: Accessions 1934, London, 1935, n.p., no. 71650, another impression illustrated.
S. Levy and T. Pirsig-Marshall (eds), exhibition catalogue, British Surrealism in Context: A Collectors Eye, Leeds, City Art Gallery, 2009, p. 152, another impression illustrated.

Exhibited

London, Faber & Faber, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska 1891-1915, 1933, no. 1, another impression exhibited.
London, Leicester Galleries, Gaudier-Brzeska, October 1962, no. 46, another impression exhibited.
Leeds, City Art Gallery, British Surrealism in Context: A Collectors Eye, July - November 2009, exhibition not numbered, another impression exhibited.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Pippa Jacomb Director, Head of Day Sale

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Lot Essay

Depicting abstracted and interlocking limbs, The Wrestlers is a highly dynamic composition and the only linocut that Henri Gaudier-Brzeska produced. The artist was one of the first to use linoleum as a relief printing material rather than wood, which had been the dominant material used by printmakers for centuries. A highly recognisable and iconic image within the artist's oeuvre, other impressions of The Wrestlers can be found in major public collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

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