“Pueblo Indian Paintings” Portfolio, Bell Editions, 1979 [SOLD]

Between 1929 and 1952, C. Szwedzicki, a publisher in Nice, France, produced six portfolios of North American Indian art. American Scholars Oscar Brousse Jacobson, Hartley Burr Alexander and Kenneth Milton Chapman edited the publications. Many of the images were published as Pochoir prints which are similar in appearance to silkscreen prints. These works represent original art by 20^th-century American Indian artists.  One of the six portfolios was "Pueblo Indian Painting: 50 Reproductions of Watercolor Paintings by Indian Artists of the New Mexican Pueblos of San Ildefonso and Sia."  That portfolio was published in 1932.

 The artists featured in the 50 plates of the portfolio are Julian Martinez, José Encarnacion Peña, Abel Sanchez, Romando Vigil, Louis Gonzales, Richard Martinez, Awa Tsireh, Miguel Martinez, and Velino Herrera.

 In 1979, Bell Editions, Inc. of Santa Fe, NM published a facsimile edition of the 1932 French edition.  It was reproduced from copy number 93 of the French edition.  The new text was set in Clearface Bold.  The color separations were made by Colorgraphics of Arizona, Phoenix.  The plates were printed by six-color offset lithography.  Text and plates were printed on Rising Art Print by Land O'Sun Printers, Scottsdale, Arizona.  The portfolio cases were made by Roswell Bookbinding, Phoenix, Arizona.  This edition was limited to 750 numbered copies, of which this is copy number 440.

This is a complete set of 50 plates, plus the explanatory booklet, in a hardback folio case.  The booklet was inserted into its paper cover upside down but everything is complete and accurate except the way it is in the cover.

Provenance: from the estate of a former client from Connecticut