Mexihkanantli (Mexican mother): 10 chromolithographs on stone, by Jean Charlot.
Charlot, Jean.
Price: $4,600.00
Book Id: 05701
Description
Mexico: DF, 1947. 10 original color lithographs, each one pencil-signed in full by the artist, and original color lithograph title label. The portfolio is signed in ink on the index page inside the front cover, with a pencil annotation, “For Nesta” (Nester Obermer, Honolulu friend of the Charlots). This is number JC of an edition of 150 numbered copies (plus, presumably, a few artist’s copies like this one). The prints are on buff-colored paper 28.2 x 23.6 cm (image size varies, about 24 x 18 cm). They are loose as issued in a much larger portfolio and are separated by sheets of heavy drawing paper about 33 x 25.5 cm. The portfolio (40 x 34 cm) has an off-white cloth spine and light blue cloth covers, with a label. The background of the label is a dark yellow green, and the script of the title is a dark green and a light yellow. The prints were “hand-pulled by Nestor Sanchez under supervision of the artist in the ‘Taller de Grafica Popular’… Mexico, D.F., in 1947.” The prints, with titles in the Nahautl language and in English, with Morse numbers, are as follows: Morse 496, Title page; #1 M.487 (first version), Yechiwalo (Mexican Kitchen); #2 M.493, Tlatiankizoskeh (Return from Market); #3 M.488 (first version), Nantli Tekiti Noka Konetl Kochi (Rest and Work); #4 M.498, Momalin Ihtotihke (Preparing for the Dance); #5 M.492, Konenehnemitia (First Steps) [horizontal]; #6 M.489 (first version), Konenehnemitia (First Steps) [vertical]; #7 M.495, Tlazohtlalistle (Trio); #8 M.494, Kikahtia Ciwakonetl (Sunday Shoes); #9 M.490 (first version), Kimachtia Tlaxkalmanas (Tortilla Lesson); #10 M.497, Mowentikhe Chalman (Chalma Pilgrims). **Peter Morse explains in Jean Charlot's prints: a catalogue raisonné (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, ©1976) that the original printing of numbers 1, 3, 6, and 9 above was partially damaged by water and mildew while in storage for a year. Many copies had to be discarded, and Charlot created new versions of these four subjects (in mirror image), which were printed in 50 copies each. The copies in this set are all first versions. He goes on to say, “Many of the remaining 100 show some signs of water-staining, though not seriously enough to affect their quality.” Nearly all of these prints have occasional, very light marginal foxing, but only no. 6 has slightly more marginal staining than the others. Most of the prints have light tape stains on the upper corners. The colors are fresh and unfaded. The portfolio has numerous defects, including worn joints, fading on the front cover and interior flaps, and spotting and dampstaining. The cover label has a short scrape near the upper left corner, a few small marks, and a light cup or glass ring. Overseas shipments, incuding Canada and Mexico, must go by air.
