Loan Exhibition of Religious Art for the Benefit of the Basilique of the Sacre Coeur of Paris
New York: Jacques Seligman & Company, 1927. First limited edition. Hardcover. 7/100. Folio. (8)pp., xlvii plates with printed tissue guards, (7)pp. Original three-quarter red morocco over marbled boards with gilt lettering on spine; raised bands. Top edge gilt. Decorative color endpapers.
"Considered broadly, the history of art is the history of religious art, the exceptions coming to only a few centuries out of the millennia between the first cave painting and the present day. In all this stretch, we note a fine balance between the interests of craftsmanship and those of religious expression. The earliest examples on this exhibition show this immemorial equilibrium still relatively maintained. Most, however, tell of that interesting moment when the old religious and the new humanistic emotion are in exquisitely unstable equilibrium with each other and with technique. In short, the observant visitor may here sense that more complicated and sensitive balance of interest which preludes the art of today. For our today, of course, dawned in the middle ages." (Frank Jewett Mather, foreword).
The forty-seven lithographic plates, with printed tissue guards, depicting paintings, tapestries, sculpture, enamels, and objects of art in bronze and silver, are lent from various collections and represent the French School, the School of Mantua, the Umbrian School, Flemish tapestry, Rhenish and other enamels, and other artwork mostly from France, England Italy and Germany. Binding with light wear along edges with slightly cracked front joint at bottom. Block slightly age toned along edges, not affecting images. Binding in overall good+, interior in very good condition. g+ to vg. Item #43952
Price: $250.00