Armin Landeck. 1905-1984.
Approaching Storm, Manhattan. 1937. Drypoint. Kraeft 65. 9 1/8 x 8 3/8 (sheet 15 3/4 x 14 7/8). Edition 100. Provenance: Estate of David Llewellyn Reese, New York. A rich impresssion printed with tonal wiping on antique white wove paper. Anthony Kirk's embossed printer's chop in the lower left corner of the paper. Signed, dated and inscribed 'Ed 100' in pencil. Housed in a dramatic 17 3/4 x 16-inch stepped modernist black frame with subtle red highlights. $1,750.
Demolition No. 1. 1940. Drypoint. Kraeft 80. 4 7/8 x 8 7/8(sheet 12 x 13 7/8). Edition 100. Provenance: estate of David Llewellyn Reese, New York. A rich impression with tonal wiping, printed on white wove paper with full margins. Signed, dated and annotated in pencil. Housed in a dramatic 14 1/2 x 17-inch stepped modernist black frame with subtle red highlights. $1,250
Manhattan Nocturne. 1938. Etching and drypoint. Kraeft 70. 7 1/8 x 11 7/8 (sheet 10 1/2 x 15 1/4). Edition 100. Presentation Print of the Society of American Etchers, 1938. Provenance: estate of David Llewellyn Reese, New York. A rich early impression, on cream laid paper with full margins. Exhibited and Reproduced: The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock, Stephen Coppel: The British Museum, 2008. Signed and dated in the plate, lower left. Signed in pencil. $1,500.
Rooftop. 1941. Engraving. Kraeft 84. 4 7/8 x 8 7/8 (sheet 8 7/8 x 12 3/4). Edition 100. Provenance: estate of David Llewellyn Reese, New York. A rich impression printed on white wove paper with full margins. Signed, dated and annotated in pencil. $1,250.
York Avenue, Sunday Morning. 1939. Drypoint. Kraeft 78. 7 3/4 x 12 7/8 (sheet 8 x 12). Edition 100. Provenance: Estate of David Llewellyn Reese, New York. A rich impression with plate tone printed on white wove paper. Signed, dated and inscribed 'Ed 100' in pencil. $1,750.
Landeck wrote 'I worked up in that area. They were just building the medical center at that time.' He referred to the Weill Cornell Medical Center. Housed in a 15 x 19 1.2-inch dramatic black modernist frame with subtle red highlights.
Armin Landeck was born in 1905 in Crandon, Wisconsin. He received his Bachelors of Architecture from Columbia University in 1927, and studied life drawing with George B. Bridgman at the Art Students League. In the 1940s Landeck met English printmaker Stanley William Hayter, and furthered his study of printmaking at the school-workshop Atelier 17.
Landeck began printmaking while still at Columbia University, and bought a second-hand press from the Kelton Company that he used to pull his first print in 1927. He married the same year and spent the following year and a half on his honeymoon traveling and studying the art and architecture of Europe, drawing and etching plates along the way. In 1929 when he returned to New York, he was unable to get a job at an architectural firm, and he moved his family to East Cornwall, Connecticut. He decided to devote his time to printmaking and teaching. In 1931, he was offered a teaching position at the Brearly School, an independent school for girls, and remained there until his retirement in 1958.
In the fall of 1934 he and Martin Lewis, opened the School for Printmakers at George Miller's lithography studio. However, the school only remained open through the winter of 1935 due to the economic climate. From 1934-1942, Landeck was very productive, creating cityscapes representing a lonely and barren New York City. These won him popular and critical acclaim, and established his reputation as a skillful printmaker. In 1940 he met Stanley William Hayter who invited him to his workshop Atelier 17, where Landeck learned engraving and the use of the burin. He produced his first copper engraving at this time. During the following ten years he continued to use drypoint and etching in his prints as well as pure copper engraving, but engraving would become his preferred medium. He won fourteen awards during this time, including three for his etching, Rooftop.