Paul Ashbrook Limited Edition Etching "The Chess Players"

Item Details

By Hand, In Plate

An original etching on paper by listed American artist Paul Ashbrook (1867 – 1949). The print depicts two men intensely concentrating on a chess game. Their clothing is merely suggested through loose linework that becomes increasingly developed towards the center area of the chess game. Their heads and faces are rendered in fine detail, creating a striking focal point. The piece is signed within the plate to the lower left and is signed and numbered 17 out of 50, in graphite, to the lower margin. A label from Closson’s Gallery in Cincinnati and a label with the artist’s name and title are present to the verso. Presented behind an off-white mat, under glass, in a simple black wood frame that is ready to hang with a wire.

Ashbrook was born in New York in 1867, his given name being Paul Von Eschenbach. He studied at the Art Students League, under the tutelage of William Merritt Chase, then later at the Cincinnati Art Academy with Frank Duveneck. Early in the 1920s, he worked for the Stonebridge Lithographic Company designing posters for the Barnum and Bailey Circus before traveling in Europe and Mexico, in the later 1920s.

Condition

- toning and foxing to print and mat. Accretions throughout, including to reverse of glass. Wear to finish of frame. Paper backing is torn.

Dimensions

- measures frame. Plate mark measures 9.25" W x 12.25" H.

Item #

17CIN607-336