Miniture art help please

I have this art which consists of miniture signed and numbered engravings. I have never been able to track down any info on it, and was hoping somebody could help. A couple dealers that have seen it couldn't ID it but thought it could be very worthwhile and worth investigating....I have no idea. I broke the glass in the move and haven't replace it yet

Each Scene is about 1 inch by 1 inch. The first one is a man walking up to an apple? tree with a basket......and a giant apple looking at him and smiling....it is numbered 27/ 300 and signed Louis 80

The second one is a windmill in color signed with an a number I can't make out and the letters DJB? Maybe DJL??? I don't think it is the same artist ast the top and bottom one.....but I could be wrong.

The third one is what looks to be a Jester standing on a highwire or some sort of wire above a crowd of people. The jester is holding up shoes in both hands like he is taunting the crowd below. It too is numbered and signed Louis 80.

Any help you can offer would be sincerely appreciated. I know very little about art.

 

Can you manage some decent pictures.

 

Since these are from 1980, they could be from any number of artists that do art fairs and local shows from just about anywhere. I think it will be impossible to track them down unless they have some local recognition and someone who knows sees them. I see art by our local artists in the thrifts all the time. Having some local art scene involvement, I recognize the artists. Most who see the art would have no clue.

 

I tried a couple more pictures. not sure they are any better. the art being 1 inch square is challenging my camera!

 

I'm wondering whether at least the first and third are illustration art - for a children's book of stories or poems? I have a modest collection of etchings that I bought directly from the artist/illustrator over several years back in the 80's and early 90's. Many of them are quite small images, but all were used in her books.

Yours seem to have a story-telling quality to them.

 

Thank you Bakersgma. I thought that about storytelling quality too.....but I was thinking more along the lines of a political statement,,,,,,but childrens book illustrations makes a lot of sense.

 

I'm wondering if that is a big cat's head peering out from the tree in the first drawing. Just a guess, but I think I see whiskers around a mouth and one small cat ear.

Hmmm, could that be a "rendition" of the Cheshire Cat who sat in trees and peered down at people in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

 

Children's book illustrations, as miniature hand-tinted engravings, signed and numbered in pencil?

No.

 

thats a good thought yourturn. it does kind of like like a cat....I looked at it with a loop and there is a definate circle creating the "head" the features are just lines and don't really look like a cat, but i just might not be seeing it. Around the circle that forms the "head" there are curved lines going in toward the middle that looks like it could represent fur.....Hmmmmm

 

Yeah....I wondered why CB Illistrations would be that small, much less signed and numbered. But at this point I'll entertain any ideas. The two that are signed LOUIS 80 are Black and White. The Windmill with the tinting is signed different and looks different, but I wondered if it might be the same artist. I don't inderstand why you would group Miniatures together 2 from 1 artist and 1 from another. But as I said....I don't know art well

 

Also.....to give you a better idea of size....the windmill is the exact size of a nickel, and the 2 others are 1 1/8" square. it amazes me that anybody can do detailed art that small.

 

Not to generate an argument (after all it was just a thought to consider given the nature of the images) but I just got out the ones of my own that I referred to. The square impressions are just under 1.5"x1.5". There are also several rectangular 1 1/8 in. wide and 2 3/8 in. tall. All hand-signed and numbered in pencil.

Like I said, it was just a thought in the interest of helping in whatever small way I could.

 

I think some artists do miniature etchings as an exercise in detail but also to give them something small to sell. People browsing an art show are more likely to buy a $10-20.00 small etching than a work at a much higher price point.

 

Bakersgma. Thank you for checking your art. I guess you may be right about it being illustration art for Childrens books. I will definatly persue that path. Not sure how to begin, but I guess google might help. I Really Appreciate your input and help with this. No way you could start an arguement with this. Your info is good! Thank you soooo Much! Without people like you offering their input/insight nothing would ever get solved!

 

Thanks for the insight Verybrad! I find them interesting because of the afore mentioned Storytelling quality to them. (at least 1 and 3). Chesire cat was a good observation for the first one. But can't figure a story that would have a Jester taunting people with shoes from a clothesline.

 

These are not engravings, they are etchings. The windmill has water color applied. I would say the apple tree and windmill are the same artist, the clouds are the same and both have a definitive horizon line.

Miniature etchings have a following and history of sorts. After Dürer, German artists of course were not gong to outdo his work, and instead some went for tiny etchings (often erotic).

The Harlequin is dropping shoes (tied by shoe strings) on a high wire -another trend of the 1980s-90s? It does seem like some kind of illustration, but it might also be a made up legend about why we have so many shoes on phone wires.

These tiny etchings were very popular in the 1980-90s and were often incorporated into miniature artist's books. The fact that the artist would make 350 prints and print number 24 shows what looks like a weak image poorly wiped, is a little confusing. They probably were meant for art fairs and I have my doubts that the artist actually completed a run of 350 or 100, even if they intended to. Etchings over 75 quite frequently need touching up, (redrawn and etched again). If it were Picasso, fine, but art fair dude might have been deceiving himself about what the market could bear. But making some into books and others prints, perhaps there would be a market for them.


I made quite a few tiny etchings this size back in the day, I kept my runs small. I drew the image using a sewing needle. But the thing I liked was they took little paper and I could ink and press six or eight plates at one run through the press, so It felt like I was whipping them out. There were some other artists renting the same print shop, and we all made tiny prints to trade. And vbrad is right, they all did well selling their prints for $10 and under.

 

Thank you for the info Lilfont. I appreciate your artist insight!

 

Didn't knoe if you realized they are all in 1 frame...

 

Interesting. I mat my miniatures together, but horizontally, then hang it at eye height, so it's almost like the frame is a mini art gallery. I also had a set hanging in a narrow hall way, which was perfect because you want to get close up to see them.

You could probably use the same mat, and open the frame up and rehinge the art so they hang horizontal then attach new wire and eye-hooks. You have to put new glass in anyway. A sharpie could touch up the black fillet.

 

If that's glare-free glass, it's probably just as well that it broke. You will see how much fresher the images appear once they are out from under that.