Auction No. 47
Lot 241
Arthur Szyk
Arthur Szyk's Rare Aviation Color Lithograph Print: Featured in the UN's Stamp Album Frontispiece
Aviation themed Color process art print with a central illustration of Leonardo Da Vinci holds a drawing of a Renaissance flying machine labeled “there shall be wings.” Above him is a 1940s airplane. The elaborate decorative border contains 12 illustrations from the history of aviation: balloons, zeppelins, airplanes and a helicopter. In the top border is a winged hourglass above a propeller, in the bottom border, a world globe flanked by wings. Both are surmounted by a star. This illustration was one of 60 commissioned in 1945 by Canadian publisher Kasimir Bileski for an international stamp album. Szyk only completed 10 (9 countries plus this thematic ) of these images prior to his death in 1951.
At the lower right-hand corner, there is a signature by Remez David, along with a purple stamp, denoting its origin from the collection of D. Remez.
Kasimir Bileski, Winnepeg, Canada (Publisher) Herman Jaffe, New York (Printer) Copyright 1947, Color process art print. image : 8 x 6.5 inches, 17cm x 20cm // page : 11.5 x 10 inches, 28.5cm x 21cm