This is a very beautiful original wood engraving print that was made, near the end of the 20th Century, by artist Elfriede Abbe. It depicts a mountain/hill, with trees/plants (that are blowing in the wind) on its top and birds flying above it. The birds and the tree trunk and branches are black and the leaves on the branches are green. The mountain/hill is primarily gray and brown, with some areas that are white (seemingly to represent water flowing down the mountain/hill) and a few small areas that are green (seemingly to represent vegetation). The background paper of this print has an unusual treatment of what looks like marbled ink (in colors of tan, blue, and lilac) on it. The marbled area is visible behind the mountain/hill and trees and resembles a very colorful and cloudy sky. It is possible that the artist used wood blocks to create this marbled look. It is more likely (however) that she used the Japanese paper-marbling technique/treatment called Suminagashi (or a technique/treatment similar to Suminagashi). which she was known to use on some of her other artworks. Suminagashi involves taking delicate patterns that have been drawn #39;with ink#39; on the surface of water and copying those patterns onto paper. In the lower right corner, the wood engraving is signed (in pencil) by the artist and has a notation (also in pencil) indicating that it is number 52, from a limited edition of 85 prints. In the lower left corner, the title of the print (“The Peak”) appears.

Elfriede Abbe (1919 – 2012) was born in Washington, DC. In 1940, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the College of Architecture at Cornell University (in Ithaca, New York). She also studied ‘Sculpture’ under H.P. Camden (who was well-known for his sculptures of classical figures) and Brenda Putnam (who was well-known for her sculptures of children, cherubs, sundials, fountains, and other garden objects and for her sculptures related to monuments/memorials). While she was still in college, Abbe’s sculpture called quot;The Hunterquot; was exhibited at the 1939 New York World#39;s Fair and was one of the trademark images of the fair. In 1942, Abbe began a 32-year career working as an illustrator for Cornell University. While working at Cornell, she also created wood and bronze sculptures, hand-cut wood blocks and used them to create wood engraving prints, authored and illustrated (with botanical wood engravings) a book about plants, designed, illustrated (with wood engravings), and printed other limited-edition books, and maintained an active schedule for the exhibitions of her works. Her work was exhibited in Middle Eastern countries (in 1952), in England (in 1963), on a tour of five continents of the world (in 1965), and at an international sculpture fair, universities, art clubs, and art centers that were in the United States (repeatedly, throughout the early years of her career). The subjects of her many wood engravings were ‘nature’ and ‘scenes related to simple country living’, which were inspired by her home and its surroundings. Her limited-edition books were in a wide variety of styles, covered a variety of subjects (such as the story of Rip Van Winkle and a guidebook for the city of Carcassonne, France), and were printed on a printing press that she operated entirely by hand and maintained in her home studio. Abbe used various paper-making techniques and made her own paper, for both her wood engravings and her book projects. She also wrote a book, which was published by the Southern Vermont Art Center Press (in 1972), about paper making. In 1974, Abbe retired from Cornell and moved to Manchester, Vermont. In Vermont. she continued to create art and books and to exhibit her works. She published her last book in 1996 and was known to still be creating wood engraving prints ‘when she was in her 80s’.

Throughout her career, Elfriede Abbe won many awards and prizes, including (but not limited to) a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship, a Roy Arthur Hunt Foundation Grant, and the Salmagundi Club Board of Director’s Award. This multi-talented artist is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Art, and Who’s Who in the World. Her sculptures are displayed in many places around the world, including (but not limited to) the New York Botanical Garden Library (New York, NY), Hunt Library at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA), Southern Vermont Arts Center (Manchester, Vermont), McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), and Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbuttel, Germany). Her wood engravings are also in many collections around the world, including (but not limited to) the permanent collections of the Library of Congress (Washington, DC), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), Harvard University Library (Boston, MA), Museum of Fine Arts (Venice, Italy), Kew Gardens Library (London, England), Royal Botanic Garden (Edinburgh, Scotland), National Library of Australia (Canberra, Australia), and Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).

This matted and unframed wood engraving is about 11 7/8 inches (wide) by 14 7/8 inches (high), including its margins. The actual image is about 7 inches (wide) by 9 3/4 inches (high).

This artwork is in very good condition, with no tears, stains, or wrinkling/bending/warping of the paper.

RETURNS AND REFUNDS

Please read the description and view the images, which are a part of the description. I will not accept a return, unless I made a material misstatement in describing the item or failed to disclose significant damage. In such an instance, if I am contacted within 4 days of the receipt of the item, I agree to accept a return, and the item is returned to me within 10 days of the receipt, I will provide a full refund and will also reimburse the buyer for reasonable return shipping costs (for which the method of return has been agreed upon, before the item is returned). If an item is damaged during the initial shipping, the buyer is responsible for communicating with (and submitting paperwork and proof of damage to) the shipper, so that a refund can be obtained. I will assist the buyer with obtaining compensation for the damaged shipment, to the extent that I am able to.