"Arc Welder" 1943, Aquatint.

Edition: 50. Signed in pencil, J. Jay McVicker, lower right; numbered, 9/50, lower left.

Image: 10 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches (275 x 399 mm). Sheet: 15 1/8 x 21 1/8 inches (383 x 536 mm).

References: Beall 2002:286 #1; Landau 1983:72-73.

Excellent condition. Good margins. Printed on off-white wove paper. Originally shown in the well-known "Artists for Victory" exhibit during World War Two (see Landau 1983). Of the print, McVicker said: "Regarding my print Arc Welder, it was produced in the spring of 1943. What is now the Stillwater Municipal Airport was considerably enlarged at that time to accommodate basic flight instruction. Arc Welder represents one of the many episodes that occurred on a night shift of the construction project." In the American Print Collection of the Library of Congress. A beautiful example of the aquatint process. 

$2100.00

Edition: Artist proof, number 1 of 10 (printed in an edition of 25, plus 10 artist proofs). Signed and dated in pencil, McVicker '40, lower right; numbered, I/X lower left; titled, Oklahoma Twilight, middle.

Image: 9 3/4 x 15 9/16 inches (247 x 395 mm). Sheet: 14 x 18 7/8 inches (355 x 505 mm).

Excellent condition. Good margins. Fine impression on white wove paper. One of Jay McVicker's earliest aquatint prints. McVicker, a quiet and somewhat reclusive Oklahoma artist, was a student and later colleague of Doel Reed's at Oklahoma State University (beginning circa 1939). Although his work was widely exhibited, and is represented in many institutional collections, he generally garnered little attention until the final years of his life. Following his death there has been a great deal of interest in this artist. McVicker's first prints were realistic in nature, however by circa 1952 the artist had switched to a more abstract and more colorful form of aquatint that essentially dismissed realism from his creative expression.

$1850.00

Edition: Stated 15/, of an edition of 50. Signed in pencil, J. Jay McVicker, lower right; Signed and dated in the plate, lower left; numbered, lower left.

Image: 10 1/4 x 15 15/16 inches (260 x 405 mm). Sheet: 13 x 18 3/8 inches (329 x 467 mm).

Excellent condition. Good margins. Printed on white wove paper. Artists inked fingerprints in various places around sheet margin, but well away from the impression.

$750.00