About Joseph B. Laskowski Expertise I have been researching, collecting, dealing, and appraising 19th and 20th Century American Art (1850-1950) for the past 15 years. Ask me anything about this topic.
Experience Experienced in American Art from the period 1850-1950. This Includes Impressionism, Regionalism, Early American Modernism, Hudson River School, WPA. I have 15 years researching, collecting, dealing, and appraising in this field.
Organizations Pennsylvania Appraisers Association
American Society of Appraisers (Candidate)
Education/Credentials American Society of Appraisers
BA from Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina
Question I have what is identified as 1 or 1000 original offset lithograph. Publisher is identified as Bruno Cassirer. Berlin. I was unable to locate the original online. I have a certificate from Nathian Daniel Isen stating the lithograph is genuine. Can you verify?
Answer Offset lithography is the workhorse of printing. Almost every commercial printer does it. But the quality of the final product is often due to the guidance, expertise and equipment provided by the printer.
Offset lithography works on a very simple principle: ink and water don't mix. Images (words and art) are put on plates (see the next section for more on this), which are dampened first by water, then ink. The ink adheres to the image area, the water to the non-image area. Then the image is transferred to a rubber blanket, and from the rubber blanket to paper. That's why the process is called "offset" -- the image does not go directly to the paper from the plates, as it does in gravure printing.
This is not a true lithograph which is the process of drawing on a lithographic stone then transferring that image directly to paper. What you have is an offset lithograph.
The original work of art was was an oil on canvas. That oil was then photographed and the resultant image was then transferred to a piece of rubber which was then inked and transferred to a piece of paper.
While this a "limited edition", it was probably a work that was included in a book to illustrate the impressionists. Bruno Cassirer was a publisher of these books.
Bruno Cassirer (1872-1941) was a publisher and gallery owner in Berlin who had a considerable influence on the cultural life of the city.
He was born on 12 December 1872, the second child of Jewish parents, Julius and Julcher Cassirer. Julius was a partner, with two of Bruno's cousins, in a cable factory. Julius completed his final school examination in 1890 at the Leibniz-Gymnasium.
In 1898, together with his cousin Paul Cassirer, he opened a gallery and bookshop at 35 Viktoriastraße near Kemperplatz, Berlin. On 2 May 1898 the artists' association Berlin Secession was established with Paul and Bruno as secretaries. For three years they acquainted the art and literature scenes of Berlin with the newest waves from Belgian, English, French and Russian culture.
In 1901, Bruno and Paul divided the business into separate parts, with Paul running the gallery and art dealership, whilst Bruno owned the publishing side which relocated to 15 Derfflingerstraße. In 1903 Christian Morgenstern joined as literary editor and the journal "Das Theater" was founded under his direction.
In 1936 Jewish printers were removed from membership of the Reichsschrifttumskammer (RSK) and the last book appeared from the Cassirer publishing house. In 1938 part of the Cassirer family decided to emigrate to Oxford where Bruno founded a new publishing house.
He died on 20 October 1941 in Oxford, England.
