Commandments by Raymond Katz, Signed (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Oversized item, so some additional shipping costs will be required. This scarce 1946 portfolio, published by L. M. Stein, is copy #63 of just 500. It includes a hand-numbered and signed page by A. Raymond Katz, along with ten mounted chromolithographic prints - one interpretation for each Commandment - attached lightly along the top edge, centered on large brown sheets. Each print is 12.5 x 9.5 , and the portfolio (and page) size is 18 x 13 . All eleven sheets (the ten Commandments and signature leaf) are housed in a three-panel pouch (side, top, bottom) inside the original binding. With just 500 copies produced, signed and numbered, this edition is extremely rare - particularly in original condition with all mounted prints and signature leaf intact. A. Raymond Katz (1895-1974) was a Hungarian-born, American modernist artist celebrated for pioneering Hebraic visual symbolism in mid-20th century Jewish art. Katz created murals, stained-glass, reliefs, and print work for synagogues nationwide including a landmark cycle interpreting the Ten Commandments for Chicago s Loop Synagogue in 1936. The prints in this portfolio derive from those synagogue frescoes. As Dudley Crafts Watson noted, Katz transformed them into a new form of visual music to chime into the conscience the laws of the Ten Commandments . This edition was released following his influential 1945 publication Prelude to a New Art for an Old Religion.The portfolio is somewhat worn. Board corners are bumped, rubbed and exposed. Top and bottom of spine rubbed and fraying a bit. Edges of portfolio bowed up at rest. The top and bottom panels of the portfolio pouch are separated from the portfolio at the outer edges. The signature leaf is edgeworn, with small rips and chips along edges. Overall, the prints are in excellent condition. The only notable cosmetic issues are: 1) The bottom left corner of print #4 is bumped, with small chips, and 2) the top right corner of print #10 is free from the backing page (left corner still attached). However, the backing pages of the prints have some edgewear, varying in degree. The backing pages of prints #3, #4, #5 and #7 have notable rips or sections ripped off (see photos). Signed by Author(s).