Civic Insomnia (New York)

Aquatint in color, 1932, Czestochowski 28; edition 38. 10 3/4 x 14 1/8 in. Signed, titled and dated (New York, 1932) in pencil. This is a fine impression of this exceedingly rare color version. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. Geerlings would occasionally use green paper for his prints and in this case, this is the only time we have seen the buildings and some of the water with color; possibly a unique version. Civic Insomnia is a remarkable tour de force of aquatint and it's also become very rare. There are twenty-three impressions cited in museum collections including multiple trial proofs in two institutions. This amounts to twenty-nine impressions. (This is the third impression we have sold.) On page 14 of the catalogue it states, "Geerlings's temperament was intrinsically experimental; he was an avid student of techniques...Even when he worked in black and white, Geerlings would not let a subject go until he exhausted all of its chromatic possibilities."