Help-artist's signature on this sketch of a ballerina?

Came from a New York estate. I can't tell you which one as I have had it a

 

show us the picture, please.

 

Yes, please. The entire work both front and back including frame (if there is one.) Also, close-ups of any additional handwritten notations and stickers/labels.

Debora

 

It would also be a good idea to finish the second sentence above.

 

awhile. It is a pencil of a ballerina. I will learn to do this yet. View attachment 314735

The rest of the photos are above.. The sticker from the back is the last photo. Been a while, but I did look the framers up and wrote them if they were still in business but they not reply or they were not in business. Sketch of ballerina in pencil, I think, haven't had it out of frame.

 

The framer's label tells us that your work was framed post 1963 because it uses a zip code. It also uses a telephone number with a two-letter exchange (which I expect is a little conceit as Murray Hill would have been a prestigious exchange.) These were slowly phased out in NYC in the early 1960s so I'd extrapolate the framing was done sometime in the 1960s. The work appears to be earlier but not earlier than the 1920s because of her cropped hair.

I see what appears to be two separate lines in pencil. Is that the case? One appears to be a signature in the lower left hand corner. The other?

Debora

 

I see Albertine Resch, but...

 

What good eyes you have. That's interesting because here is a 1919 newspaper entry in The Fourth Estate, "a weekly newspaper for publishers," that mentions Albertine Resch as one of a group of "well known stage folk."

https://books.google.com/books?id=i...=onepage&q="albertine resch" new york&f=false

Debora

 

Albertina Rasch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertina_Rasch

Debora

 

And now it gets interesting.

https://www.annexgalleries.com/inve...-Pollak/Dancers-Albertina-Rasch---aka-Ballett

Debora

 

there you go. sloppy writing and a moment later you're on the next boat to Amerika. poor girl but good looking like many in Vienna...

 

So, alynnfin, are you sure yours is hand drawn and not a print like the one I posted?

Debora

 

comment removed - already covered.

 

In case anybody doesn't click on that very informative link from Annex Galleries -- the artist was Max Pollak. Here is a biographical sketch:
https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/1894/Pollak/Max

The ballerina subject was Albertina Rasch, as discussed. The one under the link is an artist print. I use the word "artist" to indicate it is not a commercially mass-produced one. I suspect the one in the original post is the same type but will wait to hear from @alynnfin to answer the question.

 

There is writing on both sides of the bottom of the sketch or etching. Is that what you mean by 2 separate line in pencil? I figured the script on the left was the name of the ballerina or title and the other side of the same line was the artist's signature. Your ability to pin the dates down like that is great. Thank you.

 

Thank you all! Amazing. There was a signature on one side and a title on the other side of the same line, which are definitely pencil. I used a jeweler's loupe and simply can't tell about the sketch beyond it is not pencil, unless drawn harder. I thought I could until I saw the one someone linked because it has smudges as well. I do not know anything about dry point. Does it leave spaces like pencil, because although some of the lines are very faint and thing, the lines do not skip like the penciled signature? It sure looks hand done and like original something. Where do I go to have someone look at it for me? Is the one in the link the original or is it a dry point and is there such a thing as an original with a dry point?

 

Drypoint is an intaglio printing process. My understanding is that the image is etched directly into the printing plate, and does not come from another sketch. This is referring to the one under the link that is said to be in drypoint. @moreotherstuff or others can explain more about the process.

I suppose it's possible that an artist could also make a pencil sketch of the same image. It probably depends on the artist and their working methods?

 

If the one that was linked appears to have smudge marks (or whatever) that are in exactly the same places, that would indicate prints.

 

I don't doubt this is a print. A drypoint as in Deborah's link. With drypoint, a needle-like stylus is used to draw the image directly on to a plate - scratch it into the plate if you will. The plate is inked and wiped off so that only the scratches retain any color. Then the plate is run through a high pressure press that squeezes the paper into the scratches to pick up the ink. The resultant image does resemble a drawing because it was freely sketched onto the plate. As someone else recently pointed out, drawing lines in this manner raises a burr that helps in catching the ink and softens the line as it goes through the press.

I think the close-ups of the title and the signature both show that the square outer edge of the image is indented. That is called a plate mark and is an artifact of the paper going through a press under high pressure.