#Lucille Corcos

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Lucille Corcos, Morningside Park, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1928. Oil on canvas and masonite.

Corcos paints what appears to be the northern part Central Park from an elevated view looking northwest. The artist used a restricted palette of warm browns and grays with heavy outlines. She was a leading modern American primitivist who has had numerous museum shows, including the Whitney Biennial.

Photo & text: 1st Dibs

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

Today, February 26th, is national Tell a Fairy Tale Day and for those needing some inspiration, we’re sharing Grimm’s Fairy Tales edited by Louis (1885-1977) and Bryna Untermeyer (1909-1985). This four-volume set was published in 1962 by The Limited Editions Club (LEC) and contains the complete collection of stories accompanied by Andrew Lang’s essay on the origin of the tales. It is illustrated by the prolific modern primitivist painter Lucille Corcos (1908-1973) who created vibrant full-page watercolors printed by color lithography and monochromatic drawings interspersed within the text.  

The Brothers Grimm studied folklore and German literature while attending university and first began collecting oral folk tales at the request of two poet friends who wanted to publish a book on the matter. In 1812 the first edition of Kinder-und Hausmärchen (Children and Household Tales) was published containing 86 stories, a second volume with an additional 70 stories followed in 1815. Their collection would become one of the most influential works of folklore in the world, translated into over 160 languages and countless adaptations for opera, film, and a range of media. We also happen to hold the first English-language edition of Kinder-und Hausmärchen, a two-volume set entitled German Popular Stories, published in London, 1823-1826, with illustrations by George Cruikshank.

Our copy of the LEC's Grimm’s Fairy Tales was a gift from Loryn Romadka from the collection of longtime LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin. 

Read other Milestone Monday posts here! 

– Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

[lisamarie-vee]

[kafkasapartment]

Central Park, New York., 1928. Lucille Corcos Oil on artist's board.

[knoxspeccoll]

Artin’ Around!

This week, as students return to campus, I wanted to highlight a work depicting the Knox College campus. Published in Mademoiselle Magazine in 1960, Impressions of Knox College by Lucille Corcos (1908-1973) describes the bustling energy of campus through her unique elevated perspective and removal of walls and roofs, which turn the buildings inside-out creating a new surprising relationship between interior and exterior spaces, as well as the viewer and the unexpectedly revealed students. Past and present similarly intermingle, as Lincoln debates Stephen Douglas between the trees while the site of the original debate at Old Main is taken over by current students and faculty giving an address (possibly a graduation). Now, 60 years after its creation, even when so much has changed (note the distinct lack of masks and social distancing!) the buildings and interactions of students on campus remain familiar.

Corcos’s rejection of academic perspective and detailed works reflect the knowledge of art movements of the time such as naïvism and folk art, which rejected usual rules of perspective and often emphasized bold patterns, colors, and details. Corcos would have been exposed to these movements during her life in New York where she was born, studied, and worked, although she also traveled, as evidenced by paintings, such as Impressions of Knox College. She also was a successful illustrator; her illustrations can be seen in works such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Grimm’s Fairy Tales (both available at the Seymour Library) and her own book which she wrote and illustrated, The City Book. 

-Zuri Peterson 

Location: Building series, Accession # 60-5-1a

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Printed for members of the Limited Editions Club, 1957.

Grimm, Jacob, Bryna Ivens Untermeyer, Wilhelm Grimm, and Louis Untermeyer. Grimm’s Fairy Tales New York: Ltd. Editions Club, 1962.

[ebonetnoir]

[Dead Souls] Chichikov's Journeys Or the Home Life in Old Russia by Nikolai Gogol Illustrated in Color by Lucille Corcos FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL SLIPCASE ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR Publisher: Heritage Press, New York Copyright: 1944

BUY ON ETSY

[lepetitdragonvert]

The Little Lame Prince Dust jacket illustration for the book of the same name by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik New York : Grosset & Dunlap. .1948. Watercolour, pen, ink on paper. Source : swanngaleries.

Artist : Lucille Corcos

[ghaas]

Ballantine Beer ad illustration by Lucile Corcos, 1953

[pwlanier]

Lucille Corcos, Everybody’s Downtown, 1948, tempera on board, 14-1/2 x 11-1/8 inches.

Palmer Museum of Art

[hyaenagallery]

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, illustrations by Lucille Corcos. 1957 Heritage Press hardcover with slipcase. Book is in fantastic condition, slipcase has a stain. 287 pages, great volume of this classic. $15 email sales@hyaenagallery.com or DM with inquiries https://www.instagram.com/p/B_DR4B_hcck/?igshid=1p9lcr4uqoxe9

[rarebookman]

Four quarto (7' x 10') volumes bound in matching woven linen with a floral pattern printed in leaf-green ink; total of 1078 pages with each volume housed in its own slipcase. Selected, edited, and with an introduction by Louis and Bryna Untermeyer with Andrew Lang's definitive essay on the origin of the tales. Illustrated with 48 full-page watercolors by Lucille Corcos printed by color lithography. Copy #323 of 1500 numbered copies SIGNED by the illustrator on the colophon page of the last volume. Some foxing to the pastedowns and endpapers. Near Fine in rubbed, Very Good slipcases with a split to the edge of one

[lisamarie-vee]

[kafkasapartment]

Rockland County Home, 1954. Lucille Corcos. Egg tempera on masonite. Illustration for the article "A Double View of Artists' Life" in LIFE magazine.

[marklbrock]

LUCILLE CORCOS (1908-1973) End of Summer, 1942 Gouache on paper 15 x 21 3/4 inches Signed at lower right: Corcos 42 . . #lucillecorcos #janmatulka #artstudentsleague #newyork #dorothydehner #davidsmith #surrealist #art #vanityfair #vogue #cosmopolitan #magazine #whitney #annual #woman #artist #painter #illustrator #available #forsale #brockandco #concord #massachusetts . . www.brockandco.com (at BROCK & CO.) https://www.instagram.com/brockcompany/p/BxHkXr-lQGD/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ivrtwlw6qklw

[swanngalleries]

It's impossible to count the details in this painting by American Primitivist artist Lucille Corcos, titled 'Weekend Chores.' The work broke its previous auction record to sell for $10,000 in Tuesday's auction of Illustration Art. #auction #illustrationart #lucillecorcos #primitivism http://ift.tt/2nHa1WO

[thingsmagazine]

The USA of Chevrolet, Lucille Corcos