TY owns a lovely Weddige lithograph of two young nymphs. The dark haired one holds a large shell over the head of the blonde, who offers her mate a smaller shell. On opposite sides of each woman’s shoulders, we see two beach scenes. One features a tank rolling towards a lake, with grave markers in the foreground. The soldiers grind toward another set of gravestones mid ground. We see this ghastly beach scene contrasted with the shape of a dove dipping towards a beach with a skiff in the quiet waves on the opposite side of the image.
When I tell you the title is “Echoes” you will know what the two beaches mean when you learn the date of the piece must be around 1949. The nymphs hear the echoes of the peaceful past and the not so distant past sounds of bombs and mortars. Both echo in both shells. The theme of melancholy pervades.
This masterful work on hand-laid BFK Rives paper with full deckled margins, probably came from an edition of 250, typical for this artist who pulled his lithos in small editions.
The Artist: Emil Weddige
Emil Weddige (1907-2001), born to French/German, and Native American (Windot) parents in Sandwich, Ontario, studied art at Eastern Michigan University and The Art Students’ league in New York. He took his Master’s in Design at the University of Michigan. Where he continued for 38 years as a Professor of Printmaking. In 1949 he took a second studio on the Montparnasse in Paris. WWII dimmed the famed City of Lights where Weddige saw the poverty and destruction of Europe after the war.
The theme of destitution didn’t come easy for this artist who celebrated peaceful orderly Americana. But here Weddige goes towards Chagall in his stylized figures, classical arrangements, symbolism. Hard to achieve in lithography because it’s a linear process, usually. The colors and hues EACH require a different ‘stone” bearing a different color. To make it look ‘painterly’ the piece must show those light gossamer lines requiring an artist to know when to pull the paper OFF the stone. This is large for a lithograph at 20 x 26” sheet size.
Weddige’s work represents a style in the mid-20th century, not modern, but refers to the classical. It doesn’t fit what we today think of as midcentury modern, so the values for this artist aren’t strong.
Prices for Weddige’s a Sin
I find his lithographs going for under $200, a sin. In Weddige’s day he showed in 100 one-man exhibitions in Japan, Europe and the US, 25 major art awards, and published a book on his technique in 1966 called Lithography. He became professor emeritus in 1974 at University of Michigan and given a doctorate by Eastern Michigan University. The world considered him a respected artist in his day. I find many of his images not selling at the major auction houses but at the minor ones who crank out works for under $500.
Collections of Weddige’s papers, donated by him in 1973, are held at the Smithsonian Archive of American Art, and at the Bentley Historical Library at U of M, donated by his estate in 2001. He is also in the collections of the MET, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery, the UN, the Chicago Art Institute, the Bibliotheque Nationale, and Georgetown University. Weddige authored a Sesquicentennial boxed portfolio book of images for the U of M with a limited edition of 200, pulled in France with images of Michigan Union, North Campus, and graduation. How many of those are still around? Many are in museum collections.
His light touch and a whimsical style isn’t in favor today, falling more into the midcentury “waif” idealized innocent style. But he mastered lithography. I, myself, LIKE the style, NOT geometric, and somewhat classical. If you do, too, collect this artist. The art market also seems snobbish about career teachers of art who sell in the marketplace. For some reason, and sometimes teachers’ works are not as highly valued as the studio artist. I hate to tell you TY, the market value is $200 but will rise.