Blue Daffodils (signed color etching)

[New York], 1991. Original color etching, number 1/3, of American artist Marion Lerner Levine’s all-blue variant of “Daffodils.” Daughter of renowned LSE economist Abba Lerner, Levine (1931-2023) emigrated to the United States as a child and enjoyed a long career as a painter and printmaker, represented for decades by the Prince Street Gallery in New York City. An example of the dreamlike compositions that Levine called “tablescapes,” “Blue Daffodils” riffs on (but does not exactly reproduce) two antiquarian gardening books: Jacob Biggle’s Biggle Berry Book (Philadelphia, 1911) and Joseph Jacob’s Daffodils (London, 1910). Levine explained: “I paint from (truncated) direct observation but allow surreal elements into my work, trying to transform still life into a poetic whole turning description into interpretation.” A fine signed etching. Color etching, measuring 13.75 x 17.5 inches, on a sheet measuring 19.75 x 25.75 inches. Titled, numbered, signed and dated in pencil below image. (Inventory #: 1003757)