Henry Schile Hand Colored Litho "Sunday Sports" (1874)

Henry Jerome Schile (German-born American, 1829-1901). "Sunday Sports" color lithograph, 1874. Signed, dated, and titled beneath image within plate. A darkly comic slice of 19th century sporting life, "Sunday Sports" turns the noble drama of the hunt into a cautionary farce. In a pine forest clearing, two hunters at right take aim at a running deer at left, their rifles raised in synchronized confidence. Between them and their quarry, however, stands another hunter - an oblivious figure who just became the true target of the day. Schile renders the scene with theatrical clarity: the deer bounds forward, the dog strains at its leash, and the landscape opens into a cool, distant horizon. Yet the punchline is immediate and unmistakable - the shot has not only struck the ill-fated hunter, it has struck him squarely in the buttocks, transforming the supposed triumph of the hunt into a spectacular misfire of human judgment. Size of print: 26.5" W x 21" H (67.3 cm x 53.3 cm); of matte: 32.5" W x 27" H (82.6 cm x 68.6 cm) The result is both narrative and moral, a frontier slapstick played out with real consequences. Executed in 1874, this color lithograph exemplifies Schile's gift for bold storytelling and popular appeal. With its large format, strong contrasts, and direct, almost stage-like composition, the print captures the spirited vernacular of German-American commercial lithography, where humor, spectacle, and everyday mishap could share the same sheet of paper. About the artist: Henry Jerome Schile (German-American, 1829 to 1901), also known as Schiele, was a New York based lithographer whose work captured the raw energy of immigrant America in the mid-19th century. Born in Oberharmersbach in Baden-Wurttemberg, he fled Germany following the failed 1848 Springtime of the Peoples Revolutions and arrived in the United States in the early 1850s as part of the wave of so-called 48ers seeking political and economic freedom. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Schile does not appear to have been formally trained as an engraver or lithographic printer. His early background was likely in carpentry, gilding, and framing, trades that shaped both his aesthetic and his business. By 1860, census records list him as a gilder, and by the 1870s he had established himself as a lithographer, printer, and publisher operating out of several addresses on Division Street in New York City. Schile became especially well known for bold, large-format lithographs produced for German-American brewers, whose advertisements embraced scale, color, and spectacle. His prints, often mounted on heavy black paper embellished with decorative gold highlights, reflect a distinctive presentation style likely inherited from his framing work and later imitated by other German-American lithographers. He also produced panoramic views, commercial prints, and historical scenes, including the often-cited "Across the Continent. Passing the Humboldt River," regarded as his most accomplished historical composition. Critics, most famously Harry T. Peters in "America on Stone", noted the technical crudity of Schile's work while simultaneously acknowledging its undeniable vitality. Though rough in drawing and color, Peters argued that Schile's prints were profoundly American in spirit, vivid expressions of the cultural melting pot for which they were made. Schile died in New York in 1901, leaving behind a substantial body of work whose legacy was complicated by prolonged legal disputes among his heirs, but whose visual impact remains an essential record of 19th century immigrant print culture. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 200890

估價:$250

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