Lot 204

Lettered paper portfolio measuring 395mm tall, foxed, marked, edges chipped. There are twelve linocuts on separate sheets with some very scattered foxing, the prints are in very good condition.


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'In this set of lino-cuts he illuminates the terrible fears and the impatient hopes of mankind in their daily struggle with the danger of war. They are a proud justification of the confidence of his Australian friends in his continuation of clear vision and optimism' – James Boswell. Foreword to War or Peace.

Of three publications, this is the first, and only, to contain original graphics. The limitation of three hundred seems generous, yet the work is known in only a handful of examples, no doubt as the vast majority of folios were split up, in fact even at Counihan's own exhibitions the linocuts were for sale individually. The only collections we can locate the work in are the National Gallery of Australia and State Library of Victoria. The impact of the folio has been wide, however, due to the release of the 1950 and 1979 editions which reproduce the linocuts.

A rare, significant and influential work by one of Australia's greatest social realists.

Text courtesy of Douglas Stewart Fine Books