NEW YORK, NY.- On Thursday, September 20, Swann Galleries will conduct a well-rounded auction of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings that features an excellent selection of works by significant American and European artists.

The 19th century portion of the sale features more than 40 prints by James A.M. Whistler, including The Boy (Charlie Hanson), a drypoint with richly-inked, velvety burr and strong contrasts, 1875-76, which is actually a portrait of Whistler's illegitimate son by a parlor maid. This impression—the first to appear at auction in the past 25 years—was once in the collection of Howard Mansfield, considered among the top three Whistler collections in the world before it was sold in 1919. (Estimate: $20,000 to $30,000).

There are also several Whistler views of Venice, among them Two Doorways, etching and drypoint, a selected proof with Whistler’s three dots and initials in pencil on the verso, 1879-80 ($30,000 to $50,000); The Bridge, Santa Marta, etching and drypoint, 1879-80 ($20,000 to $30,000); and Upright Venice, etching, circa 1879-80 ($30,000 to $50,000).

Other 19th century prints of note are Honoré Daumier’s Rue Transnonain, le 15 Avril 1834, lithograph, 1834 ($8,000 to $12,000); three lithographs by Claude Monet and George W. Thornley on Chine appliqué, La Gare St. Lazare, printed in bluish gray, circa 1892; Falaises, printed in dark green, circa 1892 ($15,000 to $20,000 each); and Ravin de la Petite Creuse, printed in purplish blue, circa 1908 ($12,000 to $18,000); as well as fine pieces by Cézanne, Degas, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec.

Unique works include two watercolors by Auguste Rodin, Nu Assise and Deux Femmes Nues Enlacées ($15,000 to $20,000 each); and Aristide Maillol’s Nue couchée, reddish brown chalk on paper ($8,000 to $12,000).

Among the many desirable American prints in the sale are compelling city views such as Edward Hopper’s iconic Night Shadows, etching, 1921 ($30,000 to $50,000); Martin Lewis’s Shadows on the Ramp, drypoint, 1927 ($7,000 to $10,000) and Chance Meeting, drypoint, 1940-41 ($10,000 to $15,000); Samuel L. Margolies’s Men of Steel, drypoint, circa 1940 ($7,000 to $10,000) and Builders of Babylon, etching and aquatint, 1949 ($6,000 to $9,000); and Stow Wengenroth’s Manhattan Gateway, lithograph, 1948 ($6,000 to $9,000).

Also featured are color woodcuts by Bror J.O. Nordfeldt, such as The Skyrocket, 1906 ($7,000 to $10,000); Thomas Hart Benton’s 1936 lithographs Frankie and Johnnie ($8,000 to $12,000) and Huck Finn ($10,000 to $15,000); Grant Wood’s lithographs July 15th, 1938 ($4,000 to $6,000) and Sultry Night, 1939 ($5,000 to $8,000); and Paul Cadmus’s Horseplay, etching, 1935 ($5,000 to $8,000) and Two Boys on a Beach, No. 2, etching, 1939 ($4,000 to $6,000).

Among the impressive selection of modern European works are significant prints by Pablo Picasso including Tete de Femme (Portrait de Jacqueline de Face II), a 1962 color linoleum cut of the artist’s second wife, and a masterful example of the boldness of execution and sheer artistry of Picasso as printmaker ($80,000 to $120,000). Additional color linoleum cuts from 1962 are Petit Buste de Femme ($30,000 to $50,000) and Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe ($20,000 to $30,000).

Also by Picasso are Visage (Marie-Thérèse), lithograph, 1928 ($40,000 to $60,000); Figure Composée I, lithograph, 1949 ($30,000 to $50,000); Buste au corsage à carreaux, lithograph, 1957 ($30,000 to $50,000); several examples of faience ware; and the after prints Maternité ai Rideau Rouge, color etching, aquatint and roulette, 1929 ($30,000 to $50,000) and L’Arlequin et sa Compagne, color collotype, circa 1960 ($20,000 to $30,000).

A pencil drawing by Amedeo Modigliani of Gaston Longchamp is among the fine drawings in this portion of the sale. Longchamp, who received the drawing as a gift from the artist, was born in the U.S. to a Cayuga-Iroquois father and French mother. Haunted by the 1890 Sioux massacre at Wounded Knee, his father, an artist, moved the family to Paris in the early 1900s where Gaston became ensconced in the Parisian avant-garde scene: he assisted Picasso with his set designs for the Russian Ballet in 1911 and contributed to Chagall's designs for Stravinsky's Firebird. Two hand-written letters by Longchamp from 1965 accompany the drawing ($30,000 to $50,000).

Another featured original work is Fernand Léger’s Formes, gouache on paper, 1928 (430,000 to $50,000); in addition to a watercolor and gouache by Marc Chagall, a pencil drawing by Salvador Dali, color pastels on paper by André Masson, a gouache by Mikhail Matyushin, and two sculpture sketches by Henry Moore, Ideas for Sculpture: Family Group, watercolor and pencil, and Sculpture, Bust II, watercolor and pen and ink, 1980 ($15,000 to $20,000 each).

Diverse European print highlights include Georges Braque’s Cubist Pal (Bouteille de Bass et Verre sur une Table), etching and drypoint on Rives, 1911 ($15,000 to $20,000); Henri Matisse’s early etched self portrait, Henri Matisse gravant, drypoint, 1900-03 ($30,000 to $50,000); Marc Chagall’s Der esel über dem Dorf, an etching with extensive hand coloring in watercolor, 1951-52 ($12,000 to $18,000); Maurits C. Escher’s Ascending and Descending, lithograph, 1960 ($25,000 to $35,000); and Joan Miró’s Le Matador, color etching, drypoint, aquatint and carborundum on Arches, 1969 ($40,000 to $60,000).

The first session of the auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 20. The sale will continue after a lunch break at 2:00 p.m. The works will be on public exhibition on Sat., Sept. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Mon., Sept. 17 to Wed., Sept. 19, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.