Anima Mundi 1926 |
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Original wood engraving by Frederick Carter and W.M.R. Quick. Signed and inscribed by Carter with the title in pencil. S 410 x 266 mm; I 116 x 116 mm SOLD |
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Original Fredrick Carter wood engraving.
Very rare signed lifetime proof impression, from the artist’s personal collection. A very fine early proof, prior to publication in Frederick Carter's seminal work The Dragon of the Alchemists a book of Drawings by Frederick Carter (Elkin Mathews Ltd., London, 1926).
Anima Mundi is the ancient name for the soul of the world - regarded by the ancients as a pure ethereal spirit diffused throughout all nature, the divine essence that embraces and energizes all life in the universe. This universal spirit was seen as the organising principle of all things and it is this concept which Frederick Carter’s wood engraving portrays.
Proof impressions from Frederick Carter’s blocks are very rare, the few proofs printed during Frederick Carter’s lifetime having been solely for private use or for distribution amongst the artist’s personal friends. This characteristically symbolic design was drawn directly onto the prepared wood block by Frederick Carter; the block was then cut and worked in detail by either Carter himself or his assistant, W.M.R. Quick, to produce the finished wood engraving.
On an unusually large sheet of simile Japan paper, with full margins and deckle edge. Fold lines in extreme outer margins, otherwise very good original condition. |
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