Wanda Gag: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints Book

One of the most praised printmakers of the 1920s and 1930s, Wanda Gag (1893-1946) produced an inventive body of work dealing with the forces of nature and infusing everyday objects with special character and energy. Her work reflects her Minnesota childhood, her Bohemian immigrant roots, and her self-image as a New Woman. Continually struggling with the financial and personal demands of her artistic career, Gag was, ironically, most famous for Millions of Cats (1928), one of her illustrated children's books. Presenting the first catalogue raisonne of Gag's prints, Audur H. Winnan includes 196 lithographs, wood engravings, linoleum cuts, etchings, and study drawings. Among the featured prints are the well-known Lamplight, Elevated Station, Grandma's Kitchen, Grandma's Parlor, and Stone Crusher. Gag's media and methods are described, often in the artist's own words, including her unusual use of sandpaper as a matrix for lithographs and as a support for brush-and-ink drawings and watercolors. Also featuring many of her watercolors and drawings, the book traces each step of Gag's career and her role in the New York art world. Winnan completes her portrait with selections from Gag's expressive diaries and letters. With extraordinary candor the artist describes her intimate personal thoughts and experiences and her friendships and encounters with many notable artists and other personalities, including Adolf Dehn, Lewis Gannett, Howard Cook, Rockwell Kent, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, Diego Rivera, Alfred Stieglitz, John Taylor Arms, and Carl Zigrosser. Throughout her personal writings, Gag reflected on her career, the restrictions placed on women by society, and her sexual desires. Wanda Gag reveals both the internationally recognized artist who drew inspiration from van Gogh and Cezanne, and the vibrant, erotic woman who admitted to being amazed by her own passions.