PBA Galleries

James Alton James (text). Chicago / A History in Block-Print / Block-prints executed by the advanced class in design under the direction of Clara MacGowan, assistant professor of art, Northwestern University (Chicago, 1934) Original pictorial wrappers. 9 x 12 inches, 107pp. Illustrations on front cover, verso of front and rear covers, and on 50 full pages opposite text, signed by the student artists – all of them women - presented in chronological order, from the exploration of Marquette and Joliet in the late 17th century through the Century of Progress Exposition of 1933.

This rare publication may be said to have launched the Chicago woodblock art tradition of the WPA era, continued up to the present by the annual block-print calendars of the Chicago Society of Artists (see listings in this sale). It is scarce outside of institutional collections; we can find no record of a copy sold at auction