Zebra
Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita
(Dutch, 1868–1944)
about 1919
Medium/TechniqueWoodcut on Japanese paper, laid down
DimensionsSheet: 27.5 × 41.3 cm (10 13/16 × 16 1/4 in.)
Credit LineStephen Bullard Memorial Fund
Accession number2017.1431
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPrints
Collections
Mesquita was a master of the woodcut. Famous for his whimsical birds and animals, in the zebra he met an animal that brought together his medium and his favored subject in a way that no other could. As his own student, M.C. Escher, recalled, Mesquita once said “a zebra is a living woodcut;” the stripes of this Grevy’s zebra, eating quietly in its paddock, swell and diminish in a way that is true both to nature and to the carved line---a perfect marriage of medium and subject.
ProvenanceAbout 1921, probably sold by the artist [see note]. By about 2016, sold by a private collection, Amsterdam, to Dr. E. H. Ariëns-Kappers (dealer), Amsterdam; 2017, sold by Ariëns-Kappers to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 21, 2017)
NOTE: At the time it was sold around 2016, the print was in an early frame lined with newsprint, dated Tuesday, 26 April 1921. The backing sheet bore a price of 65 guilders, in Mesquita’s handwriting
NOTE: At the time it was sold around 2016, the print was in an early frame lined with newsprint, dated Tuesday, 26 April 1921. The backing sheet bore a price of 65 guilders, in Mesquita’s handwriting
