Collection of 20 Bookplates by Catalan Modernist Ismael Smith

About this Item

Collection of 20 bookplates designed by Catalan artist Ismael Smith. Born in Barcelona in 1886, Smith began his career working an illustrator for magazines such as El Gràfic, La Campana de Gràcia, Mercurio, Papitu, ¡Cu-Cut!, La Ilustració Catalana and Picarol. In 1910, he received a grant to study and work in Paris, where his drawings appeared in publications such as JJournal des Dames and Revue des Élégances Féminines. Returning to Spain during the First World War, he worked in Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville before moving to New York in 1919. He "never managed to integrate there as he had hoped and he gradually gave up art for his naiv;ve and obsessive research into cancer cures. Finally, in 1960, he was interned against his will in the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum outside New York. In Catalonia he wasn't entirely forgotten as an artist but he was [recognized only in] the field of satirical illustration and bibelots" because his more significant work was too transgressive (Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya). In recent years, however, Smith's work has "been the subject of renewed appreciation placing him among the most relevant Catalan artists of the early 20th century" (Fundación MAPFRE). Many of the bookplates in this collection were designed for well-known figures in the arts, including novelist Vicente Blasco Ibanez, pianist and composer Isaac Albeniz, composer Enrique Granados, ballerina Vera Fokina, and dancer and choreographer Tortola Valencia. There is a lovely design for New York hotelier and arts patron Samuel T. Shaw, and one for the Instituto de las Espanas en los Estados Unidos. All have Smith's name in the plate; one is stamped "Senor Ismael Smith, Sculptor, New York" on the verso, and most are also dated. Dates span the period 1919-1930, but most are from 1920. They range in size from about to 3.35" x 3" to 4.25" x 4.25" and are printed on at least 7 different papers. Condition ranges from very good to fine.

Seller Inventory # 23955

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Collection of 20 Bookplates by Catalan Modernist Ismael Smith
• Seller catalogs:
  • Ephemera and Archives