Leon Louis Dolice etchings
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Abstract
The collection holds 6 etchings of New York City buildings and interior spaces by Leon Louis Dolice.
Biographical / Historical
Leon Dolice was born in Vienna, Austria on August 14, 1892, the son of a machinest/welder. He went on to study art in Europe and viewing the works of the Masters. Dolice immigrated to the United States in 1920. Finding a retreat in the European Bohemianism of Greenwich Village, he picked the streets of this landmark neighborhood as his first subjects. Concentrating on etching and with the encouragement of newfound friends and artists such as George Luks and Herb Roth, he soon ventured out and devoted all his time to chronicling the architecture, back streets, dock scenes and other nostalgia that was fast disappearing from the face of Manhattan, mainly in copperplate etchings. A favorite subject for him was the Third Avenue El near one of his New York City studios on Third Avenue. He won accolades for his work, and although he traveled the East Coast recording landmarks in other cities including Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia, he always returned to his new home Manhattan.
A decline in popular favor for etchings led him to put aside his plates in the late 1930s and devote some ten years to pastels, linocuts and painting. His subject matter was almost exclusively New York City street scenes but figurative works, country scenes, and even experiments with Abstract Expressionism at the height of its newfound favor in the 1940s, punctuated his career.
In 1953, after learning of the forthcoming demise of the Third Avenue El, in the shadow of which he had maintained his studio for over a decade, he once again took to his plates and press and created a final series of Third Avenue and other New York City landmarks that were then threatened with extinction. His work brings to light aspects of nostalgic New York that survives today only in small part, whether in architecture or in spirit.
Dolice's works are in a number of notable museums and private collections, including the Museum of the City of New York; The New York Public Library Print Collection; The New-York Historical Society; Georgetown University Lauinger Library; The Print Club of Philadelphia; and others. In the past few years, his work has been exhibited at Hofstra Museum, Long Island, NY; with the Montauk Artists' Association, Montauk, NY; and at Tribeca Gallery, New York City.
Leon Dolice died in New York on November 16, 1960.
(The above note was copied from Dolce's biography page on the website of The Annex Galleries at https://www.annexgalleries.com/.)
Scope and Contents
The collection holds 6 etchings of New York City buildings and interior spaces by Leon Louis Dolice. The container list includes a complete list of the titles held. All are signed and titled by Dolice.
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Access Restrictions
For more information on making arrangements to consult the collection, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Leon Louis Dolice etchings, PR 444, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society. Items that have particular credit lines designated by the donor are noted below.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The source of three of the etchings is unknown. The known sources are noted at the item level below.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Four of the etchings were held in N-YHS's "Printmaker File" until May 2022 when at curatorial discretion they were separated from that collection and placed in this Dolice-only collection for standalone cataloging. At the same time, a new accession "China-town" and the etching on its verso, was added. Archivist Larry Weimer compiled this new collection.