Fantasie: profielkop naar rechts in een witte rechthoek - Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita
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Description
A striking 1920 lithograph by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, featuring a minimalist profile portrait framed by bold, expressive black ink work.
Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was a Dutch graphic artist known for his mastery of woodcut and lithographic techniques. This work, dated 1920, demonstrates his ability to balance stark graphic contrast with psychological observation. The composition features a profile head, rendered with economical, sharp lines, set within a central white rectangular frame. This central figure is surrounded by a dense, dark border, which the artist has treated with a wash effect in the lower right corner to create a sense of atmospheric depth.
The subject wears a distinctive, structured head covering that obscures the hair and frames the face, directing the viewer's attention to the sharp, angular features of the profile. De Mesquita employs a limited palette of black and the natural tone of the paper, using the negative space to define the form of the head. The surrounding black border acts as a heavy frame, pushing the portrait into the foreground and creating a tension between the static, linear figure and the fluid, gestural application of the ink in the margins.
De Mesquita often explored themes of caricature and psychological portraiture, frequently drawing inspiration from the human form and animal studies. His work is characterised by a rejection of unnecessary detail, favouring instead a direct, almost brutalist approach to line and mass. This print reflects his interest in the graphic potential of the medium, where the physical act of printing and the texture of the ink are as important as the subject itself. The work remains a clear example of his technical precision and his ability to convey character through minimal visual information, avoiding sentimentality in favour of a stark, modernist aesthetic.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Fantasie: profielkop naar rechts in een witte rechthoek - Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita
Artist Biography
Samuel Jessurun De Mesquita
He was born in Amsterdam in 1868, of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish origin. He trained there and was appointed teacher at the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem in 1902, where he remained until 1926. Escher was his most famous student; it was De Mesquita who convinced the young Escher to abandon architecture for graphic arts, a decision that changed twentieth-century visual culture.
De Mesquita produced over four hundred prints, including woodcuts, wood engravings, etchings and lithographs, plus drawings and textile designs. His animal and bird woodcuts, with their stark black-and-white stylisation influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e, are among his most distinctive work. He was not religiously observant despite his Sephardic community background. His wife Elisabeth was gassed alongside him at Auschwitz; their son Jaap perished at Theresienstadt a month later. He died at Auschwitz, around 11 February 1944, at seventy-five.
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