Collections of an Only Child: Seventy Years a Bibliophile, the Library of Justin G. Schiller

Blaricum, The Netherlands, ca. 1927. Group of 14 original pen and ink and watercolor illustrations on paper, created by Lou Loeber for Simon Franke's Gouden Vlinders (Blaricum: De Waelburgh, 1927). Images measure approximately 6 1/2 x 5 in. (165 x 127 mm) on 11 1/8 x 8 7/8 in. (282 x 225 mm) sheets. Each image titled in pencil or ink on verso; 11 sheets numbered at bottom recto (I, IV, V, X, etc.). Some sheets with pinholes in corners; scattered soiling and light spotting.

Lot includes a first edition copy of Gouden Vlinders.

A superb collection of 14 original and striking pen and ink and watercolor illustrations by Dutch modern artist Lou Loeber (1894-1983), created for Simon Franke's collection of verse, Gouden Vlinders (Golden Butterlfies)--the only known series of book illustrations created by Loeber.

Fourteen of the books 20 illustrations are present, including "Een Kleine Kapelle", "Het Eerste Ei", "De Geitebok", "De Speelgoedkast", "Dat Stoute Varken", "Watermannetje", "Ratelman", "Lammetje", "Die Tol", "Die Zonnestraal", "De Kwikstaart", "In De Wei", "Afke", "Sneeuwpret", and "De Nacht Van Sinterklaas." Not present are illustrations for the cover, title-page, "Spreeuwenkoor", "De Sproeiwagen", and "Het Regende".

Loeber was born in Amsterdam in 1894, and briefly attended the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. Finding the institution too conservative, she left early in 1918, and in 1919 was introduced to works of De Stijl and Cubism. During the 1920s she began to exhibit her work and traveled extensively throughout Europe, coming under the influence of artists such Piet Mondrian, Albert Gleizes, and Le Corbusier. In 1925 she joined the Socialist Democratic Workers Party, and in 1927, traveled to Berlin and Dessau to visit the Bauhaus. This work, Loeber's only known book illustrations, shows in its clean lines, geometrical shapes, and primary colors, the influences of De Stijl and Mondrian. It also reflects her Socialist beliefs, which led her to avoid complete abstraction for being too elitist, and which grounded her illustrations in recognizable forms and subjects.