"Pushmobile" by Marian Lerer, Amer., (1928-2017)

Lithograph, ca. 1940's, Ed. unknown, 8-1/8 x 7-1/4, signed with the initial "L" in the stone, and signed "M Ebert" and titled in pencil, two square stains to top corners showing recto from old tape verso, but well away from image, on cream wove watermarked PUR FIL paper. This was the only pencil signed impression of a group of five lithographs by this artist I purchased a few years ago. The penciled last name did not match the artist's cursive capital "L" signed in the stone, (it is a stone, from the embossed irregular edges showing in the margins), which only added to the mystery. Cartoonish and illustrative in style, the sophisticated use of tusche wash for the texture of both street and "Pushmobile", as well the saturated black of the boy's boots, all pointed to an accomplished print maker with a distnctive style and something witty and worthwhile to say. Who was this? None of my venerable print dealer peers could shed any light! The work of Adolph Dehn, Anton Refrigier, Karl Fortess's love of numbers and signs come to mind, also an affinity with Ronald Searle's style and satire is noted.  Fortunately, just recently, another pencil signed print with the same distinctive style and "L" in the stone surfaced. We now know her desired maiden name: Marian Lerer.  See her other four prints newly listed for a hint of her biography. "Pushmobile" s a nostalgic "kids at play" scene from the days before Segway, when boys still used their own leg power for locomotion and made their own racers from whatever was lying around.