John Doyle Sharpshooters 76 Frontispiece Signed 1975 Stone Lithograph 27/76 For Sale

John Lawrence Doyle Sharpshooters \'76 / Frontispiece 1975 Color Stone Lithograph • Signed, Titled and Numbered 27/76 Collector Overview This large-format, hand-signed color stone lithograph is John Lawrence Doyle\'s Frontispiece from his eleven-work Sharpshooters \'76 portfolio. Created in 1975 in anticipation of the United States Bicentennial, the series examines soldiers, machinery and the visual mythology associated with conflicts across American history. This example is numbered 27/76 and measures approximately 29 1/2 inches wide by 41 1/2 inches high. Matching-Number Collection This impression is one of seven family-held Sharpshooters \'76 works, each numbered 27/76. The seven matching-number works are Frontispiece, Korea, Sony War, Story Book War, Bombardier, Continentals and Doughboy. All seven are now being offered individually, subject to prior sale. Each listing is for one artwork only unless expressly stated otherwise. Matching-Number Collection Discount Purchase any two available matching-number works: receive 30% off the combined artwork prices. Purchase any three available matching-number works: receive 35% off the combined artwork prices. Combined shipping: When two or three works are purchased together, they will be carefully rolled together and shipped in one heavy-duty, wide-diameter shipping tube. The buyer pays the shipping charge shown for one print only. The second and third prints ship at no additional charge. Please contact the seller through before purchasing so the collection discount can be arranged. If initially charges shipping on more than one listing, all excess shipping charges will be refunded. Discounts apply to the artwork prices only. Availability is subject to prior sale, and each individual listing is for one artwork only. About Frontispiece Frontispiece serves as a visual overture to the Sharpshooters \'76 portfolio. Doyle assembles soldiers and military imagery from multiple eras around a large concentric target, including mounted figures, infantry, uniforms, flags and insignia, ammunition, an airplane and an explosion. Rather than focusing on a single conflict, the composition condenses the portfolio\'s historical sweep into one layered collage and introduces its recurring examination of warfare, memory and national symbolism. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds another example under the title Frontispiece (from the portfolio Sharpshooters 76) and identifies its subjects as ammunition, a flag, military uniforms, a horse, an airplane and a figure group. The Birmingham Museum of Art also catalogs another example as Frontispiece from the Sharpshooters portfolio. This listing does not claim that the present 27/76 impression was museum-owned or exhibited. Stone Lithography and Printing This is an original color stone lithograph, not an offset poster or digital reproduction. In traditional stone lithography, the artist draws with grease-based materials on prepared limestone. The stone is chemically processed, dampened and inked so that ink adheres to the drawn image areas, and the image is transferred to paper under pressure. A color composition requires carefully registered successive printings. Sharpshooters \'76 was produced through Doyle\'s collaboration with master printer and printmaker Roland Poska at Fishy Whale Press in Rockford, Illinois. The Sharpshooters \'76 Series The complete portfolio comprises eleven color lithographs surveying American warfare from the Revolutionary era through the twentieth century. Rather than presenting war as straightforward heroic history, Doyle combined uniforms, weapons, vehicles, symbols and fragmented human figures to encourage reflection on how conflict is remembered and represented. The Denison Museum exhibited the complete series in 2017. Frontispiece introduces the portfolio by gathering imagery from several of the conflicts and eras explored in the individual works. About John Lawrence Doyle John Lawrence Doyle (American, 1939-2010) was born in Chicago and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, receiving his bachelor\'s degree in 1962, followed by a master\'s degree from Northern Illinois University in 1967. His printmaking was informed by a sustained interest in ethnology, anthropology and the human condition. Doyle produced ambitious stone-lithograph portfolios in collaboration with master printer Roland Poska at Fishy Whale Press in Rockford, Illinois. During his career, he participated in numerous solo, national and international exhibitions and received multiple awards and purchase prizes. Artwork Details Artist: John Lawrence Doyle (American, 1939-2010) Institutional title: Frontispiece (from the portfolio Sharpshooters 76) Pencil inscription: Sharpshooters 76 Date: 1975 Medium: Color stone lithograph on paper Printing process: Original color stone lithograph Master printer: Roland Poska Printer and publisher: Fishy Whale Press, Rockford, Illinois Edition: Pencil numbered 27/76 Signature: Pencil signed and dated \"doyle 75\" at lower right Inscription: Pencil titled \"Sharpshooters 76\" along the lower margin Printer\'s mark: Blind stamp in the lower margin Sheet size: Approximately 29 1/2 inches wide x 41 1/2 inches high Presentation: Unframed Provenance From a long-held family collection assembled during the period when the seller\'s father represented John Lawrence Doyle. The work has remained with the family since that period. Condition Very good vintage condition overall. The printed image remains clean, colorful and visually strong, with no obvious image-area tear, staining or color loss visible in the supplied photographs. The unframed sheet shows light waviness and handling along the upper and side margins, a shallow soft crease or bend near the upper-left outer margin, minor corner softening, and small nicks or irregularities along the upper deckled edge. The naturally irregular deckled edges are an intentional characteristic of the paper and should not be mistaken for tears. Please review all photographs, including the margin and corner close-ups, as they form part of the condition description. Shipping This large unframed lithograph will be handled carefully, protected with clean interleaving material, rolled around a wide-diameter support to avoid an unnecessarily tight curl, and placed in a heavy-duty shipping tube inside a protective outer box. Tracking will be provided. Insurance and signature confirmation may be added based on the final purchase price and destination.