144 - RICHARD YARDE (AMERICAN 1939-2011) 'THE SAVOY BALLROOM' TWENTY EIGHT PENCIL SIGNED PRINTS, LIMITED EDITION

RICHARD YARDE (AMERICAN 1939-2011) 'THE SAVOY BALLROOM' TWENTY EIGHT PENCIL SIGNED PRINTS, LIMITED EDITION Yarde, Richard and Alexander Eliot. Richard Yarde's The Savoy Ballroom. Boston: Hampshire Typothetae for Savoy Associates, 1986. Folio edition, housed in original grey cloth box with black morocco spine. Complete suite, with two sets of 14 prints hand signed by the artist (28 total). Overall: 15.5 x 12 x 2in. Sheet of each print: 14.5 x 20.5in. LOT NOTES Richard Yarde’s The Savoy Ballroom, published in 1986, is a monumental tribute to the vibrant culture of the Harlem Renaissance and the legendary "Home of Happy Feet". This portfolio captures the essence of Yarde’s career defining Savoy project, which began as a three dimensional watercolor installation at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in 1982. Known for transforming watercolor from an intimate medium into one of heroic scale, Yarde utilized the rhythmic energy of the ballroom, where jazz and swing defined a generation, as a vehicle to explore African American history and communal joy. The 1986 portfolio represents the ultimate distillation of this vision, reproducing his virtuosic watercolors with a clarity that emphasizes his "grid-like" and "patchwork" aesthetic. The compositions within the portfolio draw heavily from archival photography, which Yarde colorized and simplified into vibrant, graphic scenes of dancers and musicians. His trademark style, influenced by the segmented construction of his mother’s quilts, uses a structural "backbeat" grid that anchors improvisational bursts of color and movement. In plates like those depicting the "Cats' Corner," the artist captures the high-energy athleticism of the Lindy Hop, rendering the figures with a "stroboscopic" sense of motion. By treating the dancers with a degree of sculptural solidity against fractured backgrounds, Yarde creates a visual equivalent to the syncopated rhythms of jazz, preserving the memory of a world that was already vanishing. Ultimately, this 1986 portfolio stands as a rare and significant artifact of 20th-century African American art, as the original production by the Hampshire Typothetae was never fully completed due to the artist's burgeoning health challenges. Richard Yarde’s work does not merely document the past; it performs it, inviting the viewer into a sensory experience where the boundaries between music, history, and healing are blurred. This collection remains a testament to his technical mastery and his unwavering commitment to portraying "images of dignity". For the collector, it offers a definitive overview of the Savoy series, which is represented in major permanent collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.B. Condition reports are available upon request. All lots are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale. Please note that any condition statement regarding works of art is given as a courtesy to our clients in order to assist them in assessing the condition. The report is a genuine opinion held by Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals LLC and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report or a photograph does not preclude the absence of defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals, LLC., including its consultants and agents, shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.