SOLD Most Tender and Poignant 19th Century Hand-cut Iron July 4 Stencil vintage snapshop and the sun's a cheerful

and the sun's a cheerful shade of yellow

large slot on top and cork stopper on bottom

Clearly it is an ink bowl at right

and paint loss

very much part of the Cedar Tavern circle (de Kooning

SOLD Most Tender and Poignant 19th Century Hand-cut Iron July 4 Stencil vintage snapshop and the sun's a cheerfulA humble thing but this is truly one of my favorite finds ever. The combination of the very old and weathered iron and the loss lack of a center to the "U" (and absence of a Y, too) and that freehand cut 4 floating above, off on its own, feels exactly right compositionally, symbolically, metaphorically, etc or representing Independence Day. Singularly and tenderly constructed, improvisational feeling but emphatic, eroding but enduring. For me this one