Clara Tice (American, 1888–1973)

Cover of drinks menu for the Greenwich Village Inn,
Manhattan, c. 1916–1919
Lithograph, 11 x 9 1/4” (27.9 x 23.5 cm)

A New York-based illustrator celebrated for her wispy, weightless female figures, who seem to frolic on the page like the younger, high-spirited American progeny of their more world-weary, European Art Nouveau ancestors, Clara Tice (American, 1888–1973) provoked scandal and attention in pre-Prohibition and Prohibition-era Manhattan. She famously came to the attention of Marcel Duchamp in 1916 and partook of the avant-garde scene surrounding Louise and Walter Arensberg until their departure for the West Coast in 1921.

Supper menu for Club Gallant, Manhattan, c. 1922–1924
Lithograph, 12 5/8 x 9 3/4” (32.1 x 24.8 cm)

Dinner menu for Club Gallant, Manhattan, c. 1922–1924
Lithograph, 12 7/8 x 10 1/16” (32.7 x 25.6 cm)

Program cover for The Fifth Avenue Follies Revue,
Fifth Avenue Club, Manhattan, 1926
Offset lithograph, 11 1/8 x 8 3/8” (28.3 x 21.3 cm)

Cover and interior of invitation to The Flamingo Dance,
The Everglades Club, Palm Beach, Florida, after 1919
Lithograph, 6 x 10” (15.24 x 25.4 cm) closed

Insect Frolic Costume Ball, Webster Hall, New York (February 9, 1923), 1923
Left: Maquette for poster
Ink and gouache on board, 22 1/16 × 14” (56.1 × 35.6 cm)
Right: Poster
Letterpress, 22 1/16 × 14” (56 × 35.5 cm)
Both formerly Merrill C. Berman Collection; now
The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Book cover and spreads: Clara Tice, ABC Dogs (New York: Wilfred Funk, 1940)
Lithograph, 12 15/16 x 10” (32.9 x 25.4 cm)

May 10, 2022