A lithographed portrait of Albert Schweitzer, signed in pencil by the artist and inscribed and dated in ink by Schweitzer.

Albert SCHWEITZER (1875-1965). - William SHARP (1900-1961, artist).

A lithographed portrait of Albert Schweitzer, signed in pencil by the artist and inscribed and dated in ink by Schweitzer.

[No date but 1960 or earlier]

Toned lithograph on card, signed in the plate 'WS' and beneath the image 'Wm Sharp' in pencil, with an additional autograph manuscript ink presentation inscription 'A Mr John Zuber avec mes bonnes pensees / Albert Schweitzer. Lambarene 13. Juin / 1960." [translation: To Mr John Zuber with my good wishes Albert Schweitzer Lambarene 13th June 1960].

Condition: lightly toned, otherwise excellent (see images)

Provenance: John Zuber (given by Mrs Zuber to an unidentified individual or organisation in 1985 [see label to verso]).

An insightful portrait of the famous polymath, inscribed by Schweitzer in Gabon in 1960.

Schweitzer "was a French-German theologian, organist, philosopher, and physician. He was born in the German province of Alsace-Lorraine and although that region had been reintegrated into the German Empire four years earlier, and remained a German province until 1918, he considered himself French[citation needed] and wrote mostly in German. His mother-tongue was Alsatian German. Schweitzer, a Lutheran, challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by historical-critical methodology current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view. His contributions to the interpretation of Pauline Christianity concern the role of Paul's mysticism of “being in Christ” as primary and the doctrine of Justification by Faith as secondary. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life”,[2] expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa). As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ Reform Movement (Orgelbewegung)." (wikipedia).

"William Sharp was born on June 13, 1900, in Lemberg, Austria, where he attended college and the Academy for Arts and Industry. He later studied in Kraków, Poland, and in Berlin and Munich, Germany.  Sharp began his career as a designer of stained-glass windows and as a painter of murals.  He served in the German army during World War I. After the war he became a newspaper artist in Berlin and a well-known etcher. Sharp drew political cartoons that were bitterly critical of the growing Nazi movement. As the influence of National Socialism intensified, he began to contribute drawings, under a pseudonym, to publications that were hostile to Hitler. After Hitler assumed power, Sharp was confronted with these drawings and told that he would be sent to a concentration camp. However, in 1934, he escaped to the United States. His first newspaper assignment in America was making courtroom sketches for The New York Mirror at the trial of Bruno R. Hauptmann for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. As a staff artist at Esquire, where he continued to produce political cartoons, Sharp also illustrated stories by Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Mann. He was a longtime contributor to The New York Times Magazine and also worked for Life, Colliers, Coronet, and The New York Post. Sharp also did book illustrations for several leading publishers, with Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop for Heritage Press being his first assignment. He illustrated several books for limited editions, including The Diary of Samuel Pepys in 10 volumes. Sharp published several portfolios of etchings and lithographs about the legal and medical professions. Sharp's work is represented in many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Carnegie Institute, and the New York Public Library. William Sharp died in New York City on April 1, 1961." (Stefan C. Schatzki, Kiechel Fine Art).