Collection of 78 Sketches on Vintage Paper Lace Placemats

Ephemera. Near Fine. Charming collection of 78 pencil and ink sketches by German artist Gunther ("G.W.") Nentwich on vintage paper lace placemats. Mostly very skillful portraits, done in an assured, fluid hand dating from 1946-1952. A number of couples, groups and locations are depicted throughout the 78 pieces, including Schrafft’s Bar (which used paper doilies in the 40s). These spontaneous profiles feel like they could have been executed by an employee or a frequent customer, documenting a personal landscape of faces encountered in post-war Manhattan. Fortuately though, they're all signed and we know that Nentwich was the talented artist behind them.