L a s t i n g I m p r e s s i o n s
Robert Kipniss
Windsor fine art is proud to present
Lasting Impressions Robert kipniss
A special thanks to Anne Lipscomb, Philip Allen and Isaiah Rivera May 17 - June 17, 2025
Celebrating 50 years of work, including oil paintings, lithographs, mezzotints and drypoints
Lasting Impressions: Reflections of a Career
by Travis Wilson
“Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all other things are works of art.” -Rainer Maria Rilke
Born in Brooklyn in 1931, Robert Kipniss trained at the Art Students League and the University of Iowa. His early work explored biomorphic forms and abstraction, but over time, he shifted toward the solitary interiors and hushed landscapes that would come to define his mature style. Over a career spanning more than seven decades, Kipniss worked in painting, lithography, drypoint, and mezzotint. He is considered one of the most accomplished American Painter/Printmakers.
His subtle, poetic works have been exhibited in dozens of museums and collected by nearly 200 institutions worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Now, at 94, Robert Kipniss has retired from making new work, marking the end of an extraordinary era. For the first time, we as viewers can experience his oeuvre in true retrospect, a rare and reflective vantage point. Lasting Impressions includes pieces from the late 60s and early 70s, iconic pieces from the middle of his career and a collection of prints and paintings completed in the last ten years. Most of these pieces are Robert’s last impressions - they were done in small editions and have never been exhibited. They demonstrate not just a mastery of technique but also impact the viewer with a succinct simplicity in a way only the most experienced artists can deliver. In short, he has made the impossible look easy.
For me, this moment is not just a milestone in Robert's career, but a deeply personal one. My entire career in the art world has been shaped and enriched by his art. When I moved to San Francisco 23 years ago, I began my career as an art dealer at Weinstein Gallery. Although I had studied art in Chicago, this marked my formal entry into the professional art world. The gallery operated multiple exhibition spaces throughout the city, one of which was devoted exclusively to the work of Robert Kipniss. It was there that I met Philip Allen, Managing Director of the galleries and a leading expert on Kipniss’s work. Philip had represented Kipniss since 1994 in New York at Hexton Gallery, bringing the artist’s work to San Francisco in 1999.
Fields & twilight, 1977, Lithograph Page 15
You can sense the same soft tension in Fields and twilight, a color lithograph from 1977 that is featured prominently in The Graphic Work, Robert’s 1980 catalog raisonné. In the preface to the catalog Karl Lunde writes, “The center of these landscapes is not only the center of the world but, by analogy, the center of our bodies; for in Kipniss’s work the horizon seems circular and revolves around us, so that we are instantly placed on stage and in the spotlight.” I first read this passage more than two decades ago and am constantly reminded of it when I see pieces like Fields and twilight.
We also have an example of the incomparable, Springfield, O Impressions of this drypoint can be found in the permanent collection of The British Museum and The New York Public Library, Print Collection. Completed in 1992, this drypoint represents one of the crowning achievements in Robert’s career and, in my opinion, one of the finest prints made in the latter half of the 20th century. There is a sublime serenity to the moment it portrays, with the subtle curve of the pathway in the distance suggesting the unknown possibilities of what lies ahead. I am struck by the blacked-out windows; they seemed to encourage and celebrate the inevitable solitude of one who has stepped onto the road.
I have been familiar with these pieces for decades, and each one has a unique narrative in my mind. But for me, there is nothing like seeing new work. In preparation for this show, I was introduced to an astonishing collection of pieces from the last ten years. Among them, To the black mountain - a breathtaking mezzotint executed in 2022, making it one of the last pieces Robert created. If Robert’s work is a journey, then To the black mountain is the destination. A simple landscape, flawlessly executed, the distant mountains vaguely reminiscent of the human figure, with a bright cloudless sky and three thin trees like rungs on a ladder with which to pull yourself forward. It’s an ideal moment and place, as Walt Whitman said in Song of the Open Road, “I think I could stop here myself and do miracles.”
Springfield, O , 1992 Drypoint Page 42
To the black mountain, 2022 Mezzotint page 39
Today, Windsor Fine Art is proud to present Lasting Impressions, a 58-piece exhibition spanning the years 1969 to 2022. This comprehensive show offers a curated survey of prints and paintings that include the rarest examples of his work in each of his primary media. The reality of prints is that they tend to fade and yellow if not properly handled and framed. In the case of this show, we are looking at truly pristine impressions directly from the artist's private collection. Windsor Fine Art is honored to be one of only four galleries internationally with access to Robert’s archives. In several cases, you are seeing either the last perfect example of pieces that will ever be available, or you’re seeing recent impressions that have never been displayed before. In all likelihood, this show is a fleeting moment that won’t come again.
This exhibition also represents a full-circle moment in my career. For 23 years, Kipniss’s work has been a quiet, powerful companion in my journey through the art world, and in many ways, his work taught me how to see. From art consultant to gallery director, from San Francisco to New Orleans, his influence on me cannot be overstated. For me, Lasting Impressions is more than a title, it is an acknowledgment of the various moments and threads that are intertwined and shape our lives, many of which are impossibly subtle in the moment of their inception, but will prove to be the most enduring and consequential. Like Robert’s work, you can choose to bring yourself to these quiet moments that can’t be put into words, and if you’re lucky, perhaps the impression left behind will be a lasting one.
Travis Wilson New Orleans, 2025
Robert Kipniss working on a lithographic stone, 1970s
OIL ON CANVAS
Painting became an obsession for Robert Kipniss in his young adulthood. He considered himself entirely self-taught as a painter and prolifically produced paintings for over seven decades.
Untitled, c 1975 Oil on Canvas 24 x 20 in
Top: Branches & shadows, 2005
Oil on Canvas 36 x 28 25 in
Bottom:Three houses w/two chimneys, 2004 Oil on Canvas 24 x 26 in
Pale distance, 2006 Oil on Canvas 24 x 20 in
Forest nocturne v, 2007
Fields & clouds, 2015
Oil on Canvas
38 x 34 in
Reaching, 2015 Oil on Canvas 20 x 22 in
Pages from a sketchbook V, 2015 Oil on Canvas
Clouds & six trees, 2015 Oil on Canvas
22 25 x 28 25 in
23 5 x 19 in
Fields & twilight, 1977
Lithograph
Still Life w/ Easel & Tree, 1978 Lithograph 13.875 x 9.25 in
Bottom: Poised, 1986
The orange gate, 1988
Lithograph
16 x 14 in
Orange
Clouds, 1989 Lithograph 14 x 12 in
Top: Rooftops at Elsah, 1990 Lithograph
Bottom: Roadside, Elsah, 1990 Lithograph
Bottom: Hillside w/porch & moon, 1994
Lithograph
10 375 x 8 75 in
Top: Untitled 043, 1993
Lithograph
8 5 x 6 75 in
Hillside w/orange trees, 1994
Lithograph 17.125 x 14 in
Green shadows II, 1994
Back porch, 1995
Mezzotint 9.25 x 13.87 in
Xmas,1996 Mezzotint 3 62 x 3 12 in
Echo, trees & shadows, 2003 Mezzotint 19.5 x 16.5 in
Window w/vase & four trees, 2015 Mezzotint 12 5 x 10 25 in
Backyards at dusk, 2017
Mezzotint
18 5 x 25 in
Still life w/bread & knife, 2019 Mezzotint
To the black mountain, 2022
Mezzotint
x
Drypoints
"I immersed myself in making drypoints, drawing with a diamond headed stylus into copper plates, and using a steel burnisher to remove and lighten lines. I found the process of drawing directly onto the plate very pleasurable and the results were rich and promising"
- Robert Kipniss
Kipniss has produced drypoints periodically since 1967, but in smaller numbers than his works in lithography or mezzotint. His drypoints often focus on negative space, creating more of an effect of outdoor light compared to his mezzotints.
After a long hiatus from the medium, Kipniss returned to drypoint in his later years. Since 2016, he has completed several atmospheric compositions in the medium, with examples listed dating up to 2022
Self-portrait, 1969
Drypoint 15.75 x 14 in
Springfield, O , 1992
Drypoint 17 x 15 in
Bottom: Pages from a sketchbook #4, 2003 Drypoint 13 375 x 15 in
Top: Pages from a sketchbook #2, 2003 Drypoint 15 25 x 12 875 in
Top: September breeze, 2018
x 10
Bottom: Shadow trees, 2018 Drypoint
5 x 16 in
Onset, summer, 2019 Drypoint
