Robert Kipniss: Selections from the New Orleans Museum of Art

Robert Kipniss Selections from the New Orleans Museum of Art

Robert Kipniss: Selections from the New Orleans Museum of Art CK Contemporary is pleased to showcase a collection of twelve prints in honor of Robert Kipniss, who celebrates his 93rd birthday this month.

These prints hold special significance and provenance as they are the exact impressions that were exhibited in the 2006 museum exhibition titled "Seen in Solitude" at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NoMA). Notably, these prints were part of the exhibition that marked the museum's reopening after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Organized by museum Director John Bullard and curated by Daniel Piersol, deputy director of programs at the Mississippi Museum of Art, the exhibition was curated from the collection of James F. White, augmented by key loans from the artist's private collection; it later traveled to four additional museums through 2009. We are thrilled to offer here a selection of works from this landmark exhibition from the artist's personal collection. These works span 1968 to 2004, presenting a comprehensive view of his oeuvre. In presenting these prints, CK Contemporary pays tribute to the enduring legacy of Robert Kipniss and commemorates the resilience of the New Orleans Museum of Art in the face of adversity.

Hillside shadows, 1997 Mezzotint Artist’s proof 5 Image size: 11.625 x 9.375 in

Alleys, Springfield, 1995 Mezzotint Artist’s proof 5 Image size: 7 x 7.75 in

Still life w/ chair & standing lamp, 2002 Mezzotint 12/60 Image size: 11.625 x 9.375 in

Bare Trees (small), 1970 Lithograph 12/90 Image size: 13.875 x 10 in

Houses & sheds, 1999 Mezzotint 38/50 Image size: 11.625 x 9.375 in

Rooftops & porch, 1992 Mezzotint 55/60 Image size: 7.75 x 6.875 in

Illuminata, 2000 Mezzotint Artist’s proof 6 Image size: 7.875 x 7 in

Incandescence, 2000 Mezzotint 9/60 Image size: 7.875 x 7 in

Sentinels, 1992 Mezzotint Artist’s proof 7 Image size: 13.875 x 9.25 in

Sentinels II, 1998 Mezzotint First state 14/50 Image size: 14 x 9.375 in

Still life w/ kettle & cup, 1998 Mezzotint 14/50 Image size: 14 x 9.375 in

Window w/ bench & trees, 1999 Mezzotint 39/60 Image size: 19.875 x 15.625 in

Robert Kipniss (American, b. 1931) Robert Kipniss is considered one of the greatest living American printmakers, with a professional career that spans seven decades and work that can be found in over 170 museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The British Museum, London; the Albertina, Vienna; the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; the Royal Society of PainterPrintmakers, London; The Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Born in Brooklyn in 1931, Kipniss studied at the Art Students League in 1947, Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio from 1948-50, and the University of Iowa, receiving a BA degree in English literature in 1952, and an MFA in painting and art history in 1954. Although he has painted in oil throughout his life, Kipniss focused on stone lithography during his early career, and has predominately worked in Mezzotint since the early 1990’s.

Mezzotint is an intaglio printmaking technique along with etching and drypoint, in which the artist begins with a rocked copper plate. If the plate were to be inked and printed at the initial stages, it would register to the paper as carbon black. To draw out the lightness in the image, the artist must carefully scrape and burnish away the copper plate’s ability to hold ink. This process is exceedingly time consuming, but results in a complete range of tonality. Kipniss, who is still actively producing Mezzotints at the age of 91, is considered a true master of this technique’s delicate interplay between darkness and light.

Kipniss was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1980, and to the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, London, in 1998. He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of American Graphic Artists and The Artists Fellowship. He has also received the Speicher-Hassam Purchase Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, as well as Honorary Doctorates from Wittenberg University and Illinois College.

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