Aquatint Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Etching on paper, signed Gaetano Carboni A painter and engraver, Gaetano Carboni was born in 1928 in Ascoli Piceno and, between 1940 and 1950, implemented his first figurative experi...

Little Stories (Abstract painting) Acrylic on paper — Unframed Barcelona-based painter Nikolaos Schizas creates dynamic abstract paintings that radiate with vibrant splashes of colo...

Grey tonal painting of a Falcon perched on a branch. The work is framed in a silver frame with a white matte. The artist signed the work in the bottom right corner. Artist Biograph...

Provenance: Marlborough Gallery David McKee, Inc. Manny Silverman Gallery Private collection, Los Angeles

“I have been living in Berlin as a painter for 45 years and since then a lot of water has flowed down the Spree, many ‘big’ and little names, many art scenes, a lot of noise and lots of hope have come along. There was the great period of 1920-1933, when Berlin was a real and free art city, when the public still visited the exhibitions and the painters had not yet invented the publicity. There was the ’12th Reich’, which eliminated art. And there came the laborious new beginnings after 1945. When I was a beginner, around 1925, I plunged rather carelessly into the lively art scene: first exhibition in the then very turbulent jury-free show. In 1927, for the first time, I succeeded in conquering a wall space in the academy on Pariser Platz, where Liebermann led a strict regiment. Many young exhibitions were organized and critically acclaimed (Paul Westheim). Paul Cassirer showed three generations in two beautiful exhibitions, I was one of the youngest. My first collective exhibition was in the Galerie Möller in 1928, after which I received a master studio in the ‘Akademie der Künste’ for three years. In the printing workshop on the Steinplatz I learned the etchings on the same press, on which I still create the plates at our university today. This was followed by further exhibitions, again at Möller in 1931, etchings in the gallery Gurlitt in 1932, in the Szczecin Museum, whose director Riezler acquired several pictures that were destroyed during the Nazi era. The Kronprinzenpalais had also bought a picture and the Kupferstichkabinett some etchings. Everything went ahead, and then, with one hit, it was over. In 1934, all free, progressive exhibitions were closed and the associations liquidated (Künstlerbund, Sezession). The end of painting. I learned ceramics and painted tiles and tiled stoves; The war...

Ron Gorchov Untitled, inscribed to Robert Vogele, 1978 Watercolor and etching on paper with 2 deckled edges. Hand signed in pencil and inscribed on lower front. Inscription reads as ...

"Three Pyramids + Blue Ball" is a gouache on paper by Alexander Calder. The work is signed in the lower right, "Calder 73”. Although renowned for his innovative and groundbreaking sculptures, Alexander Calder started his artistic career as an abstract painter, preferring to use gouache. What is gouache? Gouache is a water-soluble paint – a type of opaque watercolor. As Calder returned to gouache painting towards the end of his life, he was now armed with a lifetime of experience as a sculptor. He explored the three-dimensional vocabulary of sculptural forms he had developed onto the two-dimensional surface of the paper. Certain shapes and colors recur throughout his gouaches and sculptures. Circles, ovals, and other geometric forms dominate the space. There is the same sense of energy and fluidity. The shapes do not sit on the surface but vibrate giving a feeling of movement in contrast to the static nature of painting. Like his sculpture, Calder’s gouache...

"Two Crosses" is a gouache on paper by Alexander Calder. The work is signed in the lower right, "Calder 65”. Although renowned for his innovative and groundbreaking sculptures, Alexander Calder started his artistic career as an abstract painter, preferring to use gouache. What is gouache? Gouache is a water-soluble paint – a type of opaque watercolor. As Calder returned to gouache painting towards the end of his life, he was now armed with a lifetime of experience as a sculptor. He explored the three-dimensional vocabulary of sculptural forms he had developed onto the two-dimensional surface of the paper. Certain shapes and colors recur throughout his gouaches and sculptures. Circles, ovals, and other geometric forms dominate the space. There is the same sense of energy and fluidity. The shapes do not sit on the surface but vibrate giving a feeling of movement in contrast to the static nature of painting. Like his sculpture, Calder’s gouache...

"Bobine" is a gouache and ink on paper by Alexander Calder. The work is signed in the lower right "Calder 72". Although renowned for his innovative and groundbreaking sculptures, Alexander Calder started his artistic career as an abstract painter, preferring to use gouache. What is gouache? Gouache is a water-soluble paint – a type of opaque watercolor. As Calder returned to gouache painting towards the end of his life, he was now armed with a lifetime of experience as a sculptor. He explored the three-dimensional vocabulary of sculptural forms he had developed onto the two-dimensional surface of the paper. Certain shapes and colors recur throughout his gouaches and sculptures. Circles, ovals, and other geometric forms dominate the space. There is the same sense of energy and fluidity. The shapes do not sit on the surface but vibrate giving a feeling of movement in contrast to the static nature of painting. Like his sculpture, Calder’s gouache...

The discipline of creating a drawing each day is a process, like a written diary, to clear the mind, to declutter thoughts, and to observe patterns. It is a method that allows the mind a freedom to wander and drift. A visual journal becomes a safe space for personal reflection–a self-awareness fueled by the opportunity for contemplation and immersion. The painted surface for the drawings was created by dividing five large paintings into 40 separate pieces. I chose five paintings from my Perspective Series (1993-94), which relied on day-to-day imagery that narrated a story about shifting time and how time anchors our day. The brush strokes of Perspectives are fluid, with muted colors – moving from deep blacks to taupe whites. Dividing these pieces was a means for me to rethink ideas and recurring images in my older work. The very thin gold leaf applied to each piece has a wonderful amber tone. This gold leaf is from Myanmar, where it is used as decoration for Buddha or for the dome of a temple or monastery. In the drawings, the gold element relates to the sense of infinity – like the sky in an enclosed courtyard. An architectural element is a critical component in my studio work that I wanted to carry over into these pieces. I envisioned a courtyard–a safe space that opens up to the sky. Unfolding circles define the beginnings of an open interior space. The process felt open-ended. It was an opportunity to get lost in thought and to give me an opportunity to reflect, muse and declutter my thinking. Then repeat. 40 days...

“I have been living in Berlin as a painter for 45 years and since then a lot of water has flowed down the Spree, many ‘big’ and little names, many art scenes, a lot of noise and lots of hope have come along. There was the great period of 1920-1933, when Berlin was a real and free art city, when the public still visited the exhibitions and the painters had not yet invented the publicity. There was the ’12th Reich’, which eliminated art. And there came the laborious new beginnings after 1945. When I was a beginner, around 1925, I plunged rather carelessly into the lively art scene: first exhibition in the then very turbulent jury-free show. In 1927, for the first time, I succeeded in conquering a wall space in the academy on Pariser Platz, where Liebermann led a strict regiment. Many young exhibitions were organized and critically acclaimed (Paul Westheim). Paul Cassirer showed three generations in two beautiful exhibitions, I was one of the youngest. My first collective exhibition was in the Galerie Möller in 1928, after which I received a master studio in the ‘Akademie der Künste’ for three years. In the printing workshop on the Steinplatz I learned the etchings on the same press, on which I still create the plates at our university today. This was followed by further exhibitions, again at Möller in 1931, etchings in the gallery Gurlitt in 1932, in the Szczecin Museum, whose director Riezler acquired several pictures that were destroyed during the Nazi era. The Kronprinzenpalais had also bought a picture and the Kupferstichkabinett some etchings. Everything went ahead, and then, with one hit, it was over. In 1934, all free, progressive exhibitions were closed and the associations liquidated (Künstlerbund, Sezession). The end of painting. I learned ceramics and painted tiles and tiled stoves; The war...

"Wigwam rouge et jaune" is a gouache on paper by Alexander Calder. The unique work is signed in the lower right, “Calder 65”. Although renowned for his innovative and groundbreaking...