Items Similar to Vintage Venetian Keyhole Modernist Etching
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 11
Katherine Chang LiuVintage Venetian Keyhole Modernist Etching 1986
1986
About the Item
Color etching of modernist scene made up of layered images of a keyhole and entryway in Venice, Italy by California artist Katherine Chang Liu (American, 20th century). Signed "K "Liu" (indecipherable) with a symbol. Numbered 10/26. Image, 17"H x 13"W.
As an artist, Katherine Chang Liu is an anomaly. Her graduate degree in science did not prepare her to become the artist she is. Yet some fortuitous confluence of art, science and socio-cultural maturation - the threads from which the fabric of her art are woven, the stuff of life which, though informed by reason, is by definition unreasoned - form the corpus of Liu's iconography. That is not to say that her art springs from some ethereal void. She has studied art formally and informally all of her life, leading to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission of Arts and Humanities, to name only two of her long list of achievements. In addition, she has been a museum co-curator, lecturer and teacher of considerable international influence.
Katherine grew up in Taiwan in a more or less traditional Chinese family. But in the post-War period of her youth, tradition began to give way to "modernization," one consequence of which was to substitute the ball-point pen for the ancient calligraphic brush, the primary instrument of poetic and aesthetic expression in Chinese culture. lt is not surprising, therefore that words, printed and written, play a key role in her work. Usually fragmented and often partially obscured through diaphanous glazes - like ancient palimpsests - the words bear no literal reference to the work. Rather, they are suggestions of former thoughts, reflections on real or imagined experiences as implied by titles such as Field Notes, Earthly Pleasures or Book of Hours, in effect, fragments of life shaped into "a kind of urban landscape [drawn] from imaginations which oscillate in my visual mind."
But we should take care to distinguish fragments and oscillations from disorder. A few years ago, the noted curator, J.S.M. Willette, observed that Liu's painting/collages "have a component beyond expressionistic marking: they are resolutions of her Eastern heritage and Western training." And in that vein the critic Peter Frank wrote of such resolution as the transcendent "yin and yang" to which the Modernist collage aesthetic has pointed from the beginning. In recent thought, such potential for transcendence seems to be obscured by entropy, by a despairing sense of submission to chaos. But even chaos is a form of order. ..... However, it is not entropy, but pathos that underlies her aesthetic and finds expression in the inherent ambiguity of her abstract surfaces imbedded with partial words or phrases beckoning fulfillment - like poetry half-written, the last line too close to the poet to be revealed. Yet, one can read "between the lines," so to speak, to sense more than see, subtle revelations of her private poetry. She exposes her Book of Hours for all to read in the evocative movement of brush and line, disrupted by the diptych break but joined by a single vision.
Perhaps it is that candid autobiographical aspect of her work to which we are most attracted. After all, life and art are integral parts of the same process, especially when the art of one touches the life of others in ways common to their humanity. Such vulnerability is very compelling.
The ancient Tibetan Lama Sumpo Khempo wrote that "since art embodies the mind, body and spirit, it must in truth be understood to be the highest form of learning." Katherine Chang Liu has learned well.
From: C. L. Wysuph
Catalogue Essay, J J Brookings Gallery, San Francisco 1997
- Creator:Katherine Chang Liu (American)
- Creation Year:1986
- Dimensions:Height: 25 in (63.5 cm)Width: 21 in (53.34 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Condition very good; linen mat needs to be replaced.
- Gallery Location:Soquel, CA
- Reference Number:
About the Seller
4.9
Platinum Seller
These expertly vetted sellers are 1stDibs' most experienced sellers and are rated highest by our customers.
Established in 1986
1stDibs seller since 2014
2,517 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: <1 hour
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Soquel, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- "Knife and Fork" - Surreal Landscape of Cutlery in the CloudsBy Elizabeth QuandtLocated in Soquel, CA"Knife & Fork", a whimsical surreal etching of cutlery hanging in the clouds by Elizabeth Quandt (American, 1922-1994). Titled lower left and signed lo...Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Ink, Etching
- South Ridge Series #66, Abstract LandscapeBy Katherine Chang LiuLocated in Soquel, CAA beautiful abstracted landscape, mixed media print and painting, in soft pastel hues by California artist Katherine Chang Liu (American, 20th-century). Signed and dated "Katherine C...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
MaterialsInk, Oil, Archival Paper, Etching
- The Monolith - Abstract Etching with Applied PaperBy Michael PaukerLocated in Soquel, CAAbstract etching with layers of indecipherable text by Michael Pauker (American, b. 1957). Tan block in the center of the piece is an applied piece of paper. This piece is an artist'...Category
1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Ink, Etching
- "El Paso" Rare Contemporary Architectural Urban Landscape Etching on PaperLocated in Soquel, CARare Contemporary Architectural Urban Landscape, Artist's Proof Etching on Paper A compelling urban design of a highway underpass and one of his "El Paso: series of images, by Calif...Category
1970s Contemporary Landscape Prints
MaterialsPaper, Etching
- Contemporary Architectural Urban Landscape Etching - "Under the Overpass"Located in Soquel, CARare Contemporary Architectural Urban Landscape "Under the Overpass" Etching on Paper A compelling urban design of a highway underpass detail and one of his "El Paso" series of imag...Category
1970s Contemporary Landscape Prints
MaterialsPaper, Etching
- Contemporary Architectural Urban Landscape Etching on Paper - "The Overpass"Located in Soquel, CARare Contemporary Architectural Urban Landscape "The Overpass" Etching on Paper A compelling urban design of a highway underpass and one of his "El Paso" series of images, by Califo...Category
1970s Contemporary Landscape Prints
MaterialsPaper, Etching
You May Also Like
- Mornings with Judd (Second state)By Peter MiltonLocated in Middletown, NYLift ground and hard ground etching and engraving on Murillo white wove paper, 18 x 24 inches (455 x 608 mm), full margins. Signed, dated, titled and numbered 60/100 in pencil, lower margin. Printed and published by the artist. In very good condition with minor age tone and scattered light surface soiling on the verso. Framed handsomely in an original Kulicke welded aluminum frame with the embossed maker's mark. [Milton 61]. Milton revisited this image in 1974 during an experiment to explore collage and the process of contact printing a high resolution photo-transparency directly onto a copper plate. He printed a small detail transparency of Mornings with Judd onto the existing plate, alongside it's larger self, and broke through to a new photo-resist approach, which Milton described as "piquant and irresistible," in his essays appearing in Robert Flynn...Category
1970s American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsEngraving, Etching, Archival Paper
- Woolworth Building, No. 2By John MarinLocated in New York, NYA superb, richly-inked impression of this extremely scarce etching and drypoint. Second state (of 2). Edition of approximately only 10. Signed in pencil by Marin. Published by Alfred...Category
1910s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsDrypoint, Etching
- Quartier de la Maison BlancheBy John MarinLocated in New York, NYA superb, dark impression of this extremely scarce, early etching on Japan paper. Edition of approximately only 12. Signed and titled in pencil.Category
Early 1900s American Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Evening MoonLocated in New York, NYKathan Brown Evening Moon, 1962 Color etching on wove paper Hand signed, titled, dated and numbered 30/100 by Kathan Brown on the front 18 3/4 × 27 3/4 inches De-accessioned from the...Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsEtching
- FarmyardBy Herbert Gordon WarlowLocated in Storrs, CTFarmyard. c. 1925. Etching and drypoint. 5 1/2 x 11 (sheet 10 x 15 1/4). Edition 75, #54. A rich impression with plate tone printed on cream wove paper. Signed and numbered in pencil...Category
Early 20th Century Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsDrypoint, Etching
- Dark House (Philadelphia).By Earl HorterLocated in Storrs, CTc. 1932. Aquatint. 10 1/4 x 11 (sheet 12 5/8 x 15 1/2). A rich impression printed with plate tone on countermarked French wove paper. Unsigned; annotated 'Dark House (Aqua)' in Horter's hand. Another impression is in the Library of Congress. Housed in a 16 x 20-inch archival mat, suitable for framing. Earl Horter...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Vintage Printed Fabric
Vintage Catalogue
Beyond Vintage
Venetian Vintage
Woven Modernist
Venice Etching
California Etching
San Francisco Etching
The Vintage Stuff
Vintage Etching
Vintage Science
Period Venetian
Venetian Scene
Modernist Print Signed Numbered
China Etching
Etching Chinese
Vintage Chinese Prints
Modernist Etching