Ruth Leaf Tapestry

Ruth Leaf was an American artist and a pioneer in the discipline of printmaking. While also fluent in the methods of linoleum, monotype, collagraph and collage, she is most known for her viscosity etchings and woodcuts. She authored the book, Etching, Engraving and Other Intaglio Printmaking Techniques (Watson-Guptill Publications) in 1976 while teaching at her namesake studio in Long Island and it remains the textbook used today in many schools. She was born in New York City in 1923, she studied at the New School for Social Research, Art Students League and Brooklyn College and at Atelier 17 with the groundbreaking printmaker Stanley William Hayter. She exhibited her work throughout the United States and abroad and has work in many collections, including the Library of Congress, the U.S. Information Agency, the Butler Institute of American Art and numerous university museums. Leaf has been a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists, the American Color Print Society and regional printmaking groups.

Explore a vast range of abstract prints on 1stDibs to find a piece to enhance your existing collection or transform a space.

Unlike figurative paintings and other figurative art, which focuses on realism and representational perspectives, abstract art concentrates on visual interpretation. An artist may use a single color or simple geometric forms to create a world of depth. Printmaking has a rich history of abstraction. Through materials like stone, metal, wood and wax, an image can be transferred from one surface to another.

During the 19th century, iconic artists, including Edvard Munch, Paul Cézanne, Georgiana Houghton and others, began exploring works based on shapes and colors. This was a departure from the academic conventions of European painting and would influence the rise of 20th-century abstraction and its pioneers, like Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian.

Some leaders of European abstraction, including Franz Kline, were influenced by the gestural shapes of East Asian calligraphy. Calligraphy interprets poetry, songs, symbols or other means of storytelling into art, from works on paper in Japan to elements of Islamic architecture.

Bold, daring and expressive, abstract art is constantly evolving and dazzling viewers. And entire genres have blossomed from it, such as Color Field painting and Minimalism.

The collection of abstract art prints on 1stDibs includes etchings, lithographs, screen-prints and other works, and you can find prints by artists such as Joan Miró, Alexander Calder and more.