Christmas in Space
View Similar Items
1 of 4
Clarence Holbrook CarterChristmas in Space1961
1961
About the Item
- Creator:Clarence Holbrook Carter (1904-2000, American)
- Creation Year:1961
- Dimensions:Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 15.5 in (39.37 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Cleveland, OH
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU10021009833
Clarence Holbrook Carter
Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that was nearly unprecedented among Cleveland School artists of his day, with representation by major New York dealers, scores of awards and solo exhibits, and streams of praise flowing from pens of the top art critics. Over the course of his 60+ year career Carter evolved from an exceptionally fine American Scene painter capable of evoking deep reservoirs of mood, into an abstractionist with a strongly surrealist bent. While his two bodies of work seem at first to be worlds apart, owing to their different formal vocabularies, they, in fact, explore virtually the same subject: the nexus between life and death and the transition from earth to spirit. The early work finds its expressive power through specific people, events, and landscapes—most of which are drawn from his experiences growing up in the river town of Portsmouth, Ohio—while the later work from the 1960s on evokes potent states of being through pure flat shape, color and form that read as universals. As his primary form he adopted the ovoid or egg shape, endowing it with varying degrees of transparency. Alone or in multiples, the egg moves through Carter’s landscapes and architectural settings like a sentient spirit on a restless quest. Born and raised in southern Ohio along the banks of the mercurial Ohio River and its treacherous floods, Carter developed a love of drawing as a child, and was encouraged by both his parents. He was self-directed, found inspiration all around him, and was strongly encouraged by the fact that his teenage work consistently captured art prizes in county and state fairs. Carter studied at the Cleveland School of Art from 1923-27, where he trained under painters Henry Keller, Frank Wilcox and Paul Travis. Returning to Cleveland in 1929, Carter had his first solo show, and through Milliken taught studio classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1930-37. In 1938, he moved to Pittsburgh to teach at the Carnegie Institute of Technology until 1944. Carter’s American Scene paintings of the ’30s and ’40s, which launched his artistic star, are the works for which the artist remains best known. During and immediately after World War II, Clarence Carter realized his attraction to bold pattern, dramatic perspective and eye-catching hard-edged design was a poor fit with the prevailing style of Abstract Expressionism. Fortunately, these same hallmarks of his style were prized within the realm of commercial art. Around 1964 Carter acknowledged a need to break from the confines of representational painting. Once Carter had found a potent symbol in the egg, he used it to create an astounding body of imagery for the rest of his life. Among the most ambitious of all his later paintings were his Transections, a theological term meaning to cross, specifically between life and death.
You May Also Like
- Meerkat & Coral Reef, Original PaintingBy Heejin SuttonLocated in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
This piece is made by layering Korean mulberry paper on a wooden panel with homemade flour glue. Then I apply a glue base. Next, I draw my sketch, and trace ...Category21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
MaterialsMixed Media
- Surrealist Photo Collage Assemblage Art Butterfly Mouth Ivan ChermayeffBy Ivan ChermayeffLocated in Surfside, FLIvan Chermayeff (1932-2017): Butterfly Mouth Mixed media collage, 2002, hand signed 'Ivan Chermayeff' and dated lower right, titled lower left. Bears label from David Findlay Jr. Gallery, NY. 22 1/2 x 15 in. (sheet), 25 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (frame). Provenance: The estate of the artist. Ivan Chermayeff born London, United Kingdom, 1932 Chermayeff was one of the greatest American graphic designers, the son of the Russian born, British architect Serge Chermayeff. Ivan Chermayeff Graduated from the Phillips Academy of Andover, Massachusetts in 1950. He studied at Harvard until 1952, and the Institute of Design (New Bauhaus) until 1954. Graduated from the Yale School of Arts and Architecture in 1955 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. The same year he did a short apprenticeship with Alvin Lustig—a pioneer of American graphic design—and then moved on to CBS as Assistant Art Director in record cover design. In 1956 he co-founded Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar Associate, with Robert Brownjohn and his former schoolmate Tom Geismar. In 1959 Brownjohn left and the studio changed to Chermayeff & Geismar Inc. It soon became one of the best-known design firms worldwide. The firm produced over six-hundred marks, and they were among the very first to develop an abstract trademark (Chase Bank, 1960), still in use today. In 1964 they designed the outstanding corporate identity of Mobil Oil, that is one of the most recognizable identities ever. From its foundation, the studio served major companies including Giorgio Armani, Barneys, Hearst, MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), National Geographic, NBC (National Broadcasting Company), PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), Rockefeller, and others. Recently, Serge Haviv joined as a new partner and the firm changed to Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. Besides his design profession, Chermayeff is a talented illustrator artist and collagist. Many graphic pieces he made show a perfect balance of rational logics with imagination, featuring both abstract geometric shapes and figurative images. His collage works require a same sense of witty assemblage, where gathered information, like scraps of paper, stamps, and Polaroid photograph pictures combine as fragmented clues to a greater message. The Surrealist collages often take the shape of people, whose facial features are born of scraps and daily ephemera. They are amusing and infinitely thought-provoking; as Chermayeff has said, “Collages make it possible for everything to be something else.” Board overseers at Parsons School of Design and trustee at New School University from 1988 to 2002. Visiting professor at Cooper Union, University of California, and Kansas City Art Institute. He started making collages at the age of 17 to overcome his fear of not being able to draw. They are mostly made from day-to-day ephemera: envelopes, stamps, cigarette packs, train tickets, strips of coloured paper, found images, stones from the beach or squashed rusty cans. Inspired by Surrealism and organised by the artist’s hand and complemented with strong lines, they make faces, figures, fragmented narratives. Like all great designs, they evoke surprise and the pleasure of recognition. As he put it: “Design is all about seeing and making connections which are not so obvious.”President of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) from 1963 to 1966. Trustee of MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) from 1965 to 1986. Member of the board of directors of IDCA (International Design Conference in Aspen) from 1968 to 1999. Board Director at Municipal Art Society of New York in 1972-76. Member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) since 1978. Board Director at Smithsonian Institution from 1988 to 1996. He was elected to the Hall of Fame of ADC New York (Art Directors Club) in 1982. Trustee of the Archives of America Art in 1987-90. Royal Designer for Industry since 1992. He was awarded numerous prizes including the Industrial Art Medal from AIA (American Institute of Architects) in 1967, the Philadelphia College of Art Gold Medal in 1971, AIGA Gold Medal (American Institute of Graphic Arts) in 1979, the President’s Fellow Award from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1981, the First International Design Award from Japan Design Foundation in 1983, the Yale Arts Medal in 1985, the Distinguished Service Award from New School University in 1999, the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal in 2002, the Tokyo Type Directors Club Award in 2004, and the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2014. He also received a honorary doctorate in law from the Portland School of Art in 1981, and two honorary doctorates in fine arts from the Philadelphia University of Arts and the Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington in 1991. Along with Seymour Chwast, Sid Chafetz, Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Ikko Tanaka...Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Mixed Media
MaterialsPaper, Mixed Media
- Edward Henderson, "Untitled 1, " Mixed Media Painting on Paper, 1991By Edward HendersonLocated in Long Island City, NYThis mixed media painting on paper was created by American artist Edward Henderson (b. 1951). Henderson describes his process as an attempt to relinquish our comfortable recollectio...Category
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
MaterialsPaint, Paper, Mixed Media
- Edward Henderson, "Untitled 2", Mixed Media Painting on Paper, 1992By Edward HendersonLocated in Long Island City, NYThis mixed media painting on paper was created by American artist Edward Henderson (b. 1951). Henderson describes his process as an attempt to relinquish our comfortable recollection...Category
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
MaterialsPaint, Paper, Mixed Media
- Dogs Fighting -- Pelea de PerrosBy German PerezLocated in Troy, NYAt the center of the pictorial space are two creatures boldly outlined in black with their backs to each other. One is bright red, and to his left, is his opponent in dark yellow. The artist calls this a fight between two dogs, a word-play when said in Spanish. On the canvas we find splashes of color, chalk and other unique lines by the artist. This piece was specifically painted to be shown at the Martinez...Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Mixed Media
MaterialsCanvas, Mixed Media
- Cirque du Soleil n.8By Sergio BarlettaLocated in Roma, ITHand Signed. Mixed technique and collage on cardboard. Lightly damaged on bottom left sheet. Passepartout included. This artwork is from the series "Cirque du Soleil...Category
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
MaterialsMixed Media, Cardboard