Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 3

Albert Urban
Untitled Abstraction (Figures in Red)

1944

About the Item

Albert Urban, Untitled Abstraction (Figures in Red), color serigraph, 1944. Signed and dated in blue ink. A fine, painterly impression, with fresh, rich colors, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (7/8 to 1 1/2 inches); slight toning at the sheet edges, otherwise in excellent condition. Image size 7 1/2 x 11 3/16 inches; sheet size 9 3/4 x 14 inches. Matted to museum standards, unframed. This dynamic abstraction, created during WWII, was inspired by the imagery of soldiers on a war-torn battlefield. ABOUT THE ARTIST Albert Urban (1909-1959), painter, sculptor, printmaker, and teacher, was born in Frankfurt, Germany. He studied at the Kunstschule in Frankfurt, Germany, with Max Beckmann and Willi Baumeister, and after graduation, he was hired as an assistant instructor at the academy. With Hitler's rise to power, Urban was one of many artists condemned by the Nazis. His work was confiscated and included in the 'Degenerate Art Exhibition' in Munich in 1937. Forbidden to paint, he fled to London, finally moving to New York in 1940. Once settled in the U.S., Urban returned to painting; between 1941 and 1948, he had five solo exhibitions in New York and Philadelphia. A critic for Art News in 1946 extolled his work, describing him as "a painter's painter, whose brilliant color, vibrant forms, swiftly spontaneous design, and general technical inventiveness must win the respect of all informed scholars of painting." With the idea of making his work affordable to the general public, Urban began working in the medium of serigraphy in 1942, producing a body of four and five-color screenprints. He and his wife, Reva, opened Gallery Urban at 16 West 10th Street in New York, where they exhibited his work and that of other contemporary modernists. Nineteen of his screenprints, produced between 1944 and 1946, are listed in "The Early History of the Screenprint" by Reba and Dave Williams, as published in the Print Quarterly in December 1986. Between 1948 and 1958, Urban remained something of a recluse, for a period refusing to show his work to anyone. Finally, a solo exhibition of his work was mounted to critical acclaim at the Zabriskie Gallery in 1958. Urban's work was included in many exhibitions in the 1940s, and he is represented in numerous museums including, Addison Gallery of American Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Art, Frederick R. Wesiman Art Museum, and Worcester Art Museum.
  • Creator:
    Albert Urban (1909 - 1959, German)
  • Creation Year:
    1944
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Diameter: 11.19 in (28.43 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Myrtle Beach, SC
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 1024931stDibs: LU53234293641

More From This Seller

View All
'Counterpoint' — Mid-Century Modernist Abstraction
By Edward August Landon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Edward Landon, 'Counterpoint', color serigraph, 1942, edition 25, Ryan 45. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Edition 25' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on cream, wove paper; the full sheet with margins (7/8 to 2 1/2 inches). A 1 1/2 inch crease across the top left sheet corner, well away from the image, otherwise in excellent condition. Scarce. Image size 13 9/16 x 14 5/16 inches (344 x 364 mm); sheet size 14 15/16 x 17 inches (379 x 432 mm). Matted to museum standards, unframed. Literature: 'A Spectrum of Innovation: Color in American Printmaking', David Acton, New York, London, 1990. 'American Screenprints', Reba and Dave Williams, New York, 1987. 'The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock', Stephen Coppel, The British Museum, 2008. Impressions of this work are held in the following museum collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum. ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Edward Landon dropped out of high school to study art at the Hartford Art School. In 1930 and 1931 he was a student of Jean Charlot at the Art Students League in New York, after which he traveled to Mexico to study privately for a year with Carlos Merida. In 1933 he settled near Springfield, Massachusetts, painted murals in the local trade school, and exhibited with the Springfield Art League. His painting 'Memorial Day' won first prize at the fifteenth annual exhibition of the League at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts. Landon became an active member of the Artists Union of Western Massachusetts, serving as president from 1934-1938. Landon acquired Anthony Velonis’s instructional pamphlet on the technique of serigraphy in the late 1930s. With colleagues Phillip Hicken, Donald Reichert, and Pauline Stiriss, he began experimenting with screen printing techniques. The artists' groundbreaking work in screen printing as a fine art medium was the subject of the group’s landmark exhibition at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts in 1940. Landon became one of the founding members of the National Serigraph Society and served as editor of its publication, 'Serigraph Quarterly,' in the late 1940s and as its president in 1952 and 1953. The Norlyst Gallery in Manhattan held a one-person show of his prints in 1945. Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 1950, Landon traveled to Norway, where he researched the history of local artistic traditions and produced the book 'Scandinavian Design: Picture and Rune Stones...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

'Arrangement with Blue Major' — Musically Inspired Modernist Abstraction
By Edward August Landon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Edward Landon, 'Arrangement with Blue Major', color serigraph, edition 40, 1942, Ryan 9. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Edition 40' in pencil. A superb impression, with fresh colors, on cream, wove paper; the full sheet with margins (3/4 to 1 5/8 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 15 x 9 3/4 inches (381 x 248 mm); sheet size 17 15/16 x 11 3/4 inches (456 x 298 mm). Matted to museum standards, unframed. 'Arrangement with Blue Major' was selected for the landmark ‘Artists for Victory’ exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1942. Impressions of this work are also in the collections of the Asheville Art Museum, Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Georgetown University (Special Collections), Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Rutgers University, Smith College Museum of Art, and the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts. ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Edward Landon dropped out of high school to study art at the Hartford Art School. In 1930 and 1931, he was a student of Jean Charlot at the Art Students League in New York, after which he traveled to Mexico to study privately for a year with Carlos Merida. In 1933 he settled near Springfield, Massachusetts, painted murals in the local trade school, and exhibited with the Springfield Art League. His painting 'Memorial Day' won first prize at the fifteenth annual exhibition of the League at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts. Landon became an active member of the Artists Union of Western Massachusetts, serving as president from 1934-1938. Landon acquired Anthony Velonis’s instructional pamphlet on the technique of serigraphy in the late 1930s. With colleagues Phillip Hicken, Donald Reichert, and Pauline Stiriss, he began experimenting with screen printing techniques. The artists' groundbreaking work in screen printing as a fine art medium was the subject of the group’s landmark exhibition at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts in 1940. Landon became one of the founding members of the National Serigraph Society and served as editor of its publication, 'Serigraph Quarterly,' in the late 1940s and as its president in 1952 and 1953. The Norlyst Gallery in Manhattan held a one-person show of his prints in 1945. Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 1950, Landon traveled to Norway, where he researched the history of local artistic traditions and produced the book 'Scandinavian Design: Picture and Rune Stones...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

'Equus Uirumpu' — Mid-century American Modernism
By James Houston McConnell
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
James Houston McConnell, 'Equus Uirumpu' (The Man's Horse), color serigraph, c. 1945, edition not stated but small. Signed and titled in pencil. Initialed in the image, lower right. ...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

'Salient in February' — Mid 20th-Century Surrealism
By Edward August Landon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Edward Landon 'Salient in February', color serigraph, 1945, edition 40, Ryan 166. Signed in pencil. Titled, dated, and annotated 'ED. 40' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh col...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Lichtenstein Paper Plate — Pop Art Icon
By Roy Lichtenstein
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Roy Lichtenstein, 'Paper Plate', serigraph, 1969, edition unknown, Corlett III.45. Printed in dark blue ink verso, 'Roy Lichtenstein © On 1st Inc. 1969'. A fine impression, on white paperboard pressure formed into a 3-dimensional plate; age toning verso, otherwise in very good condition. Published by Bert Stern, New York. Image size 10 1/4 inch diameter, 1-inch depth. Archivally sleeved, unmounted, unframed. Carefully protected for shipping. Literature: John Russell. 'Art: Time for Old-Master Prints', New York Times (July 27, 1979), p. C16. Jan Howard. 'Reflections on 'The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein', Print Collector's Newsletter 26 (July–August 1995), p. 82. Mark M. Johnson. 'The Great American Pop Art Store: Multiples of the '60s', Art & Activities 123 (June–Summer 1998), ill. p. 37 (color). Mary Lee Corlett. 'The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné', New York, 2002, p. 286, no. III.45. Susan Dackerman, ed., 'Corita Kent and the Language of Pop', exhibition catalog, Harvard Art...
Category

1960s Pop Art Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

'Exhortation' (Priest) — Mid-Century Modernism
By Edward August Landon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Edward Landon 'Exhortation (Priest)', color serigraph, 1957, edition 28, Ryan 72. Signed, titled, and numbered '21/28' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, with strong color...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

You May Also Like

CARABINIERI A OSTIA
By Nicola Simbari
Located in Aventura, FL
Serigraph on paper. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Artwork size 27.5 x 19.5 inches. Frame size approx 32 x 24 inches. Artwork is in excellent condition. Edition of 125. C...
Category

1990s Expressionist Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Screen

CARABINIERI A OSTIA
$682 Sale Price
30% Off
Robert Rauschenberg - OVERDRIVE. Limited Skate Deck Modern Design Pop American
By Robert Rauschenberg
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Robert Rauschenberg - OVERDRIVE Date of creation: 2017 Medium: Digital print on Canadian maple wood Edition: 300 Size: 80 x 20 cm (each skate) Condition: In mint conditions and never...
Category

2010s Expressionist Abstract Prints

Materials

Wood, Maple, Screen

Geometric Composition #4 (3D-construction, Op Art, Lyonel Feininger)
By Eduard Diem
Located in Kansas City, MO
Eduard Diem Geometric Composition #4 (3D-construction, Op Art, Lyonel Feininger) 3D-Construction Year: 2020 Signed and numbered by hand Edition: 25 Size: ...
Category

2010s Expressionist Prints and Multiples

Materials

Screen

Nick's Coffee House in the Village - Rare Edition 1970s Modern Figurative Print
By Lenore SImon
Located in Soquel, CA
This bold screen print depicts a scene from the 1950s, set in a jazz coffee house in Greenwich Village called Nick's, which Simon patronized while in high school. The original stone ...
Category

Late 20th Century Expressionist Figurative Prints

Materials

Archival Paper, Screen

Computer City
By Bruno Zupan
Located in Paonia, CO
Computer City is a frenzy of colors and action. This is a city scene with stop lights, parking signs, directional signs, stop signs, digital time clock, buildings, streets and a mass...
Category

1970s Expressionist Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Mid Century Modern Clown print, hand signed 144/250 Russian born American artist
By Nahum Tschacbasov
Located in New York, NY
Nahum Tschacbasov Mid Century Modern Clown, 1956 Lithograph Signed, dated and numbered 144/250 in graphite on the front 34 x 27.5 inches Unframed, affixed to matting Published by American Color Slide Co, Ltd., New York Terrific uncommon vintage signed, numbered and dated mid Century modern lithograph from this interesting and distinctive -and undervalued Russian American artist. Highly collectible clown...
Category

Mid-20th Century Expressionist Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Pencil

Recently Viewed

View All