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Contemporary Abstract Prints

CONTEMPORARY STYLE

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Contemporary
Flower - Original Lithograph by Tomaso Binga - 2000s
Located in Roma, IT
Flower is an original colored lithograph print, hand retouched realized by Tomaso Binga. On the back, the label of the certificate of authenticity by the...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Emilio Tadini Poster Exhibition - Original Offset Poster - 1976
Located in Roma, IT
Emilio Tadini Poster Exhibition is a vintage offset poster realized in 1976. The artwork was realized in the occasion of the exhibition "Museo dell'uomo" held in Rondanini Gallery at...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

Decadence 3 - Original Etching by Leo Guida - 1965
Located in Roma, IT
Decadence 3 is an original etching realized by Leo Guida in 1965. The artwork is hand-signed by the artist on the lower left corner. Leo Guida artist sensitive to current issues, a...
Category

1960s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching

Black Lantern Flowers 2025
Located in Fairfield, CT
Color silkscreen with enamel inks and tar-like texture on Rising 2-ply museum board Portfolio of 8: $16,000
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Ink, Board, Screen

Louis-Rene Berge Exhibition is a Vintage Poster - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Louis-Rene Berge Exhibition is a vintage poster realized in the Mid-20th Century. Offset print realized in the occasion of the exhibition of Georges ...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

20th LA Film Festival print, with Ed Ruscha autograph, w/ excellent provenance
Located in New York, NY
20th LA Film Fest (Hand Signed), 2014 Offset Lithograph with Ed Ruscha authograph 36 × 24 inches Boldly signed on the front in black marker Published by Film Independent Unframed Thi...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

Passion is the Very Fact of God in Man
Located in Morton Grove, IL
Sister Mary Corita Kent Passion is the Very Fact of God in Man screenprint on Pellon rice paper 30 x40" edition of 50 1963 signed *Slight condition issues due to aging.
Category

1960s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Les Fruits
Located in Roma, IT
Hand Signed. Artist's Proof. Etching and aquatint. Image Dimensions : 23 x 32 cm Reference: Catalogue Mason n. 240
Category

1940s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching

Poster Pericoli - Original Offset - 1976
Located in Roma, IT
Poster Pericoli is an original offset poster about an exhibition of Tullio Pericoli in the famous Marino gallery at Rome in Navona's Square. The picture is in very good conditions o...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Offset

Technology
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Robert Rauschenberg Title: Technology Year: 1994 Medium: Lithograph with vegetable dye water transfer on Arches Infinity paper Edition: 50; signed, dated and numbered in penc...
Category

1990s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Our House (2/10)
Located in Nashville, TN
“I am interested in art that suggests a narrative,” says artist Chadwick Tolley. While he uses his personal experience as a point of reference for his prints, drawings, and collages,...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Wielki Theatre-Manifesto - Offset Print by M. Urbaniec - 1975
Located in Roma, IT
Wielki Theatre-Manifesto is an original offset poster print realized by M.Urbaniec in 1975. The manifesto was realized for the Wielki Theatre of Warsawdepicted in a well-balanced co...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Offset

Vintage Poster Galerie Jacques Péron - Original Lithograph and Offset - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Manifest Galerie Jacques Péron is an original colored lithograph on wove paper realized for an exhibition of Various Artists in 1960s. The artwork is signed and dated. Good Condi...
Category

1960s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

DNA: Etching: IV
Located in Berkeley, CA
Color aquatint.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching

Untitled, 1983 (Eight by Eight to Celebrate the Temporary Contemporary)
Located in Greenwich, CT
Richard Diebenkorn's Untitled from 1983 is one of the prints included in the famed 'Eight by Eight to Celebrate the Temporary Contemporary' portfolio published by MOCA as a fundraise...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Night Sun - Woodcut on Canvas by Laura D'Andrea - 2000s
Located in Roma, IT
Night Sun is an original artwork realized by Laura D'Andrea. Xilograph on canvas. Signed by the artist on the lower right margin. Perfect conditions. The artwork represents a circular shape surrounded by an abstract composition. The technique is very unique: xilograph on canvas; the artist uses only two colors for this piece: black and gold. In the center, there is a black sun. The composition instills a sense of serenity, but also of mystery. The artwork is reminiscent of the Mediterranean culture. Laura D'Andrea travelled frequently through the Mediterranean lands: her artworks, indeed, express a great sensation of freedom and a focused interest in oriental cultures. Laura D’Andrea is an Italian artist and engraver. She was born in Sicily where she currently lives and works. She studied printing and xylography at the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome and Urbino and Philosophy and Literature at the University of Grenoble. His first exhibition has been “La mia Sicilia” (My Sicily) in 1969 at Galleria Flaccovio in Palermo where, a few years later, she exhibited with “Hippies a Londra” (Hippies in London). In the 1980’s, she moved to Il Cairo in Egypt, where she studied Arabic calligraphy and she had the possibility to realize a series of graphic works that has been exhibited at the Egypt Academy of Rome. During that years, she started an artistic research through the historical Sicilian Baroque art and culture. Between 1986 and 1988, she exhibited with the solo show “L’Immaginario nel Barocco” (The Baroque Culture) at the Galleria Artivisive in Rome, at the Museum and Library of Ursino and Recupero in Sicily and at the European Parliament in Strasbourgh. In 2002 she exhibited with “Memoria Greca nel Mediterraneo” (Greek memory in the Mediterranean Sea) in Sicily. In 2007, she exhibited in Rome and in Saudi Arabia. Between 2011 and 2015, she started to explore the world of jazz music that will become an important subject of her future artworks; during that years she exhibited her works in England and in Belgium. Her artworks are a leap in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicilian and Arab culture; Laura D’Andrea is a lover of the jazz music, through her canvases we can hear the sound of ancient and far places and people. Other important details of her work the calligraphy and the Archeoscrittura. Archeoscrittura is a trend that involves artists exploring into their genetic memory and finding signs of archaic scripture. Laura D'Andrea finds her inspiration in the depths of her personal memory, and in the study and influence of the signs and symbols of the Archaic writing in the Mediterranean. Her works can be found in the Museum of Modern Art Pecci in Florence, in the Museum of woodcut Carpi in Modena, in the Museum of Modern Art Maga of Varese, in the Museum of Modern Art of Valencia in Spain, and in the Museum of Art Mart of Trento and Rovereto in the donation of Mirella Bentivoglio.
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Canvas, Woodcut

fractal-ssi-5c, by Seiko Tachibana
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Carborundum and intaglio. Signed and numbered from the edition of 25. Tachibana’s prints take their inspiration from nature, a meditation on the forms and shapes of water, ferns an...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Intaglio

Abstract Composition - Original Etching by Antonio Corpora - 1969
Located in Roma, IT
Image dimensions: 33 x 49 cm Hand-signed and numbered. Edition of 40 prints. In very good condition, except two light stains on lower left margin. Antonio Corpora (Tunis, 1909 - R...
Category

1960s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching

Butterfly Rainbow Heart (H7-4) (small) - Contemporary Art
Located in London, GB
Damien Hirst Butterfly Heart (H7-4) (small), 2020 Laminated Giclée print on aluminium composite panel 35.0 x 36.4 cm Edition of 3510
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Giclée

Red Moon
Located in Roma, IT
Artist's Proof. Hand signed and titled lower center.
Category

1990s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Color

The Boundary - Etching by Leo Guida - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
The Boundary is an original etching print realized by Leo Guida in the 1970s. Good condition. Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Sensitive to current issues, artistic movements and historic...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching

Colorful Landscape - Lithograph by David Shapiro - 1980s
Located in Roma, IT
Image dimensions: 40 x 60 cm. The colorful landscape is a beautiful color lithograph on paper, realized by the American artist David Shapiro (Newark New Jersey, 1944 - 2014). Sign...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

EARTH - Mandela, Former South African President, Signed Art, Symbol, Crescent
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Nelson Mandela, Earth, Signed Limited Edition Lithograph Many people are unaware that Nelson Mandela turned his hand to art in his 80's as a way of leaving a legacy for his family. H...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

untitled 1 from Album, Etching by Terry Winters
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Terry Winters, American (1949 - ) Title: untitled 1 from Album Year: 1988 Medium: Etching with Aquatint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: HC 2/2 Image: 20 x 16 inches S...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Gift from My Sister, New Zealand (floral, still life, watercolor, flowers)
Located in New York, NY
Watercolor on paper 32 x 25 inches framed
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Emilio Tadini Poster Exhibition - Offset and Lithograph Poster - 1976
Located in Roma, IT
Emilio Tadini Poster Exhibition is an original offset and lithograph poster realized in 1976. The artwork was realized in the occasion of the exhibition "Museo dell'uomo" held in Ron...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset, Lithograph

Seashell
Located in Nashville, TN
Early fascinations with photography and science have inspired Don Dudenbostel throughout his extensive career. As a young student interested in Science, Dudenbostel was always trying...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Archival Pigment

Peaches (floral, still life, watercolor, bright colors, fruit)
Located in New York, NY
Watercolor on paper
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

The trial - a judge. Figurative etching, Colorful, Satire, Polish art
Located in Warsaw, PL
21th century figurative etching print by Polish artist Leszek Rozga. Artwork depicts italian landscape in classic stylea creature in a satirical erotic way. This piece is signed by t...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Etching

Orange Abstract - Lithograph by G. Raimondi - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Artist's Proof. Hand signed. Very good conditions.
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Anthropometrie ANT 148
Located in New York, NY
Color screenprint on heavy white wove archival paper. Edition of 200. Printed by l'Atelier Eric Linard, Paris. Published by Editions T.A.T Arts, Paris, with the printed justificat...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen, Color

Dogwood2, mixed media work on paper, navy blue flower
Located in New York, NY
Leaf collagraph with embossing on white BFK Rives Printmaking Paper. Approx. image size: 3" x 3" Paper size: 10" x 8" At the core of the dialogue between the artist and the work ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Monotype

Yin Yang (6/17)
Located in Nashville, TN
“I am interested in art that suggests a narrative,” says artist Chadwick Tolley. While he uses his personal experience as a point of reference for his prints, drawings, and collages,...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

'Grey Spots' Etching with Aquatint, 2005
Located in New York, NY
Proofed and editioned by Peter Kosowicz at Thumbprint Editions Ltd, London, published by Paragon Press. Edition 2/115 The large-scale pop-art 'Grey Spots' Etching with Aquatint is a...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Revolution IX - Blue geometric abstract monoprint and laser cut rice paper
Located in New York, NY
Monoprint, serigraphy, laser cut on two sheets of rice paper, unique 15 x 15 inches, 2016, framed 22.25 x 22.25 inches In this piece, Sands uses the motif of a sand dollar, and her ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Monoprint, Rice Paper

"Church Supper", Abstract Landscape, Architecture, Yellow, Pink, Print, 2019
Located in Franklin, MA
Patty deGrandpre’s “Church Supper” is one of a series of dynamic abstract unique digital inkjet prints composed of multiple layers of digitally manipulated photographs of architectur...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Digital, Color

Victor Guadalajara, ¨Boceto Luna Roja¨, 2020, Piezography, 10.2x14.2 in
Located in Miami, FL
Victor Guadalajara (Mexico, 1965) 'Boceto Luna Roja', 2020 piezography on paper Velin Arches 300 g. 10.3 x 14.2 in. (26 x 36 cm.) ID: GUA-999 Hand-signed by author
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen, Digital Pigment

Esoteric Composition - Screen Print by Mino Meno - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Screen print realized by Mino Meno in 1980s. Hand signed lower right. Numbered lower left. Edition of 100. Excellent condition.
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Awakening
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Each print signed and numbered in pencil by the artist Total edition: 92: 75 with Arabic numerals; 10 Artist's proofs with Roman numerals; 7 Hors Commerce with Roman numerals Image...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Mezzotint

Origin-Blue Consonant-4
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Signed, titled, and numbered from the edition of 25. There are seven related images in this series, all the same size. Sheet size: 9.88 H x 21 W Image Size: 22.5 H x 30 W ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Intaglio

16th March 2021, Tulips in Cut Glass
Located in Bristol, GB
iPad drawing inkjet print on paper Edition 19 of 50 88.9 x 63.5 cm (35 x 25 in) 94 x 68.2 x 4.1 cm, 37 x 26.9 x 1.6 in Signed, numbered and dated on the front Excellent condition. Mi...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Digital, Inkjet

Untitled 5 from Album, Abstract Minimalist Etching by Terry Winters
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Terry Winters, American (1949 - ) Title: untitled 5 from Album Year: 1988 Medium: Etching with Aquatint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: HC 2/2 Image: 20 x 16 inches S...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Bernardo Navarro Tomas, ¨Untitled¨, 2021, Woodcut, 27.8x21.5 in
Located in Miami, FL
Bernardo Navarro Tomas (Cuba, 1977) 'Untitled (circulos plateados)', 2021 woodcut, silkscreen on paper Guarro Biblos 250g. 27.8 x 21.5 in. (70.5 x 54.5 cm.) Edition of 20 ID: NAA-113...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Woodcut

Money Map of Africa, limited edition artwork, affordable art
Located in Deddington, GB
Justine Smith artist, painter and sculptor art is available to buy online and in our art gallery. Jusitne Smith was born in Somerset , Justine Smith moved to London to study at The C...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Satin Paper, Inkjet

Caught on a Breeze #1 – Green
Located in Deddington, GB
Caught on a Breeze #1 – Green by Charlie Davies [2021] limited_edition Soft ground etching Edition number 100 Image size: H:22 cm x W:30 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:36 cm x...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Etching

SicMundusCreatusEst (vessel, flora, organic, pastel, monotype)
Located in New York, NY
Oil Monotype Chine Collé on white BFK Rives Printmaking Paper Hand pulled by Artist on Etching Press Hand finished with Paper cuts, folds and Metal Leaf 29 x 29 inches framed This p...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Monotype

'Mickey and Minnie' (Set)
Located in New York, NY
"Mickey" is of a matching set with "Mickey" and "Minnie." Set against a vivid blue background and encrusted in glitter, Damien Hirst’s “Mickey” is a playful reimagining of the belo...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Glitter, Screen

Augusto - photograph of cascading fashion details of antique sculpture
Located in San Francisco, CA
Large format photograph of intricate garment details of ancient Roman marble sculptures, from a series capturing ancient craftsmanship and fashion of antiquity 72 x 48 inches / 183c...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Giclée, Archival Pigment

Fast Sketch of Still Life with Fruit and Goldfish
Located in New York, NY
Screen Print in colors on Museum Board, # 12 from Edition of 100 Signed and Dated, lower right Published by International Images, Inc. Putney, Vermont Provenance: Private Collection...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Western Accumulation, Abstract Pop Art Screenprint by Arman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Arman, French (1929 - 2005) Title: Western Accumulation Year: 1979 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches Paper, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 150, AP 30 Size: 30 in. x ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Abstract Photo Composition II, 1980 - photograph, 62x82 cm., framed
Located in Nice, FR
Photography, silver print. André Naggar est né le 21 juin 1922 à Alexandrie en Egypte. En 1965 il expose des peintures à la Galerie Berggruen à Paris. Cette même année, en vacances ...
Category

Late 20th Century Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Photographic Paper

Paper and Silver by El Anatsui hand-sculpted aluminium sculpture African Art
Located in Zug, CH
El Anatsui uses typically discarded resources such as liquor bottle caps, cassava graters and newspaper printing plates, to create both floor-based sculptures and shimmering wall pie...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Metal, Copper, Wire

Gift of Flowers
Located in Deddington, GB
Kit Boyd Gifts of Flowers Limited Edition Linocut Print Edition of 20 Image Size: H 30cm x W 41cm Sheet Size: H 40cm x W 50cm x D 0.1cm Sold Unframed Please no...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Linocut

"India, " Abstract Woodcut and Monotype signed by Carol Summers
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"India" is a woodcut and monotype signed by Carol Summers. Here, Summer's abstract language for landscape imagery is taken to its most extreme: The image offers a view of a highly stylized waterfall, with red water falling down behind green foliage below. A hint of light blue at the lower left suggests a continuation of the water's flow. Above, purples and yellows mist upward from the power of the water. The playfulness of the image is enhanced by Summers' signature printmaking technique, which allows the ink from the woodblock to seep through the paper, blurring the edges of each form. Summers' signature can be found in pencil at the bottom of the rightmost blue form, with the title and edition at the bottom of the leftmost blue form. A copy of this print can be found in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. 37.25 x 24.88 inches, artwork 48.5 x 35.5 inches, frame Numbered 44 from the edition of 75 Carol Summers (1925-2016) has worked as an artist throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the first years of the next, outliving most of his mid-century modernist peers. Initially trained as a painter, Summers was drawn to color woodcuts around 1950 and it became his specialty thereafter. Over the years he has developed a process and style that is both innovative and readily recognizable. His art is known for it’s large scale, saturated fields of bold color, semi-abstract treatment of landscapes from around the world and a luminescent quality achieved through a printmaking process he invented. In a career that has extended over half a century, Summers has hand-pulled approximately 245 woodcuts in editions that have typically run from 25 to 100 in number. His talent was both inherited and learned. Born in 1925 in Kingston, a small town in upstate New York, Summers was raised in nearby Woodstock with his older sister, Mary. His parents were both artists who had met in art school in St. Louis. During the Great Depression, when Carol was growing up, his father supported the family as a medical illustrator until he could return to painting. His mother was a watercolorist and also quite knowledgeable about the different kinds of papers used for various kinds of painting. Many years later, Summers would paint or print on thinly textured paper originally collected by his mother. From 1948 to 1951, Carol Summers trained in the classical fine and studio arts at Bard College and at the Art Students League of New York. He studied painting with Steven Hirsh and printmaking with Louis Schanker. He admired the shapes and colors favored by early modernists Paul Klee (Sw: 1879-1940) and Matt Phillips (Am: b.1927- ). After graduating, Summers quit working as a part-time carpenter and cabinetmaker (which had supported his schooling and living expenses) to focus fulltime on art. That same year, an early abstract, Bridge No. 1 was selected for a Purchase Prize in a competition sponsored by the Brooklyn Museum. In 1952, his work (Cathedral, Construction and Icarus) was shown the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in an exhibition of American woodcuts. In 1954, Summers received a grant from the Italian government to study for a year in Italy. Woodcuts completed soon after his arrival there were almost all editions of only 8 to 25 prints, small in size, architectural in content and black and white in color. The most well-known are Siennese Landscape and Little Landscape, which depicted the area near where he resided. Summers extended this trip three more years, a decision which would have significant impact on choices of subject matter and color in the coming decade. After returning from Europe, Summers’ images continued to feature historical landmarks and events from Italy as well as from France, Spain and Greece. However, as evidenced in Aetna’s Dream, Worldwind and Arch of Triumph, a new look prevailed. These woodcuts were larger in size and in color. Some incorporated metal leaf in the creation of a collage and Summers even experimented with silkscreening. Editions were now between 20 and 50 prints in number. Most importantly, Summers employed his rubbing technique for the first time in the creation of Fantastic Garden in late 1957. Dark Vision of Xerxes, a benchmark for Summers, was the first woodcut where Summers experimented using mineral spirits as part of his printmaking process. A Fulbright Grant as well as Fellowships from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation followed soon thereafter, as did faculty positions at colleges and universities primarily in New York and Pennsylvania. During this period he married a dancer named Elaine Smithers with whom he had one son, Kyle. Around this same time, along with fellow artist Leonard Baskin, Summers pioneered what is now referred to as the “monumental” woodcut. This term was coined in the early 1960s to denote woodcuts that were dramatically bigger than those previously created in earlier years, ones that were limited in size mostly by the size of small hand-presses. While Baskin chose figurative subject matter, serious in nature and rendered with thick, striated lines, Summers rendered much less somber images preferring to emphasize shape and color; his subject matter approached abstraction but was always firmly rooted in the landscape. In addition to working in this new, larger scale, Summers simultaneously refined a printmaking process which would eventually be called the “Carol Summers Method” or the “ Carol Summers Technique”. Summers produces his woodcuts by hand, usually from one or more blocks of quarter-inch pine, using oil-based printing inks and porous mulberry papers. His woodcuts reveal a sensitivity to wood especially its absorptive qualities and the subtleties of the grain. In several of his woodcuts throughout his career he has used the undulating, grainy patterns of a large wood plank to portray a flowing river or tumbling waterfall. The best examples of this are Dream, done in 1965 and the later Flash Flood Escalante, in 2003. In the majority of his woodcuts, Summers makes the blocks slightly larger than the paper so the image and color will bleed off the edge. Before printing, he centers a dry sheet of paper over the top of the cut wood block or blocks, securing it with giant clips. Then he rolls the ink directly on the front of the sheet of paper and pressing down onto the dry wood block or reassembled group of blocks. Summers is technically very proficient; the inks are thoroughly saturated onto the surface of the paper but they do not run into each other. The precision of the color inking in Constantine’s Dream in 1969 and Rainbow Glacier in 1970 has been referred to in various studio handbooks. Summers refers to his own printing technique as “rubbing”. In traditional woodcut printing, including the Japanese method, the ink is applied directly onto the block. However, by following his own method, Summers has avoided the mirror-reversed image of a conventional print and it has given him the control over the precise amount of ink that he wants on the paper. After the ink is applied to the front of the paper, Summers sprays it with mineral spirits, which act as a thinning agent. The absorptive fibers of the paper draw the thinned ink away from the surface softening the shapes and diffusing and muting the colors. This produces a unique glow that is a hallmark of the Summers printmaking technique. Unlike the works of other color field artists or modernists of the time, this new technique made Summers’ extreme simplification and flat color areas anything but hard-edged or coldly impersonal. By the 1960s, Summers had developed a personal way of coloring and printing and was not afraid of hard work, doing the cutting, inking and pulling himself. In 1964, at the age of 38, Summers’ work was exhibited for a second time at the Museum of Modern Art. This time his work was featured in a one-man show and then as one of MoMA’s two-year traveling exhibitions which toured throughout the United States. In subsequent years, Summers’ works would be exhibited and acquired for the permanent collections of multiple museums throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Summers’ familiarity with landscapes throughout the world is firsthand. As a navigator-bombardier in the Marines in World War II, he toured the South Pacific and Asia. Following college, travel in Europe and subsequent teaching positions, in 1972, after 47 years on the East Coast, Carol Summers moved permanently to Bonny Doon in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California. There met his second wife, Joan Ward Toth, a textile artist who died in 1998; and it was here his second son, Ethan was born. During the years that followed this relocation, Summers’ choice of subject matter became more diverse although it retained the positive, mostly life-affirming quality that had existed from the beginning. Images now included moons, comets, both sunny and starry skies, hearts and flowers, all of which, in one way or another, remained tied to the landscape. In the 1980s, from his home and studio in the Santa Cruz mountains, Summers continued to work as an artist supplementing his income by conducting classes and workshops at universities in California and Oregon as well as throughout the Mid and Southwest. He also traveled extensively during this period hiking and camping, often for weeks at a time, throughout the western United States and Canada. Throughout the decade it was not unusual for Summers to backpack alone or with a fellow artist into mountains or back country for six weeks or more at a time. Not surprisingly, the artwork created during this period rarely departed from images of the land, sea and sky. Summers rendered these landscapes in a more representational style than before, however he always kept them somewhat abstract by mixing geometric shapes with organic shapes, irregular in outline. Some of his most critically acknowledged work was created during this period including First Rain, 1985 and The Rolling Sea, 1989. Summers received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Bard College in 1979 and was selected by the United States Information Agency to spend a year conducting painting and printmaking workshops at universities throughout India. Since that original sabbatical, he has returned every year, spending four to eight weeks traveling throughout that country. In the 1990s, interspersed with these journeys to India have been additional treks to the back roads and high country areas of Mexico, Central America, Nepal, China and Japan. Travel to these exotic and faraway places had a profound influence on Summers’ art. Subject matter became more worldly and nonwestern as with From Humla to Dolpo, 1991 or A Former Life of Budha, 1996, for example. Architectural images, such as The Pillars of Hercules, 1990 or The Raja’s Aviary, 1992 became more common. Still life images made a reappearance with Jungle Bouquet in 1997. This was also a period when Summers began using odd-sized paper to further the impact of an image. The 1996 Night, a view of the earth and horizon as it might be seen by an astronaut, is over six feet long and only slightly more than a foot-and-a-half high. From 1999, Revuelta A Vida (Spanish for “Return to Life”) is pie-shaped and covers nearly 18 cubic feet. It was also at this juncture that Summers began to experiment with a somewhat different palette although he retained his love of saturated colors. The 2003 Far Side of Time is a superb example of the new direction taken by this colorist. At the turn of the millennium in 1999, “Carol Summers Woodcuts...
Category

1990s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Monotype, Woodcut

H2O IV - large format photograph of sun reflections on pool water surface
Located in San Francisco, CA
mesmerizing light reflections of glistening sunlight on turquoise aquamarine water surface, an homage to the iconic pool reflections paintings by artist David Hockney 40 x 32 inches...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Giclée, Archival Pigment

1960's Joan Miro lithograph (from Derrière le miroir)
Located in NEW YORK, NY
1960s Joan Miró lithograohic cover from Derrière le miroir: Lithographic cover in colors; 11 x 15 inches (folding out to 15 x 22 inches). Circa 1964. Very good overall vintage cond...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Black/White/Black (A. 63)
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Ellsworth Kelly Title: Black/White/Black (A. 63) Year: 1970 Medium: Lithograph on Special Arjomari paper Edition: 48/75; signed and numbered in pencil Sheet: 42 3/10 × 29 4/...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Narcissus 1
Located in Nashville, TN
Nicole Dikon lives and works between Oahu and Mississippi. Her work spans various media and practices, including woodcut printmaking, writing poetry, making artist books, installing edible and native gardens, and more. Dikon views her practice as a means of grounding her perspective in the principles of ecology. Born on Maui in 1989, Dikon was raised all over the Americas. As she continues to follow a nomadic path, she grounds her art practice in whatever environment she finds herself. The key to her process lies in her attempt to mimic the cycles of a natural ecosystem. Everything in the studio has value; from the scraped-up ink to the paper scraps, they all have a function that is considered and reused in the system several times before they are reused again in the waste pile for rebirth. In doing so, each image, object, and place created serves as a portal to a right relationship with the natural world, one where we acknowledge our connectedness, not through an intelligent knowing, but a visceral and intuitive awareness. After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Dikon went on to earn a master's in printmaking from Temple University...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Monoprint

Morris-Observatory Earthwork-Project for Sonsbeek 71, Arnhem-Vintage
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This is an original exhibition poster for the show titled Observatory Earthwork – Project for Sonsbeek 71, Arnhem, held at the Tate Gallery from April 28 to June 6, 1971. The poster ...
Category

1970s Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

Teal Ribbons and Gold Squares Lithograph with Photorealistic Painting
Located in Soquel, CA
Delicate and layered Collotype on heavy bond paper by Patricia A. Pearce (American, b. 1948). The background is a lithograph, and the ribbons have been painted by hand over the top. ...
Category

Late 20th Century Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Ink, Acrylic, Pencil, Lithograph

Contemporary abstract prints for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Contemporary abstract prints available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add abstract prints created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, red, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Roger Mudre, Rafael Alberti, Johanna Goodman, and Leo Guida. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Lithograph and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Contemporary abstract prints, so small editions measuring 0.02 inches across are also available. Prices for abstract prints made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $50 and tops out at $195,622, while the average work sells for $1,000.

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