Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 8

Robert Cottingham
Blues, from American Signs portfolio

2009

About the Item

ROBERT COTTINGHAM Blues, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' and numbered edition of 100 in pencil -- Robert Cottingham B. 1935, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK Born in 1935 in Brooklyn, Robert Cottingham is known for his paintings and prints of urban American landscapes, particularly building facades, neon signs, movie marquees, and shop fronts. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1955 through 1958, he earned a BFA at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, in 1963. Cottingham began his professional artistic career as an art director for the advertising firm Young and Rubicam in the early 1960s. Although he is typically associated with Photorealism, Cottingham never considered himself a Photorealist, but rather a realist painter working in a long tradition of American vernacular scenes. In this respect, his work often draws parallels to a number of American painters such as Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Edward Hopper, and Charles Sheeler. Cottingham’s interest in the intersections of art and commerce derive from his career as an adman and the influence of Pop art. Many of his paintings convey an interest in typography and lettering, as well as an awareness of the psychological impact of certain isolated words and letters. In his facades, techniques from advertising, namely cropping and enlarging, often produce words of enigmatic or comical resonance such as “Art,” “Ha,” or “Oh.” Cottingham’s enlarged sense of scale is reminiscent of James Rosenquist’s work, while his interest in text suggests the influence of Robert Indiana and Jasper Johns. In general, Cottingham viewed his work as continuing the legacy of Pop artists such as Andy Warhol, who also had a background in advertising. In 1964, Cottingham relocated to Los Angeles for work. There, inspired by the drastically different environment of the West Coast metropolis, he began to commit seriously to painting. Fascinated by Hollywood’s exaggerated glitz and the downtrodden atmosphere of the downtown, Cottingham saw in Los Angeles the relics of a bygone commercial heyday and desired to capture its kitschy and uncanny atmosphere, bathed in the near perpetual sunlight of Southern California. In 1968, Cottingham ended his advertising career in order to devote all his time to painting. In the late 1960s, he started using photography in his practice, first as an initial reference point for his process. After selecting a photograph, he translates it into black-and-white drawings by projecting the image onto gridded paper, as a means of perfecting the tonal range between light and shadow. He often creates subsequent studies on paper using color. He finalizes the process by projecting either the original slide or any of the drawings onto a canvas and organizing the composition according to a grid. Another reason for Cottingham’s rejection of the Photorealist label is that he does not view his works as mere painterly translations of photographs or reproductions of reality. He has been known to change the words in his facades to alter the meaning of the subject. His primary interest lies in the subject matter—the urban American vernacular—rather than the deployment of a photo-based technique. After spending a period of time in London from 1972 to 1976, Cottingham found the city’s signs and history too foreign and removed from his own interests, and returned to the United States to settle in rural Connecticut. During the late 1970s and 1980s, his urban cityscapes became more expansive, with more complex and broader views of storefronts, vistas, and entire neighborhoods. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Cottingham expanded his iconography of American vernacular culture to include trains and railroad imagery. More recently, he has focused on images of vintage typewriters, a subject that first interested him in the late 1990s. Cottingham taught at the Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles (1969–70), and the National Academy of Design, New York (1991). He was the artist in residence at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (1987–92). His work has been included in significant group exhibitions, including Documenta, Kassel, West Germany (1972), and those at the Serpentine Gallery, London (1973); Centre national d’art contemporain, Paris (1974); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1978); a traveling exhibition at the National Museum of American Art (now Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, D.C. (1986); Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul (2001); and Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2009). Cottingham’s printed oeuvre was celebrated by a solo presentation at National Museum of American Art in 1998–99. The artist lives and works in western Connecticut.
  • Creator:
    Robert Cottingham (1935, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2009
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 40 in (101.6 cm)Width: 39 in (99.06 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3261217623
More From This SellerView All
  • Mujer Primaveral
    By Julian Schnabel
    Located in New York, NY
    Julian Schnabel Mujer Primaveral, 1996 Hand-painted, 15-color silkscreen with poured resin 40 x 30 inches (102 x 76 cm) Signed and numbered edition of 80 "Sexual Spring-like Winter"...
    Category

    1990s Abstract Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • Otono Floral
    By Julian Schnabel
    Located in New York, NY
    OTONO FLORAL, 1995 Hand-painted, 15-color silkscreen with poured resin 40 x 30 inches (102 x 76 cm) Edition of 80 "Sexual Spring-like Winter" is a large painterly work, created with...
    Category

    1990s Neo-Expressionist Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Screen, Resin

  • Alex Katz 'Reflection 2'
    By Alex Katz
    Located in New York, NY
    Alex Katz (born 1927) Reflection 2 2021 Archival pigment ink on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper 47 x 39.5 inches (119 x 100.3 cm) Edition of 81/100 With flat plane...
    Category

    2010s Modern Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • Donald Sułtan, Mimosa, September 29, 2021
    By Donald Sultan
    Located in New York, NY
    MIMOSA, SEPT 29, 2021 2021 Silkscreen with enamel inks and flocking on Rising 4-ply museum board 42 x 42 inches (107 x 107 cm) Edition of 40 Signed and numbered DONALD SULTAN (b. 1...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • Alex Katz 'Reflection 2'
    By Alex Katz
    Located in New York, NY
    Alex Katz (born 1927) Reflection 2 2021 Archival pigment ink on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper 47 x 39.5 inches (119 x 100.3 cm) Edition of 81/100 With flat plane...
    Category

    2010s Modern Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • Ross Bleckner, Floating Red
    By Ross Bleckner
    Located in New York, NY
    Ross Bleckner FLOATING RED Year: 2019 Medium: Archival pigment print on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper Size: 42 x 70 inches (107 x 178 cm) Edition: 30 Price: $7,000 Also sold as a set with Floating Red Glowing and contemplative, Ross Bleckner’s work blends abstraction with recognizable symbols to create meditations on perception, transcendence and loss. Ross Bleckner was born in 1949 in New York and grew up in the prosperous town of Hewlett Harbor on Long Island. The first art exhibition he saw—The Responsive Eye, a show of Op art on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965—had a strong impact on him. He decided to become an artist when he was in college, studying with Sol LeWitt and Chuck Close at New York University, where he earned a BA in 1971. Two years later, he completed an MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where he met David Salle. After moving back to New York, Bleckner purchased and moved into a Tribeca loft building in 1974. Painter Julian Schnabel rented three floors of the building, and the Mudd Club, a nightclub frequented by musicians and artists, occupied space there from 1977 to 1983. Bleckner sold the building in 2004. His first solo exhibition was held in 1975 at Cunningham Ward Gallery in New York. In 1979 he began his long association with Mary Boone Gallery in New York, which championed several of the so-called art stars of the 1980s. In 1981 Bleckner met Thomas Ammann, an important Swiss art dealer who went on to collect his work. Bleckner’s early 1980s Stripe...
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Archival Pigment

You May Also Like
  • Angel Concert, Ian Hornak
    By Ian Hornak
    Located in Auburn Hills, MI
    IAN HORAK (1944-2002) An American draughtsman, painter and printmaker, and one of the founding artists of the Hyperrealist and Photorealist art movements, Hornak produced Hyperrealis...
    Category

    1970s Photorealist Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • White Knight, Ron Kleemann
    By Ron Kleemann
    Located in Auburn Hills, MI
    RON KLEEMANN (1937-2014) was an American photorealist painter. Kleemann has been recognized as one of the original artists of the Photorealism movement. H...
    Category

    1980s Photorealist Landscape Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • Straight Shot, Ron Kleemann
    By Ron Kleemann
    Located in Auburn Hills, MI
    RON KLEEMANN (1937-2014) was an American photorealist painter. Kleemann has been recognized as one of the original artists of the Photorealism movement. H...
    Category

    1980s Photorealist Landscape Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • Lisi's Pittsfield Diner, John Baeder
    By John Baeder
    Located in Auburn Hills, MI
    JOHN BAEDER (1938) is an American painter closely associated with the Photorealist movement. He is best known for his detailed paintings of American roadside diners and eateries. Or...
    Category

    1980s Photorealist Landscape Prints

    Materials

    Screen

  • Sarah Duncan, Coriolis Effect, Limited Edition Art, Contemporary Etching Print
    By Sarah Duncan
    Located in Deddington, GB
    Sarah Duncan Coriolis Effect Limited Edition Etching on Zerkall German Etch 350gsm Paper Edition of 20 Image Size: H 60cm x W 60cm Sheet Size: H 70cm x W 70cm x D 0.1cm Sold Unframed...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Abstract Prints

    Materials

    Paper, Etching

  • FLORA ODYSSEY N°5, Allan Forsyth, Limited edition print, Floral art
    By Allan Forsyth
    Located in Deddington, GB
    FLORA ODYSSEY N°5 by Allan Forsyth [2020] limited_edition and hand signed by the artist Archival Chromagenic Photographic Print Edition number 12] Image size: H:100 cm x W:77 cm Com...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Landscape Prints

    Materials

    Digital Pigment

Recently Viewed

View All