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

Josef Zenk
"The Kiss"

About the Item

Signed Lower Right Titled Lower Left Josef Zenk (1904-2000) Josef Zenk was born in New York City in 1904. After graduating from high school he studied for three years at the National Academy of Design, followed by further studies at the Art Students League in New York. In 1926, Zenk moved to Utica, New York, where he began to produce landscape, figurative, and still life paintings. He was part of a small community of artists who in 1927-28 organized exhibitions with many of the leading American painters including Hopper, Sheeler and Fiene. In 1930 he was granted a full scholarship to study at the Munson Williams Proctor Institute where he later became an Instructor until World War II. While there, an exhibition of his work produced the greatest attendance of any show at the institution of that year. In 1942 "Zuni" by Zenk became the first work purchased by the Munson Williams Proctor Institute for its Central New York Artists Collection. After service in the Armed Forces from 1942-1945, Zenk left Utica and moved his studio to Palisades Park, New Jersey. Under the G.I. Bill he began to study at the New School in New York City. Along with Louis Schanker, a prominent woodcut artist and teacher at the New School, Zenk and a small group of printmakers formed Studio 74 for the purpose of exhibiting their color wood block prints. The group received immediate critical attention. The New York Times described the work of Josef Zenk as "particularly admirable". One of his prints "The Kiss" was chosen in 1949 as one of the best prints of the year and was exhibited in the National Exhibition of Prints held at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Zenk moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the late 1940's and lived in Upper Black Eddy, a town along the Delaware River, ten miles north of New Hope. He maintained a studio in Palisades Park for while after the move, before eventually working fulltime from his studio in Pennsylvania. Zenk remained active painting and making woodblock prints, while also teaching art classes. He resided in Bucks County until the end of his life at the age of ninety six. Like several other important Pennsylvania and New Jersey artists, the work of Josef Zenk was only recently rediscovered and brought to light. For the remaining thirty five years of his life, he chose a somewhat reclusive lifestyle, away from the frenetic art scene. Josef Zenk's works have been shown in over twenty seven museums including the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Newark Museum, the Seattle Museum of Art, and the National Academy of Design. Through the many exhibitions during his career, he has progressed from a stylized realism in landscape and figure painting to a powerful modernist and abstract style with a strong sense of personal expression. Sources: New Hope for American Art by James M. Alterman
  • Creator:
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Width: 19 in (48.26 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Lambertville, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: PB02222017701stDibs: LU1571629483

More From This Seller

View All
"Pink Lady"
By Josef Zenk
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Signed Lower Right Titled and Numbered Lower Left Josef Zenk (1904-2000) Josef Zenk was born in New York City in 1904. After graduating from high school he studied for three years...
Category

20th Century Abstract Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Color

"The Knockdown"
By Josef Zenk
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Signed Lower Right Titled Lower Left Numbered Lower Center Josef Zenk (1904-2000) Josef Zenk was born in New York City in 1904. After graduating from high school he studied ...
Category

1940s Abstract Figurative Prints

Materials

Woodcut, Color

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree"
By William Tillyer
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Signed Lower Right Tillyer was born in Middlesbrough northern England, studying painting at The Slade. Tillyer has evolved into an astonishingly diverse and talented artist, and t...
Category

1990s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

"Homage to Cezanne II"
By Gershon Benjamin
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) Gershon Benjamin is a painter of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene. He had a pro...
Category

20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

"Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, and Eva Marie Saint"
By Albert Al Hirschfeld
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by: Albert Hirschfeld (1903 - 2003) Albert Hirschfeld is known for his pen and ink personality caricatures of theatre people. He worked a...
Category

20th Century Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

"Moonlight on the Brooklyn Bridge"
By Gershon Benjamin
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) Gershon Benjamin is a painter of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene. He had a pro...
Category

20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

You May Also Like

Fingerprint Face Abstract
By Joe Testa-Secca
Located in Soquel, CA
Captivating lithograph of Fingerprint scan with facial elements by artist Joe Testa-Secca (American, b. 1945), C. 1990. #155/175. Signed lower right. Presented in metal frame and mat...
Category

1990s Abstract Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Ink, Screen

Abstract portrait of a Woman Finely Detailed Collotype on paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract portrait of a Woman Finely Detailed Collotype on paper Finely detailed abstract collotype of a woman by Heather Speck a San Francisco. Californi...
Category

1990s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Ink, Etching, Oil, Gouache

"For Each That You Take" - Etching on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
"For Each That You Take" - Etching on Paper Abstract expressionist etching depicting a human-like tree as the focal point, with a figure sittin...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Still Life 1965 - Original Screen Print by Leo Guida - 1965
By Leo Guida
Located in Roma, IT
Still Life 1965 is an original black serigraph realized by Leo Giuda. Hand-signed on the lower left corner and in very good condition. Leo Guida artist sensitive to current issues,...
Category

1960s Abstract Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen, Paper

"Altered States of an Autorittrati", Skeleton Limited Edition Lithograph
By I. Colon
Located in Soquel, CA
Striking figurative abstract lithograph with skeleton by California artist I. Colon (20th Century). Numbered, titled, and signed along the bottom edge ("E.V. IV/X "Altered States ...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Impressionist Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Ink, Lithograph

"Altered States of an Autorittrati" 2nd State, Modernist Self-Portrait
By I. Colon
Located in Soquel, CA
Bold lithograph depicting an abstracted self-portrait with other figurative elements symbolizing the artist's past by California artist I. Colon (20th Century). Numbered, titled, and...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Impressionist Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Ink, Lithograph

Recently Viewed

View All