Frederick Mershimer
Niagara
2021

Name: Niagara
Brand: Frederick Mershimer
Price: 3000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

NIAGARA Contemporary artist Frederick Mershimer created the mezzotint engraving entitled “Niagara” in 2021. This impression is signed, titled, dated, and inscribed “5/45”- the 5th impression of an edition of 45. The printed image size is 37.88 x 27.75 inches (96.2 X 70.4 cm), and the paper size 43 x 31.75 inches. Frederick Mershimer received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, where he majored in painting and drawing. After moving to New York in 1983, he began to study printmaking at The New School, Pratt Graphics Center (1984 – 1987), and Manhattan Graphics Center (1988 – 1992). Mershimer was initially drawn to the slow, direct, and laborious mezzotint process because it echoed his approach to drawing. In 2007, Stone and Press published a catalogue raisonné of his work, titled "Frederick Mershimer Mezzotints 1984 – 2006." In 2007, he received an Artist Fellowship Grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts, followed by a 2009 Individual Support Grant from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation. “Mezzotint engraving is a relatively obscure form of printmaking that creates dramatic chiaroscuro, with white highlights emerging out of rich velvety dark tones. Italian for “half-tone,” mezzotint was a 17th-century improvement on engraving’s tonal cross-hatched lines, because it can produce an even gradation of tones. Known as the black manner, its unique process entails working from black to white. An initial “roughing up” of the copper plate with a rocker tool forms a textured field of copper burrs, which prints as flat black. Lighter, grey passages, and white highlights are created by slowly erasing the texture. My images explore the dynamic between the city’s architecture and our place within this imposing environment. Having always been unsure of how to understand the world around me, I find a sense of control by creating dramatic settings in which events can unfold. I enjoy night because it is a place to escape the expectations of society and to reinvent one’s self. Through night scenes, I’m able to capture the city’s darker, more mystical and romantic undertones. Using photographs I construct scenes by eliminating objects or changing the perspective to better draw the viewer into the piece. Weaving together the disparate elements into a seamless quiet balance, I manipulate lighting and shadows, fine details, texture and other pictorial elements to conjure a sense of place and reveal the emotional core of my work.” – Mershimer

Creator:

Frederick Mershimer (1958, American)

Creation Year:

2021

Dimensions:

Height: 43 in (109.22 cm)Width: 31.75 in (80.65 cm)Depth: 0.94 in (2.39 cm)

Medium:

Mezzotint

Movement & Style:

American Realist

Period:

21st Century