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Abstract Art

ABSTRACT STYLE

Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.

Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.

Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.

Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.

Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.

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Period: 1980s
Style: Abstract
Abstract Composition, oil painting by Pierre Coquet
Located in Montfort l’Amaury, FR
Pierre Coquet – Abstract Composition Reference number A268 Framed with a natural oak floated frame 55 x 70 cm frame included (50 x 65 cm without frame) This work is painted with oil on a paper that is mounted on a board and placed in a made to measure wood strectcher. It is signed in the bottom right. Stamp of the signature in the bottom right Pierre was very sensitive to abstract paintings. He did a lot of abstract works melting colors and shapes in different atmosphere and style. Nevertheless he could come back to figuration and again to abstraction with no precise period of time. Abstract paintings by Pierre Coquet represent a large part of his production. The constant search for balance between shapes and colors as well as his passion for Nicolas de Staël, André Lanskoy, Alfred Mannessier… takes him on different paths from what we know of him. His way of painting is strong and thoughtful, the lines stretch out and the harmonious touches, applied with sobriety, reveal a great sense of color. Provenance : Workshop of the artist (stamped and numbered on the back) Pierre Coquet (1926-2021) is a French painter who was born in Limas near Lyon, France. He entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Lyon in 1942 and followed the teaching of Antoine Chartres, Henri Vielly and René Chancrin. He won a prize in 1945 and joined a movement that wanted to be outside of any school whose name ends with “ism”, (like impressionism, cubism…) between figuration and the renaissance of Abstract Art, bringing together young generations under thirty and eager not to submit to any technique. The “Sanzism” (literally without « ism ») will bring together, among others, painters: James Bansac, Roger Bravard, André Chaix, Jean Mélinand, Paul Clair, André Cottavoz, Pierre Doye, Jean Fusaro, Jacques Truphémus, André Lauran...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

1988 "Black and White Abstract" Large Painting on Paper
Located in Arp, TX
Artist unknown "Black & White Abstract" May 29, 1988 Acrylic on Strathmore paper 25.75"x40.5" unframed Unsigned
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

ORANGE PERSONAGE Signed Lithograph, Abstract Cat Portrait, Bold Color Collage
Located in Union City, NJ
Orange Personage is an original limited edition lithograph by the Dutch artist Karel Appel printed using hand lithography techniques on archival Arches printmaking paper, 100% acid f...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Jacob's Well
Located in New Orleans, LA
Richard Saba Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1946 Education: Minneapolis College of Art & Design, B.F.A. 1968 Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, 1967 University of Washington...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

L’horizon mensonger
Located in PARIS, FR
Georges Mathieu (1921 - 2012) L’horizon mensonger Alkyde sur toile / Alkyd on canvas Signé en bas à gauche, titré au dos / Signed lower left and titles on the back Circa 1990 Size : ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Mixed Media, Alkyd

Good Run - modern, contemporary, abstract, acrylic on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This colorful contemporary abstract painting was created by Milly Ristvedt. Canadian artist Milly Ristvedt has been exploring the creative and emotive possibilities of color express...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

The acid melody
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1980 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 6/20 Publisher : Au Pont des Arts - Galerie Lucie Weill (Paris) Printer : La Poligrafa S.A. (Barcelone) Catalog : Maeght 1213 34.00 cm. x 25.50 cm. 13.39 in. x 10.04 in. (paper) 20.00 cm. x 16.00 cm. 7.87 in. x 6.3 in. (image) A lithograph in good condition by the Catalan artist, illustrating Patrick Waldberg's text. We can make out a character built around a black form, in a typical Miró composition...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Architecture
Located in Genève, GE
Collage, mixed technique Work on paper Black wooden frame with glass pane 75.3 x 93.2 x 3.7 cm
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Adhesive, Gouache, Tissue Paper

Miro Little La melodie acide. original lithograph painting.
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
La melodie acide. original lithograph painting. signed on the stone and numbered 384/1500
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Two Figures, " Louis Stone, Abstract, American WPA Modernism
Located in New York, NY
Louis K. Stone (1902 - 1984) Two Figures, 1980 Mixed media on paper Sight 52 x 42 inches Signed and dated lower right Louis King Stone was born in Findlay, Ohio in 1902 and received...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Oval - Etching by Piero Dorazio - 1987
Located in Roma, IT
Oval is a color etching and aquatint on paper, realized in 1987 by the Italian graphic master Piero Dorazio (Rome, 1927 - Perugia, 2005). Signed and dated in pencil " Piero Dorazio ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Jean Marie Haessle Abstract Geometric Op Art Silkscreen Lithograph Print
Located in Surfside, FL
Jean Marie Haessle, French-American (1939-) Serigraph silkscreen Hand signed in pencil and numbered Elana's Dream (red background) 1980 Jean Marie Haessle was born in 1939 in Alsa...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph, Screen

Sicilian Magician - lt ed silkscreen by renowned abstract expressionist Signed/N
Located in New York, NY
Walter Darby Bannard Siciliian Magician, 1980 Silkscreen on wove paper Pencil signed, titled and dated by the artist on the front Unframed Provenance: Bart Gallery, Providence, RI Th...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

"Papeles de Salazar" Modern Figurative Surrealist Abstract Lithograph Ed. 95/100
Located in Houston, TX
Modern figurative surrealist lithograph by Mexican artist José Luis Cuevas. The work features two central seated figures with papers laid out on a table in front of them. The title r...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Abstract Composition - Etching by Eugenio Carmi - 1987
Located in Roma, IT
Abstract Composition is an original etching realized by Eugenio Carmi in 1987. Good conditions Numbered. Edition, VIII/XXXV. The artwork is depicted in a well-balanced composition.
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching

Basquiat Skateboard Decks (set of 3)
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Jean-Michel Basquiat Skateboard Decks: Complete set of three limited edition Jean-Michel Basquiat Skateboard Decks licensed by the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat in conjunction with ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Wood, Lithograph, Offset

Large Abstract Expressionist Color Monotype Oil Painting Tom Lieber Mixed Media
Located in Surfside, FL
Tom Alan Lieber, (American, born 1949), GTW TL-11 1986, Oil and mixed media on paper, 30.25 x 44 inches, Hand signed and dated lower right Provenance: Garner Tullis Workshop, N....
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Mixed Media, Oil, Monotype

Vintage Abstract Expressionist Figurative Oil Painting, Style of Edvard Munch
By Jacqueline (Jackie) Kirk
Located in Soquel, CA
Robert Azensky Fine Art is proud to offer this evocative figurative in Edvard Munch's German Expressionist style by Jackie Kirk (American, b. 1929- 2021), c. 1980. This painting is unique in artist's oeuvre in that she fully embraces a darker, grittier German expressionism style...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

Robert Motherwell 'Art Chicago (No Text)' 1981
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Originally produced for the 1981 art show at Navy Pier in Chicago, these posters were part of an estimated edition size of about 2,000. The cropped version is particularly rare, as i...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Unique signed pastel & graphite work Geometric Abstraction Minimalist painting
Located in New York, NY
Charles Hinman Untitled Geometric Abstraction (Hand Signed), 1980 Pastel & Graphite painting on Paper Signed and dedicated to "Michael and Rene" in graphite by the artist on the fron...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Pastel, Pencil, Graphite

Three Poems: Nocturne V, Framed Lithograph by Robert Motherwell
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Motherwell, American (1915 - 1991) Title: No. 6 from Three Poems, collaboration with Octavio Paz Year: 1987 Medium: Lithograph on Japon with Chine Colle Edition: 750 I...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Rice Paper, Lithograph

Energía Cosmica 4, Abstract Expressionist Lithograph by Nierman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Energía Cosmica 4 (Cosmic Energy 4) Leonardo Nierman Mexican (1932) Portfolio: Cosmic Energy Suite Date: 1980 Lithograph with embossing, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 31/2...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Landscape. Oil on canvas by Tetsuo Mizu (1987) (abstract geometric painting)
Located in Hong Kong, HK
Tetsuo Mizu (1944) Landscape Executed in 1987 Oil on canvas 80.3 x 100 cm (39 3/8 x 31 1/2 in) Dated and Signed “1987 MIZU” (lower left) Signed, dated, an...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Composition - Original Lithograph by Giuseppe Santomaso - 1983
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an abstract color lithograph realized by Giuseppe Santomaso. Hand-signed and dated on the lower right 1983. Artist's proof This splendid artwork is preserved in goo...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Changing Seasons" - Red Over Blue Tribute to Mark Rothko in Acrylic on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
"Changing Seasons" - Red Over Blue Tribute to Mark Rothko in Acrylic on Paper A bright abstract painting by California-based artist, Ricardo de Silva (American/Brazil, 20th C). Draw...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Arnaldo Pomodoro ( 1926 ) – gilded bronze sculpture with brass base – 1983
Located in Varese, IT
gilded bronze sculpture with brass base Executed in 1983, the work is an limited edition of three hundred diameter: 5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) height 17 cm hand incised with the artist’s sig...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Brass, Bronze

Jasper Johns, Double Flag, 1980 (after)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Title: Double Flags Year: 1979-80 Medium: Lithograph exhibition poster on wove paper Edition: 5,000 Size: 46 x 30 inches Condition: Excellent Notes: Co-published by the artist, and G...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

1980 Italy Wood Abstract Kinetic Sculpture
Located in Brescia, IT
This sculpture is one of a kind piece, no other one exists, and it was realized in 1980 by the well known Italian artist Bruno Chersicla. This is a kinetic abstract sculpture, most ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Wood

The Departure of the Argonaut Francesco Clemente (bound book) Alberto Savinio
Located in New York, NY
The Departure of the Argonaut (1918) is the travelogue and wartime diary of Alberto Savinio, one of the seminal figures in twentieth-century Italian arts and letters. Clemente's acco...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Blue Gesture (Belknap 354-380; Engberg/Banach 415-441), Three Poems
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on Japon à la main, attached with chine appliqué to vélin d’Arches paper. Paper Size: 21.5 x 17.875 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From th...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Numbers in Color, 1981, Johns
Located in Fairfield, CT
Title: Numbers in Color Year: 1981 Medium: Offset Lithograph exhibition poster on archival paper Edition: 5,000 Size: 39.5 x 27 inches Condition: Excellent Notes: Published by the Al...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Awakening, Colorful Cubist Lithograph by Remo Farruggio
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Remo Farruggio, Italian/American (1904 - 1981) Title: Awakening Year: Circa 1980 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 300 Image Size: 22 x 30 inch...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Untitled" serigraph and collage by Max Bill from the "Kinderstern" portfolio
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Untitled" geometric abstract multi-color serigraph and collage by artist Max Bill from the "Kinderstern" portfolio, published in 1989 by Edition Domberger to raise money to house families of children hospitalized with cancer. Hand-numbered 66/100 in lower left corner. Hand-signed bill...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Dear Clarice
Located in Paris, FR
Silksreen, 1983 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 169/250 Publisher : The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Printer : The Litho Shop, Santa Monica 73.50 cm. x 1...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Silk

Patricia Zippin "Tillamook Flight 6 of 12" 1980s Abstract Painting
Located in Arp, TX
Patricia Zippin Tillamook Flight 6 of 12 1980s Mixed Media 30.5"x 22.5", unframed Signed in paint on bottom right and signed and titled on reverse in pen Patricia Jayne Zippin (1930...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Encaustic, Acrylic, Pencil

"Four Winds" Blue House with White Roof in Yellow Field Abstract Landscape
Located in Houston, TX
Abstract drawing of a blue house in a yellow field by German-American painter, Wolf Kahn. Signed and dated by the artist in the lower right corner. Framed and matted in a silver wood...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Large American Impressionist Abstract Framed Modern Flower Still Life Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive large American school modernist flower still life painting. Oil on canvas. Handsomely framed. Signed illegibly. Very nice impasto and color.
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fundación Benedicto Alfaro
Located in BARCELONA, ES
Author: Eduardo Chillida Year: 1989 Title: Benedicto Alfaro Foundation. Technique: Silkscreen Printing: 155 copies, 1/100 to 100/100, from 1/L to L and five P.A. Size: 49 x 69,5cm. ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Engraving

Untitled
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Roland Ayers (1932-2017). Untitled, 1983. Ink on paper, measures 17 x 23 inches. Unframed and unmounted. Signed and dated lower left. Ayers holds the distinction of having participated in the first important survey of African-Americans, Contemporary Black Artists in America, a 1971 show at The Whitney. Biography: Artist and art educator, Roland Ayers was born on July 2, 1932, the only child of Alice and Lorenzo Ayers, and grew up in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. Ayers served in the US Army (stationed in Germany) before studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (currently University of the Arts). He graduated with a BFA in Art Education, 1954. He traveled Europe 1966-67, spending time in Amsterdam and Greece in particular. During this period, he drifted away from painting to focus on linear figurative drawings of a surreal nature. His return home inaugurated the artist’s most prolific and inspired period (1968-1975). Shorty before his second major trip abroad in 1971-72 to West Africa, Ayers began to focus on African themes, and African American figures populated his work almost exclusively. In spite of Ayers’ travel and exploration of the world, he gravitated back to his beloved Germantown, a place he endowed with mythological qualities in his work and literature. His auto-biographical writing focuses on the importance of place during his childhood. Ayers’ journals meticulously document the ethnic and cultural make-up of Germantown, and tell a compelling story of class marginalization that brought together poor families despite racial differences. The distinctive look and design of Germantown inform Ayers’ visual vocabulary. It is a setting with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture and haunting natural beauty. These characteristics are translated and recur in the artist’s imagery. During his childhood, one of the only books in the Ayers household was an illustrated Bible. The images within had a profound effect on the themes and subjects that would appear in his adult work. Figures in an Ayers’ drawing often seem trapped in a narrative of loss and redemption. Powerful women loom large in the drawings: they suggest the female role models his journals record in early life. The drawings can sometimes convey a strong sense of conflict, and at other times, harmony. Nature and architecture seem to have an antagonistic relationship that is, ironically, symbiotic. A critical turning point in the artist’s career came in 1971 when he was included in the extremely controversial Whitney Museum show, Contemporary Black Artists in America. The exhibition gave Ayers an international audience and served as a calling card for introductions he would soon make in Europe. Ayers is a particularly compelling figure in a period when black artists struggled with the idea of authenticity. A questioned often asked was “Is your work too black, or not black enough?” Abstractionists were considered by some peers to be sell-outs, frauds or worse. Figurative* work was accused of being either sentimental or politically radical depending on the critical source. Ayers made the choice early on to be a figurative artist, but considered his work devoid of political content. Organizations such as Chicago’ s Afri-Cobra in the late 1960‘s asserted that the only true black art of any relevance must depict the black man and woman...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Ink

Large Abstract Modernist Monterey Series Mixed Media Monotype Colorful Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
Terence La Noue was born in Hammond, Indiana in 1941. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1964. After going to Berlin as a Fulbright Meister Student ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Monotype

"Insignia #2" Abstract Mixed Media on Handmade Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
"Insignia #2" Abstract Mixed Media on Handmade Paper Tactile Abstract on handmade paper by David Dodsworth (English, b. 1952) - David’s work is typifi...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Gold Leaf

The Promise, original signed bronze sculpture by renowned British - US sculptor
Located in New York, NY
William Tucker The Promise, ca. 1980 Bronze Signed and numbered 5/6 - incised on the metal 2 5/8 × 8 5/8 × 1 inch This abstract sculpture is by the renowned modern British born sculp...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Bronze

Shooting Star, Gene Davis
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Gene Davis (1920-1985) Title: Shooting Star Year: 1979 Medium: Lithograph on Arches paper Edition: 202/250, plus proofs Size: 37.25 x 37 inches Condition: Good Inscription: S...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Untitled abstract expressionist oil painting by Cleveland School artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Andres American, 1927-2013 Untitled, c. 1980 acrylic and ink on paper mounted on canvas 30 x 34 inches Richard Andres was born in Buffalo, New York in 1927. A graduate of th...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Ink, Acrylic

Provence #7 (Provence France Landscape)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Roger Muhl (1929-2008) Provence #7, 1986. Signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, lower margins. Artwork is in excellent condition with no damage or conservation. Frame shows ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Spanish Artist signed limited edition original art print numbered lithograph n23
Located in Miami, FL
Antoni Tapies (Spain, 1923-2012) 'Improvisations en blanc i negre III', 1987 lithograph on paper Velin Arches 250 g. 41.4 x 29.6 in. (105 x 75 cm.) Edition of 60 Unframed ID: TAP1162...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Green Card Sound II, Abstract Expressionist Screenprint by Larry Zox
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Larry Zox Title: Green Card Sound II Year: 1980 Medium: Silkscreen, Signed in Pencil l.r. Edition: 185 Size: 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Folon 20 ans d'affiches
Located in Paris, FR
Silksreen, 1984 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 24/100 85.00 cm. x 65.00 cm. 33.46 in. x 25.59 in. (paper) 67.00 cm. x 60.00 cm. 26.38 in. x 23.62 in. (image) Poste...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Silk

Georgia Suite: Symmetry - modern, contemporary, abstract, acrylic on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
A ‘symphony’ of colour neatly framed in pale blue bordered quadrants plays against a wash of yellow in this vivid abstract by Milly Ristvedt. A master colourist, in the 1980s Ristved...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

FRANK STELLA Then Came a Stick and Beat the Dog, El Lissitzky's Had Gadya 1984
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Lithograph, linocut, and screenprint in colors with hand-coloring and collage, on wove paper, 1984, signed and dated in pencil, from the numbered edition of 60 (there were also 10 ar...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Linocut, Screen

"Woman Walks into Bar" 53/450
Located in Houston, TX
Known for addressing difficult issues, this lithograph by Sue Coe tackles the difficult subject of rape culture. It is numbered in the lower left corner and signed and dated in the l...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Patricia Zippin "Temescal 3" 1980s Abstract Painting Academie Julian Paris
Located in Arp, TX
Patricia Zippin Temescal 3 1980s Mixed Media 30.5"x 22.5", unframed Signed in paint on bottom right and signed and titled on reverse in pencil Patricia Jayne Zippin (1930-2015) She ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Encaustic, Acrylic, Pencil

5745, for the Jewish Museum original signed/n abstract expressionist screenprint
Located in New York, NY
Nancy Graves 5745, for the Jewish Museum, 1984 Silkscreen on paper Signed, numbered 5/90 and dated in graphite pencil on the front; bears publishers' blind stamp front left corner 30 1/4 × 40 1/2 inches Unframed Commissioned by the Mr. and Mrs. Albert A. List Graphic Fund for The Jewish Museum, New York Signed, numbered and dated in graphite pencil on the front; bears publishers' blind stamp front left corner. Commissioned by the Mr. and Mrs. Albert A. List New Year's Graphic Fund for The Jewish Museum, New York. During the 1980s, various artists were commissioned to create a print celebrating the Jewish New Year. This is the silkscreen renowned sculptor Nancy Graves created to celebrate the year 5745 of the Jewish Calendar, beginning in September 1984 (Rosh Hashanah). This work was published in a limited edition of 90. The number 90 has special significance in Jewish gamatria (numerology) for several reasons, including the fact that it equals five times life - or Chai. The number for Chai, meaning "Life " s 18, and 18 x 5 = 90. This is a magical number in Judaism. All of the works were published in editions that were multiples of 18, or the Life. In her lifetime, Nancy Graves did not receive the renown or acknowledgement that her ex-husband and former Yale School of Art classmate Richard Serra did, but she is finally getting the recognition she richly deserves. Biography: Nancy Graves (1939 – 1995) is an American artist of international renown. A prolific cross-disciplinary artist, Graves developed a sustained body of sculptures, paintings, drawings, watercolors, and prints. She also produced five avant-garde films and created innovative set designs. Born in Pittsfield Massachusetts, Graves graduated from Vassar College in 1961. She then earned an MFA in painting at Yale University in 1964, where her classmates included Robert Mangold, Rackstraw Downes, Brice Marden, Chuck Close, as well as Richard Serra with whom she was married from 1964 to 1970. Five years after graduating, her career was launched in 1969 when she was the youngest artist — and only the fifth woman — to be selected for a solo presentation at the Whitney Museum of Art. Graves’ work was subsequently featured in hundreds of museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide, including several solo museum exhibitions. She was awarded commissions for large-scale site-specific sculptures and her work is in the permanent collections of major art museums. A frequent lecturer and guest artist, her work was widely documented during her lifetime. In 1991 she married veterinarian Dr. Avery Smith. Graves travelled extensively and was fully engaged with the cultural and intellectual issues of her times. Her brilliant career and life were cut short by her untimely death from cancer at age 54. From a point of view that she described as “objective,” Graves transformed scientific sources, such as maps and diagrams, into artworks by re-producing their complex visual information in detailed paintings and drawings. Investigating the intersections between art and scientific disciplines, Graves created compelling, formally rigorous, yet ultimately expressive works of art that examine concepts of repetition, variation, verisimilitude, and the presentation and perception of visual information. Based in SoHo, New York, Graves gained prominence in the late 1960s as a post-Minimalist artist for innovative camel, fossil, totem, and bone sculptures that were hand formed and assembled from unusual materials such as fur, burlap, canvas, plaster, latex, wax, steel, fiberglass and wood. Made in reaction to Pop and Minimalism, these works reference archaeological sites, anthropology, and natural science displays. Suspended from the ceiling or clustered directly on the floor, these early sculptures also engage with Conceptualist ideas of display. For her Whitney Museum presentation Graves exhibited three seemingly realistic sculptures of camels in an installation that evoked taxidermy specimens and questioned issues of verisimilitude in art and science, particularly in light of their hand patched and painted fur surfaces. The exhibition elicited wide spread critical responses and established her artistic significance. After intensely engaging with sculpture in the early 1970s, Graves returned to painting. Her detailed pointillist canvasses re-produced — in paint — images culled from documentary nature photographs, NASA satellite recordings, and Lunar maps, commingling scientific exactitude with abstraction. Resuming sculpture in the late 1970s, Graves was among the first contemporary artists to experiment with bronze casting. She re-invigorated the traditional lost wax technique by assembling cast found objects into unique improbably balanced sculptures, with bright polychrome surfaces and distinctive patinas. Throughout the 1980s Graves became widely recognized for her increasingly large and graceful open-form sculpture commissions. At the same time, she also expanded her drawing, painting, and printmaking practice and made large gestural watercolors. Then, in the late 1980s she created wall-mounted works that combined her explorations of sculpture, painting, form and color. In these large-scale pieces, she mounted high relief polychrome sculptural elements to the surfaces and edges of painted shaped canvases so that patterned shadows were cast onto the paintings and surrounding wall. By the 1990s Graves was casting in glass, resin, paper, aluminum, and bronze, combining these varied materials and colors into daring sculptures with moving parts. As she proceeded in all the media she mastered, Graves increasingly re interpreted and transmuted forms sourced from her own earlier artwork — rather than from outside research — creating elaborate compositions that form a layered a-temporal archaeology of her own visual production. Nancy Graves’ pioneering art...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Graphite, Screen

At Galerie 33, 1986
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This striking exhibition poster by Peter Nyborg showcases his mastery of color and form. Printed on heavy stock paper, it boasts vibrant, richly layered hues that radiate energy and ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Offset

Across the Water - calm, expressive, abstracted waterscape, acrylic on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
In this serene painting by one of Canada’s leading landscape artists, Pat Service deconstructs the elements of a view across a lake in summer. The form is abstracted, and the colours...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Boats Near Shore - Abstracted Seascape
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstracted seascape of three boats near the shore with broad, painterly strokes of blue, turquoise, and neutrals by Robert Canete (American, b. 1948). Signed lower right. Image: 16"H...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Sam Gilliam, Buoy Landscape IV Mixed media signed/n Abstract Expressionist print
Located in New York, NY
Sam Gilliam Buoy Landscape IV, 1982 Color relief print, etching, screenprint, drypoint, aquatint and roulette all from deeply etched copper plates, on handmade wove paper 31 1/2 × 24 inches Hand signed and numbered 3/25 in graphite pencil Hand-signed by artist, Signed by artist, numbered, and dated in pencil and blind-stamped by printer-publisher on lower right, titled in pencil on lower left, recto Unframed with elegant deckled edges Rare vintage intaglio and relief, all from deeply etched copper plates. Other works from this series are in the permanent collections of major museums & institutions like the Smithsonian, so they are quite scarce on the open market. Steven M. Andersen (Printer) Philip Barber (Printer) Hang Nguyen (Printer) Stephanie Nowack (Printer) Michael Reid (Printer) Daniel Rounds (Printer) Vermillion Editions Limited (Publisher) Sam Gilliam Biography: Sam Gilliam was one of the great innovators in postwar American painting. He emerged from the Washington, D.C. scene in the mid 1960s with works that elaborated upon and disrupted the ethos of Color School painting. A series of formal breakthroughs would soon result in his canonical Drape paintings, which expanded upon the tenets of Abstract Expressionism in entirely new ways. Suspending stretcherless lengths of painted canvas from the walls or ceilings of exhibition spaces, Gilliam transformed his medium and the contexts in which it was viewed. As an artist in the nation’s capital at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, this was not merely an aesthetic proposition; it was a way of defining art’s role in a society undergoing dramatic change. Gilliam pursued a pioneering course in which experimentation was the only constant. Inspired by the improvisatory ethos of jazz, his lyrical abstractions took on an increasing variety of forms, moods, and materials. In addition to a traveling retrospective organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. in 2005, Sam Gilliam was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1971); The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (1982); Whitney Museum of American Art, Philip Morris Branch, New York (1993); J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, Louisville, Kentucky (1996); Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2011); and Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018), among many other institutions. A semi-permanent installation of Gilliam’s paintings opened at Dia:Beacon in August 2019. His work is included in over fifty public collections, including those of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Tate Modern, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Art Institute of Chicago. Sam Gilliam, Green April, 1969, acrylic on canvas, 98 x 271 x 3 7/8 inches (248.9 x 688.3 x 9.8 cm), Collection of Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland, Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, photography by Lee Thompson...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Mixed Media, Drypoint, Etching, Aquatint, Screen

"Cliff's Formation" - Modernist Geometric Abstracted Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous abstracted geometric landscape titled, "Cliff's Formation" by Erle Loran (American, 1905-1999), 1984. Unframed. Signed and dated lower right "Loran '84" and titled "Cliff's ...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Abstract art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract art 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 art 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, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Sumit Mehndiratta, Giorgio Lo Fermo, Francisco Nicolás, and Dadodu . Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Synthetic Resin Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Abstract art, so small editions measuring 0.02 inches across are also available.

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