Claudio Verna Art

Neo-Expressionist Linear Geometric Abstract #2 - In the Style of Basquiat Dynamic contemporary Neo-Expressionist abstract composition in red...

Baumgartner deals with contrasts in her work. This is already evident in her choice of technique. Christiane Baumgartner uses one of the oldest techniques in the art of printing, the...

Hajime Namiki, 'Tree Scene 159', color woodcut, edition 200, 2022. Signed in pencil and with the artist’s red seal. Titled, numbered '37/200' and dated, in pencil. A very fine impres...

Samella Sanders Lewis, 'The House of Shango', lithograph, 1992, edition 60. Signed, dated, titled, and numbered '31/60' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on Arches cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 1/4 to 3 1/2 inches), in excellent condition. Image size 24 x 18 inches (610 x 457 mm); sheet size 30 inches x 22 1/4 inches (762 x 565 mm). Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. Impressions of this work are held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Scripps College. ABOUT THIS WORK “The title of this piece is an unmistakable harkening to African roots. Shango is a religious practice with origins in Yoruba (Nigerian) belief, deifying a god of thunder by the same name. Shango has been adopted in the Caribbean, most notably in Trinidad and Tobago, a fact that underscores the importance of transnationalism to Samella Lewis’s piece. Her work often grapples with issues of race in the U.S., and The House of Shango is no exception. Through a reliance on the gradual transformation of Shango—one that took place across continents and time—Lewis’s piece forms a powerful link between black Americans and their African and Caribbean counterparts. The figure depicted in the piece appears to emerge, quite literally, from the house of Shango. Given the roots and transformative process of the religion, The House of Shango can draw attention to the historical intersections to which black American culture is indebted.” —Laura Woods, Scripps College, Ruth Chander Williamson Gallery, Collection Highlights, 2018 ABOUT THE ARTIST Samella Lewis’ lifelong career as an artist, art historian, critic, curator, collector, and advocate of African American art has helped empower generations of artists in the United States and worldwide, earning her the designation “the Godmother of African American art.” Born and raised in Jim Crow era New Orleans, Lewis began her art education at Dillard University in 1941, transferring to Hampton University in Virginia, where she earned her B. A. and master's degrees. She completed her master's and a doctorate in art history and cultural anthropology at Ohio State University in 1951, becoming the first female African American to earn a doctorate in fine art and art history. Lewis taught art at Morgan State University while completing her doctorate. She became the first Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Florida A&M University in 1953. That same year Lewis also became the first African American to convene the National Conference of African American artists held at Florida A&M University. She was a professor at the State University of New York, California State University, Long Beach, and at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Lewis co-founded, with Bernie Casey, the Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Los Angeles in 1970. In 1973, she served on the selection committee for the exhibition BLACKS: USA: 1973 held at the New York Cultural Center. Samella Lewis's 1969 catalog 'Black Artists on Art', featured accomplished black artists typically overlooked in mainstream art galleries. She said of the book, "I wanted to make a chronology of African American artists, and artists of African descent, to document our history. The historians weren't doing it. It was really about the movement." From the 1960s through the 1970s, her work, which included lithographs, linocuts, and serigraphs, reflected her concerns with the values of human dignity, democracy, and freedom of expression. Between 1969 and 70, Lewis and E.J. Montgomery were consultants for a groundbreaking exhibition at the Oakland Public L designed to create greater awareness of African American history and art. Lewis was the founder of the International Review of African American Art in 1975. In 1976, she founded the Museum of African-American Art with a group of artistic, academic, business, and community leaders in Los Angeles, California. Lewis, the museum’s senior curator, organized exhibitions and developed new ways of educating the public about African American art. She celebrated African American art as an 'art of experience’ inspired by the artists’ lives. And she espoused the concept of African American art as an 'art of tradition', urging museums to explore the African roots of African American art. In 1984, Lewis produced an extensive monograph on Elizabeth Catlett, her beloved mentor at Dillard University. Lewis has been collecting art since 1942, focusing primarily on the WPA era and work created during the Harlem Renaissance. Pieces from her collection were acquired by the Hampton University Museum in Virginia, the world’s earliest collection of African American fine art...

Saul Steinberg Sam's Art, from The New York International Portfolio), 1966 Lithograph on wove paper with blind stamp Pencil signed and numbered 12/225 on the front Published by Tanglewood Press, Knickerbocker Machine and Foundry, Inc., New York Printed by Irwin Hollander with blind stamp Unframed This Steinberg lithograph is titled Sam's Art, which of course refers to Uncle Sam, the nickname for the United States government. It features his version of the motto seen on our dollar bills, "Annuit Coeptis", which is one of the mottoes found on the Great Seal of the United States. It is directly underneath the "Eye of Providence" and is translated by the US Treasury and State Department as "God (or Providence) favors our undertakings". American President Abraham Lincoln, sitting in front of an easel, is also depicted as an artist in this telling 1960s work. Commentary: "In Saul Steinberg’s lithograph ‘Sam’s Art’, Abraham Lincoln, in stove-pipe hat, poses as the artist in front of his canvas. While his attention looks fixed on rendering the slightly wobbly pyramid with an eye, the Masonic motif from the back of the one dollar bill, the line from his brush has floated off the canvas to become a cubist-futurist cloud in the sky. The American Eagle looks on, perched on a civil war cannon...

Sam Francis, American (1923 - 1994) - Untitled (SF-351), Portfolio: Papierski Portfolio, Year: 1992, Medium: Lithograph on BFK Rives, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 50...

Still Life Abstract by Jacqueline Boisselot, French late 20th century size: 25.5 x 19.75 inches pastel drawing on thin paper, unframed condition: very good and ready to enjoy proven...

“Untitled” is a lithograph on arches paper by minimalist, abstract artist, Ellsworth Kelly from 1983. The work is edition AP 32 and signed and editioned in pencil, lower right, "AP 3...

ORIGINAL Six color lithograph on thin velin paper Limited edition of 800 (unnumbered) Publisher: Shorewood Publishing, NY for the Rainbow Foundation Original 1972 lithograph; not a l...

Lithograph, 1976 Edition : 27/100 Publisher : Maeght (Paris) Printer : Pierre Badey (Paris) Catalog : [Mason - Putman II n°247, p. 62] 47.50 cm. x 60.00 cm. 18.7 in. x 23.62 in. (pa...

In The Shell - Surfing Art - Figurative - Woodcut Print By Marc Zimmerman Limited Edition 01/04 This masterwork is exhibited in the Zimmerman Gallery, Carmel CA. Immerse yourself ...

Sam Francis Untitled Abstract Expressionist lithograph (Hand Signed from the Carnegie Museum Deluxe Edition), 1972 Catalogue Raisonné: 155, Lembark Hand signed and numbered 25/30 on...