Colette Pettier Art

"Grave of Santa Anna's Leg" Original Woodblock Print, Signed Artist's Proof Boldly colored woodblock print by Carol Summers (American, 1925-2016). This piece is a segment of a grave, with a headstone that has a skull and cross. There are two bright green plants flanking the headstone. Below the headstone and plants, there is a large arched blue shape, with a crescent moon and stars. A red leg, bent at the knee, cuts across the blue arch. Signed "Carol Summers" along the right edge of the blue shape. Numbered and titled "A/P Grave of Sant Anna's Leg" along the left edge of the blue shape. Presented in a silver colored aluminum frame. Frame size: 32.245"H x 27.25"W Paper size: 29.75"H x 24.5"W Carol Summers (1925-2016) has worked as an artist throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the first years of the next, outliving most of his mid-century modernist peers. Initially trained as a painter, Summers was drawn to color woodcuts around 1950 and it became his specialty thereafter. Over the years he has developed a process and style that is both innovative and readily recognizable. His art is known for it’s large scale, saturated fields of bold color, semi-abstract treatment of landscapes from around the world and a luminescent quality achieved through a printmaking process he invented. In a career that has extended over half a century, Summers has hand-pulled approximately 245 woodcuts in editions that have typically run from 25 to 100 in number. His talent was both inherited and learned. Born in 1925 in Kingston, a small town in upstate New York, Summers was raised in nearby Woodstock with his older sister, Mary. His parents were both artists who had met in art school in St. Louis. During the Great Depression, when Carol was growing up, his father supported the family as a medical illustrator until he could return to painting. His mother was a watercolorist and also quite knowledgeable about the different kinds of papers used for various kinds of painting. Many years later, Summers would paint or print on thinly textured paper originally collected by his mother. From 1948 to 1951, Carol Summers trained in the classical fine and studio arts at Bard College and at the Art Students League of New York. He studied painting with Steven Hirsh and printmaking with Louis Schanker. He admired the shapes and colors favored by early modernists Paul Klee (Sw: 1879-1940) and Matt Phillips (Am: b.1927- ). After graduating, Summers quit working as a part-time carpenter and cabinetmaker (which had supported his schooling and living expenses) to focus fulltime on art. That same year, an early abstract, Bridge No. 1 was selected for a Purchase Prize in a competition sponsored by the Brooklyn Museum. In 1952, his work (Cathedral, Construction and Icarus) was shown the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in an exhibition of American woodcuts...

"Mount Otawa Moon: Bright God Tamura" - Woodblock on Paper by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi From the series "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon" This piece depicts the general Sakanoe no Tamura...

Japanese Original Woodblock Print Harunobu Suzuki (né Hozumi) (Japanese, 1724 - 1770) Presented in a black mat. Mat: 16"H x 12"W Paper: 12"H x 9"W I...

Beautiful late 19th century Japanese woodblock print diptych of two kabuki actors by Kunichika Toyohara (Japanese, 1835-1900). This pair of prints is united by a continuous landscape...

Elegant Amusements of Eastern Genji - Japanese Triptych Woodblock Print on Paper Dynamic woodblock print with several elegantly dressed figures by Utag...

Kiyomizu Temple, Scenes of Famous Places along Tôkaidô Road - Woodblock on Paper Full Title: Kyoto: Kiyomizu Temple (Kyô Kiyomizudera), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along...

Annual Events for Young Murasaki (July) - Tales of Genji - Japanese Woodblock Rightmost panel a triptych, depicting monthly events for Wakamurasaki (Young Murasaki). This is the month of July. There appears to be a lesson taking place, possibly for writing or poetry. Artist: Toyokuni III/Kunisada (1786 - 1864) Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shoshichist Presented in a new blue mat. Mat size: 19"H x 13"W Paper size: 14.5"H x 10"W Commentary on the triptych: In the Edo period, Tanabata was designated as one of the five seasonal festivals, and became an annual event for the imperial court, aristocrats, and samurai families, and gradually came to be celebrated by the general public. Its origins are said to be a combination of the Kikoden festival, which originated from the Chinese legend of Altair and the Weaver Girl, and Japan's ancient Tanabata women's faith. Ink is ground with dew that has accumulated on potato leaves, poems and wishes are written on five colored strips of paper, which are then hung on bamboo branches to celebrate the two stars that meet once a year. Although the illustration is a Genji painting...

Mitate of a Daimyo's Procession Crossing Ryogoku Bridge - Woodblock Print Woodblock print of a procession by Keisai Eisen (Japanese, 1790–1848). Terrific triptych of a procession of...

"First Horse Day, 1896" - Chiyoda Palace - Japanese Woodblock by Chikanobu Yoshu Colorful and expressive court scne by Toyohara Chikanobu,"Yoshu" (Japanese, 1838-1912). This is the r...

Japanese Artisans - Japanese Woodblock Print J Japanese woodblock depicting six women, all wearing vibrant kimonos, working on crafts by Tosa Mitsuoki (Japanese, 1617-1691). Japanese,c. 1600. Handcraft depiction (dye works).Section from a painted screen with presentations of handcraft.Kita-in, Saitama. Stamped lower left. Presented in a white mat and giltwood frame. Frame: 19"H x 14"W Mat: 18.25"H x 13.25"W Image: 14.5"H x 9.5"W Tosa Mitsuoki was a Japanese painter, reinvigorating the Yamato style of classical Japanese painting. Yamato-e originated from interest in reproducing early Tang dynasty paintings, and was later reinvented and further refined to fit Japanese cultural perceptions in the late Heian period. Yamato, sometimes referred to as wa or kazu had become synonymous with the Tosa-ha by the Muromachi period as a way for Japanese artist to distinguish their works from those of mainland Chinese paintings, kara-e. Yamato-e incorporated various visual and literary techniques for establishing narrative. Works were not always accompanied with text and may rely on heavily on period specific visual motifs, icons, and symbols to relay a story or theme. Tosa style by the time of Mitsuoki focused heavily on depicting themes of plants and nature, famous places, meisho, the four seasons, shik, bird-and-flower, kacho. Many of these popular symbols and icons from mimicking Chinese practices, treating the original Chinese masterwork as a sort of prototype to improve upon. Popular formats for Mitsuoki's pictures were wall scrolls kakemono, or handscrolls that would be read from right to left with the accompanied story, sliding doors fusuma and folding screen panels byobu that featured up to six panels. Mitsuoki's style incorporated the depth and calligraphy techniques of ink wash brushwork similar to Song dynasty and Yuan dynasty Chinese court paintings...

Kumasaka Chōhan to Ushiwakamaru is a Japanese Ukiyo-e print created between 1848 and 1854 by artist Utagawa Kunisada (Japanese, 1786-1864). The print is a Diptych, and is part of the...

"Rainbow-man," an abstracted Mexican figurative woodblock by Pedro Puerta (Mexican, 20th Century), 1974. Titled "Rainbow-Man" lower left and "from a Michoacan Pot" "Reproduced with a...