Robert Kipniss Art

Robert Kipniss (American, b. 1931) Left: Leaning, c. 1988 Lithograph Sight: 5 1/4 x 4 in. Framed: 11 x 9 3/4 x 3/4 in. Numbered lower left: 53/175 Signed lower right: Kipniss Right...

Robert Kipniss (American, b. 1931) At Dawn, 1975 Pencil on paper 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 in. Framed: 14 2/3 x 11 1/3 in. Signed upper right: Kipniss '75 Verso bears Hirschl & Adler Galleries Label Robert Kipniss, painter and printmaker, was born in New York City in 1931. He creates essentially monochromatic*, stylized vistas with natural and architectural elements intended to evoke an elegiac, nearly surrealistic mood in haunting, silent landscapes; the melancholy of nostalgia. Trees, in mid and far-distance, form clusters or act as misty individuals containing a haunted, indefinable presence, witnesses to the foreground drama of more specific shape, form and detail, often a close-up tree. Kipniss studied at the Art Students League* in 1947; Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, 1948-50; and the University of Iowa, receiving a BA degree in English literature in 1952, and an MFA in painting and art history in 1954. The artist employs a meticulous technique combining a multiplicity of specific strokes, whether with brush, pencil or print-maker's needle and burin*, to create the essence of his generalized, non-specific forms. Light and darkness are clearly Kipniss' compositionally constructive elements. They also exist as contestants in the emotional drama at the heart of each work of art. The contrast, and sometimes combat, between these two opposites, symbolically represent with blackness -- ideas of threat, fear, trouble, evil; with whiteness safety, redemption, fulfillment and good. In Kipniss' 1995 mezzotint*, Clear Vase and Landscape, with a foreground image of precisely leafy stalks, the vase holding them, nearly invisible in its transparency, suggests an almost Salvador Dali-like surrealist device. This central image dominates but seems to invite association with, and commentary from, the surrounding clumps and individual round-topped, yet cedar-like trees. His mezzzotint, For Stella," 1997, depicts a gently twisting, curving, pale and smoothly-barked foreground, leafless tree limb or trunk, like a female human body, suggesting weakness, fatigue, an inability to deal with the staccato background screen of textured bush that seems to uncomfortably impinge upon it. This print is arguably a metaphor for a delicate soul struggling to overcome the prickly difficulties of domineering life. The classic mezzotint process, invented in the middle of the 17th Century, is the reverse of most of the other print-making media, since the artist works from a black ground to increasingly lighter areas. The copper plate is first roughened by a "rocker," creating a burr over the entire surface (the more burr left intact, the more ink it holds, the darker the final finished print). The artist, Robert Kipniss, in this instance, gradually burnishes, smoothes down the burr in varying degrees to produce the gradations of lights and darks of the final design. The deepest darks in the final picture are those areas on the plate that have been little touched after the initial roughening. Mezzotint relies on shade and tone rather than outline for its effect, which fits the Kipniss style of atmospheric* masses of value. A recent oil painting by Robert Kipniss, Hillside Silhouettes, 2001, 40 x 29, is somewhat more complex in composition than many, with four cubically-constructed houses each set in their own zones, seemingly unrelated to one another, with receding hills and similarly isolated, increasingly misty trees beyond. In his career, Robert Kipniss has had over 40 one-man shows since the first in New York in 1951, including an important retrospective exhibition at the Associated American Artist Gallery, New York in 1977. Many of these one-man exhibitions have been mounted by over 50 museums in the United States, South America and Europe, including the Chicago Art Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modem Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Library of Congress and British Museum in London. Robert Kipniss is represented in the permanent collections of the institutions above, among many others, as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art; New York Public Library; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Detroit Art Institute; Yale University Museum; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum; and the New Orleans Museum of Art. He was elected to the National Academy of Design* in 1980, and to the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, London in 1998 Robert Kipniss can be referenced in numerous publications, including Who's Who in American Art from the 1950s to the present, and multiple reviews in periodicals like Art News, Art in America and Art Forum. There are also three important catalogues raisonne published on his work. Robert Kipniss has received many awards: 1965 - Ohio University National Drawing Show, Purchase Prize 1976 - National Academy of Design, New York City, The Ralph Fabri Prize 1978 - The Print Club of Philadelphia, Charles M Lea Prize 1979 - Charlotte Printmakers Society, Purchase Award 1979 - Society of American Graphic Artists, Printmaking Award 1979 - Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH, Honorary Doctorate 1980 - Elected to the National Academy of Design, New York City 1980 - Audubon Artists, New York City, Silver Medal 1980 - National Academy of Design, New York City, The Leo Meissner...

Small Fields Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1980 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 139/250 Size: 4 x 3.25 in. (10.16 x 8.255 cm) Frame Size: 11.25 x 9...

Backyard II Lithograph, 1972 Signed lower right Signed lower right Annotated: Printer's Proof Reference: Karl Lunde 58 An impression is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chic...

This artwork "Landscape" c.1980 is an original color lithograph on wove paper by noted American artist Robert Kipniss, b.1931. It is hand signed and numbered 168/200 in pencil by the...

Lithograph on paper. Hand signed lower right by Robert Kipniss. Hand numbered Artist's Proof lower left (there are a total of 50 Artist's Proofs; there is a main edition of 250). ...

Another Summer Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1980 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 119/175 Size: 6.5 x 5.5 in. (16.51 x 13.97 cm) Frame Size: 13 x 1...

Backyard VII Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1980 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 39/175 Size: 7 x 5 in. (17.78 x 12.7 cm) Frame Size: 13.75 x 11.25 ...

Robert Kipness was an American painter and printmaker who’s work focused on forms and a pronounced moodiness. Morning View III Robert Kipniss, American...

Robert Kipness was an American painter and printmaker who’s work focused on forms and a pronounced moodiness. This print is signed, numbered, dated, and...

West Wind Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1981 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 151/250 Size: 4 x 3.25 in. (10.16 x 8.255 cm) Frame Size: 11.25 x 9.5 ...

Artist: Robert Kipniss, American (1931 - ) Title: Tual Year: circa 1980 Medium: Mezzotint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: Trial Proof Image Size: 14.75 x 11.75 inches Frame:...

Robert Kipness was an American painter and printmaker who’s work focused on forms and a pronounced moodiness. This print is signed, numbered, dated, and...

Studio Flowers Lithograph, 1982 Signed lower right (see photo) Numbered lower left Edition: 120 (42/120) (see photo) Condition: Mint condition Two bits of hinge residue verso Image s...

“Slope w/five trees” is a drypoint engraving created by Robert Kipniss in 2020. The paper size is 12.50 x 10.50 inches and the printed image size is 6.75 x ...

“Chair & rooftop” is a mezzotint engraving created by Robert Kipniss in 2015. Printed in an edition of 30 this impression is signed in pencil and inscribed "27/30." The paper size i...

Tall Vase with Glasses by Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1980 Lithograph, signed in pencil Edition of AP Image Size: 12 x 10 inches Frame ...

Robert Kipness was an American painter and printmaker who’s work focused on forms and a pronounced moodiness. This print is signed, numbered, dated, and...

This artwork "Landscape with Trees" c.1980 is an original lithograph on wove paper by noted American artist Robert Kipniss, b.1931. It is hand si...

"Evening II" is a mezzotint engraving created by Robert Kipniss in 2008. Printed in an edition of 60, this impression is signed in pencil and inscribed “8/60.” The paper size is 12...

First Shadows Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1980 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 164/250 Size: 8 x 6 in. (20.32 x 15.24 cm) Frame Size: 16.25 x 14....

Landscape with Window and Chair Mezzotint on wove paper, 2000 Signed in pencil lower right (see photo) Edition: 150 (93/150) (see photo) Special Presentation Print for the Print Club...

Curtains and Leaves Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1975 Lithograph, Signed and numbered in Pencil Edition of 32/35 Size: 30 in. x 22 in. (76.2 cm x 55.88 cm)

Four in One Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1980 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 6/150 Frame Size: 17.5 x 14.5 inches

Circular Fence Robert Kipniss, American (1931) Date: circa 1980 Lithograph, signed in pencil Edition of Trial Proof Size: 10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.56 cm) ...

A quiet still life of a vase with cup and kettle is the subject of this lithograph by Robert Kipniss from 1986. Kipniss is known for his rather moody graphic works-- using simple sha...

Artist: Robert Kipniss, American (1931 - ) Title: Interior with Cup and Kettle Year: 1986 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 120, AP XV Image Size: 12 x 10 in...