Robert Natkin Art
American, 1930-2010
Robert Natkin was born in Chicago on November 7, 1930 into a large family of Russian Jewish immigrants. In 1945 the family moved to Tennessee though soon returned to Chicago where Natkin would attend the Art Institute of Chicago (1948-1952). The museum’s collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, especially those of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse and the whimsical abstractions of Paul Klee, were significant influences on the young artist. Natkin’s influences outside the art world included frequent trips to the Field Museum of Natural History where he was exposed to stylized Native American and Peruvian textiles.
Introduced to Abstract-Expressionism in New York in 1952, Natkin was especially drawn to the works of Willem de Kooning who’s agitated marks he began to emulate though after returning to Chicago in 1953 he abandoned ties to action painting and began to form what would become his familiar color field abstraction motif. In 1957 Natkin, now married to fellow artist Judith Dolnick, opened the Wells Street Gallery which showed the works of like-minded Chicago artists including sculptor John Chamberlain and photographer Aaron Siskind as well as New York artists they admired. Due to limited patronage however this was a short-lived venture and, seeking greater opportunities, the couple moved to New York in 1959. Natkin continued to develop bold bright fields of color and texture in his paintings finding success among the Poindexter Galleries stable of up-and-coming artists. Immersed in New York’s dynamic art scene through the 1960s and 70s, Natkin continued to evolve his style through his Apollo series, Field Mouse series, and Intimate Lighting series which includes Remembrance is the Secret of Redemption, Forgetfulness Leads to Exile. Other series followed in a long and successful career. Natkin died in Danbury, Connecticut, on April 20, 2010.
Robert Natkin has been the subject of numerous one-man exhibitions and has been included in many more group exhibitions. His work is in the permanent collections of dozens of national and international museums including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Australia, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Additionally Natkin’s colossal 20 x 42 foot mural, executed in 1992, can be seen in the lobby of New York’s Rockefeller Center.(Biography provided by Taylor Graham)
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Artist: Robert Natkin
Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in Cragsmoor, NY
This work is an unique work since the artist added to it with acrylic.
Category
20th Century Contemporary Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Acrylic, Lithograph
Robert Natkin, Untitled Abstract Limited Edition Signed Print
By Robert Natkin
Located in San Rafael, CA
Robert Natkin (1930 - 2010)
Untitled, 1979
From the Intimate Light series
Color lithograph on wove paper
Edition 12/75
Signed and numbered to lower left margin
Published and printed...
Category
1970s Abstract Impressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Lithograph
Bern Series
By Robert Natkin
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Bern Series" is a painting by Robert Natkin. The painting is signed lower middle, "Natkin". The framed piece measures 49 x 54 x 1 7/8 in.
Robert Natkin (1930-2010) was born in Chicago and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1952. Natkin’s art blends Abstract Expressionism with Post-Impressionist colors. His work often runs in series he created using columns...
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Intimate Lighting
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Robert Natkin
Intimate Lighting, 1974
Silkscreen on Arches paper
27 × 38 inches
Pencil signed, dated and numbered 132/150 on the front
Published by Chromacomp, Inc.
Unframed
This stunning large...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Screen
Pastel Abstract Silkscreen by Robert Natkin
By Robert Natkin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Natkin, American (1930 - 2010)
Title: Intimate Lighting II
Year: 1972
Medium: Screenprint on Cream Arches Paper, signed, dated and numbered in pencil
Edition: 36/150
S...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Screen
Pastel Abstract Silkscreen by Robert Natkin
By Robert Natkin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Natkin, American (1930 - 2010)
Title: Intimate Lighting I
Year: 1972
Medium: Screenprint on Cream Arches Paper, signed, dated and numbered in pencil
Edition: 42/150
Si...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Screen
Intimate Lighting: Blue
By Robert Natkin
Located in Dallas, TX
In 1974, a Natkin exhibit at the Holburne of Menstrie Museum in Bath, England was to be accompanied by a catalogue consisting entirely of black and white plates. The decision to repr...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Screen
Abstract Expressionist monotype
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Robert Natkin
Untitled, ca. 1979
Monotype with heart drawing
Hand signed twice; inscribed to Dorothy and Arthur with text and heart
Unique
Original vi...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Ink, Monoprint
Intimate Lighting: Blue, Large Abstract by Robert Natkin 1974
By Robert Natkin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Natkin, American (1930 - 2010)
Title: Intimate Lighting: Blue
Year: 1974
Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 39/100
Image Size: 36 x 26.25 inche...
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Screen
Pastel Abstract Lithograph by Robert Natkin
By Robert Natkin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Natkin, American (1930 - 2010)
Title: Untitled - IV
Year: circa 1977
Medium: Lithograph, Signed in Pencil
Size: 31 in. x 24 in. (78.74 cm x 60.96 cm)
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Lithograph
Colorful Abstract Lithograph by Robert Natkin
By Robert Natkin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Natkin, American (1930 - 2010)
Title: Untitled - V
Year: circa 1977
Medium: Lithograph, Signed in Pencil
Size: 31 in. x 24 in. (78.74 cm x 60.96 cm)
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled. Very large original screen print
By Robert Natkin
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork "Untitled" 1986 is a large original color screen print on Wove paper by noted American abstract expressionist artist Robert Natkin, 1930-2010. IOt is hand signed, dated ...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Screen
Colorful Abstract Lithograph by Robert Natkin
By Robert Natkin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Natkin, American (1930 - 2010)
Title: Untitled - III
Year: circa 1977
Medium: Lithograph, Signed in Pencil
Size: 31 in. x 24 in. (78.74 cm x 60.96 cm)
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
A very good impression of this large screenprint with strong colors on heavy wove paper. Signed, dated and numbered 90/100 in pencil by Natkin.
Category
1970s Abstract Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Color, Screen
Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in Lawrence, NY
We are pleased to offer this work by second generation AbEx painter Robert Natkin and painted in delicious colors of yellow, tangerine, blue, red and purple. It fits well within a variety of decor settings.
Described as the "author of a dappled infinite," Natkin created some of the most innovative color abstractions of the late 20th century. Populated by stripes, dots, grids, and an array of free-floating forms, his light- filled canvases are sensuous, playful, and visually complex.
While attending the school of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1948 to 1952, Natkin was afforded the opportunity to study the museum's world-class collection of French post-impressionist art and decided to turn his attention to painting instead. During these formative years, Natkin was inspired by the examples of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, who used decorative patterning and arbitrary color to evoke mood. Most importantly, he also discovered the work of Paul Klee, the Swiss-German artist whose whimsical, semi-abstract paintings reflected his belief that "art does not reproduce the visible but makes visible"--a credo that nurtured Natkin's burgeoning interest in emotional content.
In 1952, he lived briefly in New York, where he saw and was influenced by the bold canvases of Willem de Kooning. In 1959, aware of the limited patronage for abstract art in Chicago, Natkin and Dolnick moved to New York, where Natkin joined the stable of artists associated with the Poindexter Gallery, known for its support of emerging painters and sculptors. Immersed in the dynamism of the New York art world, where Abstract Expressionism and Color-Field painting were the dominant styles of the day, Natkin's aesthetic approach continued to evolve. In 1961, he adopted a serial approach to painting, a practice he would adhere to throughout his career.
Natkin began to develop a more intricate style (indebted to Klee), depicting diamonds, polygons, ovals, squiggles and other shapes against textured, delicately toned backgrounds interspersed with seemingly randomly placed dots and daubs of pigment and areas of crosshatching. This new style is evident in the "Intimate Lighting" series works.
In 1970 Natkin put aside his brushes and began to use sponges...
Category
1970s Color-Field Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Acrylic
"Untitled", Abstract Lithograph, Blues and Purple, Signed and Numbered in Pencil
By Robert Natkin
Located in Detroit, MI
Soft pastel colors in floating smudges lay between and around lyrical abstract geometric and organic forms giving a diaphanous color and shape harmony to the work. Diaphone being a s...
Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Robert Natkin. "Untitled" is an abstract expressionist painting, oil on canvas in a palette of greens, blues, and purples by Post-War, American artist Robert Natkin. The artwork is signed in the lower left, "Natkin 1956".
Robert Natkin was born in Chicago and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1952. Natkin’s art blends Abstract Expressionism with Post-Impressionist colors. His work often runs in series he created using columns...
Category
Mid-20th Century Post-War Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Danae
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Signed (at lower right): Natkin
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Robert Natkin Untitled Limited Edition Signed Abstract Print
By Robert Natkin
Located in San Rafael, CA
Robert Natkin (American, 1930-2010)
Untitled, 1978
From the Intimate Lighting series
Color lithograph on wove paper
Signed, dated and numbered in pencil lower left
Edition 47/75
Prin...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Signed at lower left
Category
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
For Duke Ellington
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Signed at lower right
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Acrylic
Leda's Dance
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Described as the “author of a dappled infinite,” Robert Natkin created some of the most innovative color abstractions of the late twentieth century (Carter Ratcliff, “The Dappled Inf...
Category
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
untitled Colorful Abstract
By Robert Natkin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Robert Natkin, American (1930 - 2010)
Title: Untitled
Year: 1985
Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 22/26
Image Size: 30 x 42 inches
Size: 36 x 48 inches
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Screen
Elephant Breath
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Signed at lower left
Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Untitled (Black)
By Robert Natkin
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Robert Natkin
Title: Untitled, (Black)
Year: 1979
Artist Dates: 1930-2010
Medium: lithography
Paper: BFK Rives
Dimensions: Image -26.5 x 36.25 inches (Sheet – 29.5 x 39.5 inc...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Paper, Lithograph
Young Acrobat
By Robert Natkin
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Robert Natkin. "Young Acrobat" is an abstract, acrylic on canvas painting executed primarily in blues, violet, reds, orange, yellow and green by contemporary artist Rob...
Category
1980s Contemporary Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Robert Natkin Untitled Limited Edition Signed Abstract Print
By Robert Natkin
Located in San Rafael, CA
Robert Natkin (American, 1930-2010)
Untitled, from the Field Mouse series
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil lower right
Edition 56/75 in pencil on the verso
Sheet: ...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Lithograph
Bath Apollo Series
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Described as the “author of a dappled infinite,” Robert Natkin created some of the most innovative color abstractions of the late twentieth century (Carter Ratcliff, “The Dappled Inf...
Category
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Described as the “author of a dappled infinite,” Robert Natkin created some of the most innovative color abstractions of the late twentieth century (Carter Ratcliff, “The Dappled Inf...
Category
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Bath Apollo Series
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Described as the “author of a dappled infinite,” Robert Natkin created some of the most innovative color abstractions of the late twentieth century (Carter Ratcliff, “The Dappled Infinite,” Art & Antiques 38 [December 2015]). Populated by stripes, dots, grids, and an array of free-floating forms, his light- filled canvases are sensuous, playful, and visually complex, representing “a unique formal universe of unparalleled beauty” (Louis A. Zona, “Foreword: Robert Natkin: Crescendos of Whispers,” in Robert Natkin: A Retrospective, 1952–1996, exhib. cat. [Youngstown, Ohio: Butler Institute of American Art, 1997]). Born in Chicago, Natkin was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents who worked in the garment industry. At age five, he began going to the movies (often six times a week), an activity that, in addition to providing him with a measure of respite from his dysfunctional family, would later profoundly influence his work as a painter. In 1945, Natkin’s family moved briefly to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where Natkin decided to pursue a career as an artist. A natural draftsman, he initially wanted to become an illustrator, like Norman Rockwell, whose work he had seen in the Saturday Evening Post. However, while attending the school of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1948 to 1952, Natkin was afforded the opportunity to study the museum’s world-class collection of French post-impressionist art and decided to turn his attention to painting instead. During these formative years, Natkin was inspired by the examples of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, who used decorative patterning and arbitrary color to evoke mood. Most importantly, he also discovered the work of Paul Klee, the Swiss- German artist whose whimsical, semi-abstract paintings reflected his belief that “art does not reproduce the visible but makes visible”––a credo that nurtured Natkin’s burgeoning interest in emotional content. As a student, Natkin was also a frequent visitor to the Field Museum of Natural History, where he was attracted to the stylized shapes of American Indian art and Peruvian textiles. An article on Abstract Expressionism, published in Life magazine in 1949, was equally vital in determining Natkin’s evolution as a painter. In 1952, he lived briefly in New York, where he saw and was influenced by the bold canvases of Willem de Kooning. Following this, Natkin spent a few months in San Francisco before returning to Chicago, where he worked at the Newberry Library while painting in his spare time. He initially focused on portraits and expressionist figure pieces, but by 1954–55 he was producing his earliest abstract work and fraternizing with a group of artists that included the painter Judith Dolnick (b. 1934), whom he married in 1957. In the same year, Natkin and Dolnick established the Wells Street Gallery in a dilapidated storefront in Chicago’s Old Town, where they exhibited their own work as well as that of other progressive-minded local artists, among them the sculptor John Chamberlain and the photographer Aaron Siskind, as well as painters from New York, including de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. Although Natkin never embraced the concept of “action painting” as exemplified in the work of Pollock, he did, for a time, explore de Kooning’s agitated, gestural brushwork, as apparent in canvases such as Keep It Quiet (1957; private collection, formerly Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York). (For Natkin’s Chicago period, see Robert Natkin in Chicago: The 1950s, exhib. cat. [Chicago: McCormick Gallery, 2015]). In 1959, aware of the limited patronage for abstract art in Chicago, Natkin and Dolnick moved to New York, where Natkin joined the stable of artists associated with the Poindexter Gallery, known for its support of emerging painters and sculptors. On the occasion of his début exhibition at Elinor F. Poindexter’s gallery in late 1959, the critic Dore Ashton praised the “bright, experimental boldness” of Natkin’s paintings and observed that he “obviously enjoys attacking a large canvas, filling its field with many forms and many colors, making them glide and slip, before and behind, each other” (“Natkin’s Avant-Garde Paintings on View,” New York Times, January 7, 1960). Natkin’s reputation in Manhattan art circles was further enhanced when he was included in the exhibition, Americans Under 35, held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1960. Immersed in the dynamism of the New York art world, where Abstract Expressionism and Color- Field painting were the dominant styles of the day, Natkin’s aesthetic approach continued to evolve. In 1961, he adopted a serial approach to painting, a practice he would adhere to throughout his career. (For an overview of the salient characteristics of Natkin’s serial work, see Robert Natkin: A Retrospective: 1952–1996.) In his earliest cycle, known as the Apollo series, which Natkin worked on intermittently into the early 1970s, he used vertical stripes of varying thicknesses and textures to suggest the interplay of color and light while creating a strong architectonic quality, as apparent in works such as Beatrice (1964; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra). During the mid-1960s––in response to the color theories of Josef Albers, contemporary jazz, and his admiration for Chicago architects such as Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright––Natkin retained the upright format of his Apollo paintings...
Category
20th Century Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Paper, Acrylic
Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in Palm Desert, CA
An acrylic on canvas painting by Post War artist Robert Natkin. This Untitled, abstract painting is executed in thin layers of acrylic paint of violet, orange, yellow, teal blue, och...
Category
1970s Post-War Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Untitled (From Intimate Lighting Series)
By Robert Natkin
Located in Missouri, MO
Robert Natkin
"Untitled" From the Intimate Lighting Series c. 1975-1978
Acrylic on Paper
Signed Lower Left
Image Size: Approx 22 x 29 inches
Framed Size: Approx. 27.5 x 35.25 inche...
Category
1970s Abstract Robert Natkin Art
Materials
Acrylic, Archival Paper
Robert Natkin art for sale on 1stDibs
1stDibs offers a wide variety of authentic Robert Natkin art available for sale. If you're looking for a way to add color to a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of orange, blue, green and other colors. You can also search for art by Robert Natkin in acrylic paint, synthetic resin paint, and more by medium. Much of this artist's original work was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Robert Natkin art, so small editions measuring 17 inches across are available. Customers interested in this artist might also find the works of Arthur Pinajian, Cleve Gray and Dan Christensen. The art prices of Robert Natkin vary depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $640 and tops out at $150,000, while the average work can sell for $18,675.