Visual artist Vija Celmins is renowned for her extraordinarily detailed Photorealist paintings, prints and drawings of natural phenomena, from the surface of the sea to spiderwebs.
After immigrating to the United States from Latvia with her family in the late 1940s, Celmins found herself drawn to images in American comic books. Their word balloons and narrative captions proved important to the development of her English language skills, and the books' images would also leave a lasting impression as Celmins took to drawing at a young age.
As a budding artist, Celmins studied the fine arts at the John Herron School of Art in Indiana, Yale University and UCLA, where she began drawing everyday objects found around her studio — much like the Pop artists of the era — such as a lamp and a heater as well as photographs from World War II, which haunted her early memories. She visited New York City as a student to see the works of Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.
Over time, Celmins developed a fascination with science and, in particular, scientific images, leading to her painting her famous natural subjects, from the night sky to the desert floor. One global event that particularly captivated her was the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, which provided the world with photographs of our celestial neighbor. She began drawing the surface of the moon from those images.
“The images are not from observations of nature but are ‘found images’ from old magazines, books and photos,” said Celmins. “Thus they are already flattened and a step removed from nature. My work lies between intimacy and distance.”
Celmins’s first retrospective was held at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in 1962. She has since been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Menil Collection in Houston. Today, she lives and works in New York.
Find original Vija Celmins art on 1stDibs.
$7,500
"Spider Web" Vija Celmins (Photorealist, Drawing, Spider, Contemporary, Print)
By Vija Celmins
Located in New York, NY
This screen print depicts one of Celmins' signature subjects, the spider web, which she has represented in various media, including charcoal, oil paint, and multiple printmaking tech...
Screen
The Sun
By Vija Celmins
Located in Indianapolis, IN
Signed and dated lower right, edition 1/10. Celmin was born in Riga, Latvia in 1938, and in 1944 moved with her family to Germany where they settled in a Latvian refugee camp near E...
Lithograph
$9,375Sale Price|25% Off
Vija Celmins Spider Web-Hand Signed and Numbered Limited Edition
By Vija Celmins
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A wonderful Spider Web by Vija Celmins, commissioned as part of Lincoln Center’s 50th Anniversary celebration. Ms. Celmins recently received an award from the International Print Cen...
Screen
Untitled (Desert)
By Vija Celmins
Located in New York, NY
A superb impression of this scarce, early color lithograph on Arches. One of only 12 artist's proofs, aside from the edition of 65. Signed, dated and inscribed "Artist's proof" in pencil by Celmins. Printed by Ed Hamilton...
Color, Lithograph
$7,000
Spider Web
By Vija Celmins
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Vija Celmins (b. 1938) is one of the most accomplished and revered living American artists. Born in Riga, Latvia, her dynamic oeuvre resists merging with any art-historical "ism" or ...
Paper, Screen
Price Upon Request
Spider Web, Vija Celmins Contemporary Screen Prints
By Vija Celmins
Located in New York, NY
Vija Celmins Spider Web, 2009 Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil, recto Screenprint on rag paper (Edition of 117) 17.5 x 19 inches, sheet 11 x 13 inches, image
Screen
$3,000
H 50 in W 38 in
Gigi: red black abstract print with poetry based on 1950s vintage movie poster
By Rene Ricard
Located in New York, NY
Touched by the influence of Andy Warhol, champion of a young Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rene Ricard served as enfant terrible of the 1980s New York art scene. This red and black lithograp...
Lithograph
$1,800
H 29.875 in W 22.875 in
"Untitled" lithograph on cardboard by Imi Knoebel from "Kinderstern" portfolio
By Imi Knoebel
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Untitled" lithograph on cardboard of red "Star for Children" by artist Imi Knoebel from the "Kinderstern" portfolio, published in 1989 by Edition Domberger to raise money to house f...
Lithograph
Unavailable|$777
H 26.38 in W 26.78 in D 0.04 in
Hockney's Dog - After the Splash, original, contemporary, art print
By Mychael Barratt
Located in Deddington, GB
Screenprint on paper Signed and titled in pencil Numbered from the edition of 75 Image size: 505 x 505 mm Paper size: 665 x 685 mm Silkscreen print on Paper Edition of 100 50...
Paper, Screen
"Borrowed Time Limited Edition Drawing
By John Lennon
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
Rare Limited Edition Serigraph of John Lennon's "Borrowed Time" drawing, which is one of the very few drawings that John saved where he is playing music. This limited edition was r...
Screen, Other Medium
$520Sale Price|20% Off
H 14.25 in W 11.25 in
GRAY AND BLACK ABSTRACT 2002 Signed Lithograph, John Ashbery Suite A WAVE Poem
By Will Barnet
Located in Union City, NJ
GRAY AND BLACK ABSTRACT by the American painter and printmaker Will Barnet is an original hand drawn lithograph, printed using hand lithography on archival printmaking paper 100% aci...
Lithograph
Unavailable|$774
H 26.38 in W 26.78 in D 0.04 in
Hockney's Dog - Absolutely the Biggest Splash, original, contemporary, art print
By Mychael Barratt
Located in Deddington, GB
Screenprint on paper Signed and titled in pencil Numbered from the edition of 100 Image size: 500 x 500 mm Paper size: 670 x 680 mm Image size: Height: 50cm (19.69 in) Width...
Paper, Screen
Art, from American Signs portfolio
By Robert Cottingham
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM Art, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' and...
Screen
Infinity Net (Blue) (Kusama 26)
By Yayoi Kusama
Located in Bristol, GB
Screenprint in colours, on Arches paper, with full margins. Edition 42 of 100 64.1 x 55.2 cm (25.2 x 21.7 in) 71.1 x 62.2 cm, 28 x 24.5 in Signed, numbered, titled and dated on the f...
Screen
Joy - Lithograph by Renzo Bussotti - 1963
By Renzo Bussotti
Located in Roma, IT
Joy is an original artwork realized by Renzo Bussotti in 1963. Hand-signed and dated in pencil on the lower right; numbered on the lower left. Edition of 60 prints. The artwork is f...
Lithograph
Going to the Olympics
By Frank Romero
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Frank Romero created this serigraph after learning that the original mural, completed on the 101 freeway in Los Angeles, 1984, had been painted over. The mural, which was done for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, has since been restored. Signed and numbered by the artist in black marker, in lower left corner of print on black background - hard to see except at an angle. Throughout his 40 year career as an artist, Frank Romero has been a dedicated member of the Los Angeles arts community. As a member of the 1970s Chicano art collective, Los Four...
Screen
Rialto, from American Signs
By Robert Cottingham
Located in Washington, DC
Artist: Robert Cottingham Title: Rialto, from American Signs Medium: Screenprint in colors Year: 2009 Edition: HC 5/10 Sheet Size: 40" x 39" Signed: Hand signed and numbered
Screen
Red, Orange, Blue, Purple
By Raymond Parker
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Raymond Parker – American (1922-1990) Title: Red, Orange, Blue, Purple Year: 1969 Medium: Color Lithograph Sight size: 22.25 x 30 inches. Sheet size: 22.25 x 30 inches Sig...
Color, Lithograph
Vija Celmins-Spider Web-HAND SIGNED
By Vija Celmins
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Sku: LC1196-B Artist: Vija Celmins Title: Spider Web Year: 2009 Signed: Yes Medium: Serigraph Paper Size: 17.5 x 19 inches ( 44.45 x 48.26 cm ) Image Size: 11 x 13 inches ( 27.94 x 3...
Screen
Vija Celmins "Ocean with Cross #1", 2005
By Vija Celmins
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Born in Riga, Latvia in 1938, Vija Celmins’ is one of the most accomplished and revered living American artists. Her impressive and dynamic oeuvre resists merging with any art-histor...
Screen
Spider Web
By Vija Celmins
Located in New York, NY
Vija Celmins Spider Web, 2009 Screen Print 17.38 x 19 in
Screen
CELMINS, Vija and Eliot WEINBERGER. The Stars
By Vija Celmins
Located in New York, NY
CELMINS, Vija and Eliot WEINBERGER. The Stars. 48 pp. Illustrated with 3 etchings, including the front cover and the center gatefold. 8vo., 265 x by 178 mm, bound in original white wrappers with an etched dust-jacket that appears as a worn Japanese binding, preserved in the publisher's off-white clam...
Sold
H 15.36 in W 11.23 in D 0.99 in
"The View" Book of Poems by Czeslaw Milosz and Illustrated by Vija Celmins
By Vija Celmins
Located in New York, NY
The View. Poems by Czeslaw Milosz. Illustrated by Vija Celmins. Unpaginated. Illustrated with four mezzotints by Celmins. Tall 4to., bound in original publisher's black morocco ...
Paper
SPIDER WEB, Vija Celmins (screen print of spiderweb)
By Vija Celmins
Located in New York, NY
This screen print depicts one of Celmins' signature subjects, the spider web, which she has represented in various media, including charcoal, oil paint, and multiple printmaking tech...
Screen
Starfield
By Vija Celmins
Located in San Francisco, CA
Edition 1 of 10 APs
Mezzotint