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
$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
$6,750Sale Price|46% 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
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
Entanglement
By Clark Richert
Located in Lyons, CO
Color lithograph, Edition 30 Richert, who was intuitively observing shadows cast by three-dimensional forms, found that one such structure – the rhombic tricontahedron – placed un...
Lithograph
$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
Pyzinerol
By Rex Ray
Located in Lyons, CO
Color lithograph, Edition 30 In 2010, Ray made his first lithographs at Shark’s Ink., Pyzinerol and Pyzinerol II. Ambitious prints with 18 colors from 15...
Lithograph
$1,400
H 40 in W 27 in
"Dahlias" by Gary Bukovnik (Flowers, Still life, Watercolor, Paint, Print)
By Gary Bukovnik
Located in New York, NY
This image features a colorful arrangement of pink, red and purple flowers by American artist, Gary Bukovnik. Bukovnik is an internationally acclaimed painter and printmaker who prim...
Screen
$1,250
H 45 in W 36 in
Morning Glories, Photorealist Screenprint on Paper by Lowell Nesbitt
By Lowell Nesbitt
Located in Long Island City, NY
A series of ghostly Morning Glory blooms set against a rich black background. These moon-toned flowers are rendered as a screenprint by Lowell Blair Nesbitt. This print is signed and...
Screen
No title
By Bram Van Velde
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1975 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 2/100 Publisher : Bram Van Velde & Jacques Putman (Paris) Printer : Pierre Badey (Paris) Catalog : Mason Putman 205 L...
Lithograph
Dusk in August
By Louise Nevelson
Located in Indianapolis, IN
Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) Dusk in August (1967) Lithograph with embossing Size: 17 x 22.25 in (43 x 56.4 cm) Frame size: 21.75 x 26.75 in (55.25 x 67.95 cm) Edition of 100, this i...
Lithograph
InvadHirst
By Damien Hirst
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Damien Hirst X Invader Title: Invadhirst Year: 2025 Medium: 21-colour silkscreen print on Somerset Satin White 410 gsm cotton paper Edition: 1194; hand-signed by the artists ...
Screen
No title
By Bram Van Velde
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1966 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 31/80 Printer : Fratelli Pozzo Catalog : Mason-Putman 36 94.00 cm. x 62.50 cm. 37.01 in. x 24.61 in. (paper) 66.50 c...
Lithograph
No title
By Bram Van Velde
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1976 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 12/100 Publisher : Bram Van Velde & Jacques Putman (Paris) Printer : Pierre Badey (Paris) Catalog : Mason-Putman 223 ...
Lithograph
$600Sale Price|20% Off
H 16 in W 10 in
Abstract Composition Color Lithograph, Mid-20th Century, Unframed
By Marie Raymond
Located in Belgrade, MT
This color lithograph is part of my private collection since the 1970's. Marie Raymond was a pioneer post WWII painter of her generation. She was a lyrical abstractionist of her time...
Color, Lithograph
InvadHirst
By Invader
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Invader X Damien Hirst Title: Invadhirst Year: 2025 Medium: 21-colour silkscreen print on Somerset Satin White 410 gsm cotton paper Edition: 1194; hand-signed by the artists ...
Screen
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