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Quatre histoires de blanc et noir

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Quatre histoires de blanc et noir
Image Not Available for Quatre histoires de blanc et noir

Quatre histoires de blanc et noir

Artist Frantisek Kupka (Czech, 1871-1957)
Author Frantisek Kupka (Czech, 1871-1957)
Author Frank (Frantisek) Kupka (Czech, 1871--1957)
Date1926
DimensionsBook: H: 13 1/8 in. (333 mm); W: 10 3/16 in. (258 mm); Depth: 1/2 in. (13 mm).
Leaf (untrimmed): H: 13 in. (330 mm); W: 9 15/16 in. (253 mm).
MediumOriginal prints: 29 woodcuts on Arches cream wove paper, incl. front wrapper.
ClassificationBooks
Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss
Object number
1984.633
Not on View
Label TextIn this portfolio, František Kupka, one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art, presented four themes (“stories”) in six variations, offering a glossary of his forms and their multiple possibilities. In his introduction, he describes what he depicts as “figures from another reality” and declares that the work of art is “an abstract reality in itself” which must be “constituted of invented elements.” His compositions embrace the microscopic and the cosmic, the biological and the geometrical, the patterns of Gothic architecture and those of crystals and flowers.Published Referencescf. Castleman, Riva, A Century of Artists Books, New York, 1994, p. 134, reprs.

cf. Hogben, Carol, Rowan Watson, editors, From Manet to Hockney: Modern Artists’ Illustrated Books, London, 1985, no. 76

cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 50.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Bareiss Collection of Illustrated Books from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiefer, 1985, no. 36

Toledo Museum of Art, Modern Woodcuts, May 5 - July 24, 2000.

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