Richard Artschwager (1923-2013) - Notes on a room

RICHARD ARTSCHWAGER (1923-2013).
American painter, sculptor, and draftsman born in Albany, New York. A truly uncategorizable artist, he began his career as an assistant in Amédée Ozenfant’s workshop before turning to cabinetry, drawing, producing, and marketing furniture. He would return to art in the 1950s, and his drawings were exhibited and noted toward the end of that decade. Castelli and Karp exhibited his sculpture, notably these Formica objects in 1964 and 1965, the date of his first solo show. His works are included in the catalogs of the largest North American and European museums.

The work offered here is an engraving from the portfolio "Notes on a Room" issued by the Whitney Museum in 1998 in a edition of 130. The print bears here the number 50 in the series. This portfolio brought together texts (poems) by Gini Alhadeff, Brendan Gill, and Daniel Halpern, as well as two engravings by Sol Lewitt and three photographic prints by Louise Lawler, and finally two engravings by Richard Artschwager.

This piece depicts the interior of a room, engraved with flair and vitality, giving the work great freshness, a sense of spontaneity as well as naivety. The engraving is in excellent condition, never framed or handled. A piece to collect and preserve, Artschwager’s market value continually rising.