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

ARTSCHWAGER Richard (1923-2013).
American painter, sculptor, and draftsman born in Albany, New York. A truly unclassifiable artist, he began his career as an assistant in the studio of Amédée Ozenfant, before turning to cabinetmaking, drawing, and designing and marketing furniture. He would return to art in the 1950s, and his drawings would be exhibited and noticed at the end of the 1950s. Castelli and Karp showed his sculpture, notably these Formica objects in 1964 and 1965, the date of his first solo exhibition. His works are included in the catalogs of the major North American and European museums.

The work offered here is an etching from the portfolio “Notes on a Room” issued by the Whitney Museum in 1998 in 130 copies. The print here bears the number 50 in the series. This portfolio gathered texts (poems) by Gini Alhadeff, Brendan Gill, and Daniel Halpern, as well as two etchings by Sol LeWitt and three photographic prints by Louise Lawler, finally, two etchings by Richard Artschwager.

This piece depicts the interior of a room, etched with flair and vitality, which gives the work great freshness, a sense of spontaneity as well as naïveté. The print is in excellent condition, never framed or handled. A piece to collect and preserve, Artschwager’s market value continuing to rise.