Slaughtered Houses by Irving Amen

Slaughtered Houses by Irving Amen

Slaughtered Houses

Irving Amen

Title

Slaughtered Houses

 
Artist

Irving Amen

  1918 - 2011 (biography)
Year
1955  
Technique
color woodcut 
Image Size
16 x 21" image 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
3/15, color 
Annotations
pencil titled and numbered lower left; dated lower right 
Reference
Artists Studio / Kainen: Page 28 
Paper
soft wove 
State
published, color; ii of ii 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
13462 
Price
SOLD
Description
This expressionist woodcut with the twisted houses and violent sky is a departure from Amen's usually more figurative, hopeful work in the medium. He also printed this image in an edition of 40 two years earlier. Irving Amen was born in New York City in 1918. A scholarship to the Pratt Institute was awarded to him when he was fourteen years old and he spent seven years in life classes perfecting his drawing.
In 1953, Amen traveled throughout Italy. This resulted in a series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and a number of oil paintings. One of these woodcuts, “Piazza San Marco #4” and its four woodblocks constitute a permanent exhibit of block printing in color at the Smithsonian Institution. Travel in Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 led to a retrospective show at the Artist's House in Jerusalem.
Irving Amen has taught at Pratt Institute and at the University of Notre Dame. He had a show of woodcuts at the Artists Studio in NYC. Commissions include a Peace Medal in honor of the Vietnam War. He created designs for 12 stained glass windows 16 feet high depicting the Twelve Tribes of Israel, commissioned by Agudas Achim Synagogue in Columbus, Ohio. Amen illustrated the classic, Gilgamesh, for the Limited Editions Club.
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