Kyoto by Carl A. Morris

Kyoto by Carl A. Morris

Kyoto

Carl A. Morris

Title

Kyoto

 
Artist

Carl A. Morris

  1911 - 1993 (biography)
Year
c. 1958  
Technique
collotype 
Image Size
10 5/8 x 8 1/4" image size 
Signature
ink, in image, lower left 
Edition Size
Trial Proof; from unstated edition 
Annotations
pencil titled and editioned as "Trial Proof", annotated "collotype"; in lower margin 
Reference
 
Paper
soft, antique-white Japanese laid 
State
 
Publisher
 
Inventory ID
22007 
Price
SOLD
Description

Carl A. Morris has become known as one of the leading printmakers of the Pacific Northwest, particularly Oregon. He spent much of his career cultivating a welcoming environment for Abstract Expressionists of the mid-20th century who were uninterested in attaching themselves to the New York art world. His efforts exposed him to the work of Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, and others who wanted to make Oregon and Washington a destination for experimental art and thought.

With roots inpired by the Ashcan School and Social Realism in general, he found success even through the Depression with his talent for figurative work. However, he found his stride once he began exploring abstraction, and by the 1950s he had almost entirely abandoned representational compositions. A guest teaching position in Colorado opened up his palette to bright color and airy, "staccato" shapes, and set him on the stylistic path he would travel throughout the rest of his career. This early Abstract Expressionist piece comes from that period where he was discovering something new and exciting.