Figures, One Winged

Salvatore Grippi

A rare, stunning, early career piece by one of New York's leading mid-century printmakers. Salvatore Grippi worked at Atelier 17 in New York in the early 1950s. "Figures, One Winged" expands his study of the human figure in print to a large-scale woodcut, unusual for the artist. Five people in various poses stretch across the matrix, a hilly landscape in the back with the suggestion of a setting sun in the upper right of the image.

As is usual with Grippi's work, there is no obvious narrative, but his style harkens to ancient Greek works executed on vases and frescoes, depicting mythological scenes while using an Abstract Expressionist approach to carving the block.

Of note with regard to the style he employed in this woodcut is his use of bold patches of black ink, suggesting cast shadows. Many of Grippi's compositions utilize linework rather than highly contrasting light and shadow to suggest dimensionality. However, in this piece, he emphasizes the black, perhaps due to the unwieldly nature of the medium itself.