Cityscape

Robert Fremont Conover

This color relief print was published in 1957 by the International Graphic Arts Society (IGAS) in an edition of 200, half the edition was sold in the U.S. and half overseas. At the core of IGAS was a seven-member jury that was responsible for selecting the artists who would then be commissioned to produce editions that would eventually be sold to IGAS members. Among the programs offered by IGAS was an innovative print rental program for colleges and universities that assisted them in starting or developing a collection of contemporary prints.

The commissions generally were printed in editions of 210, 100 for the US, 100 for international distribution and 10 proofs for the artist.

For "Cityscape" Conover combined woodcut with color paper relief elements to create this gestural abstraction using primary colors. Conover's methods are discussed in detail in David Acton's "The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints", page 156.

Printmaker and painter Robert Conover was born in Trenton, New Jersey, July 3, 1920. His early works during the 1950s were geometric abstract paintings, with limited color. His style changed and became freer in the early 1960s, strongly influenced by the Abstract Expressionists, and employing a fuller range of color.