Robert Kipniss NEW

Curator's Comments: 

There is no question that oils from the Robert Kipniss blue period are rare and command exceptional prices.  They show him reaching out for a new definition of landscape. They radiate a joy absent from the later monochromatic brown and green mezzotints that he favored in the 1990's. In the later work, a nearly surrealistic mood haunts silent landscapes rich in the melancholy of nostalgia. The artist's later mezzotints rely on shade and tone rather than outline for their effect, which adds an ominous note to his style, where atmospheric masses of value can threaten. But "Blue and Silver," as titled, echoes with an O'Keeffe sensibility that explains why Kipniss hangs in over 50 museums worldwide, including the Chicago Art Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Smithsonian. These early works are rich in joy--you can feel it as you experience the painting.