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The image is comprised of three architectural renderings of a geometric structure set in a hilly landscape. Along the left edge is a schematic legend referencing the individual views. From top to bottom, there is an isometric of the structure, a side elevation, and a cross-section of the geometric structure without reference to its site. None of the component parts give any indication of scale or human presence. Abraham probably considered the image one of his “imaginary projects” and did not expect that it would be built. In a 1977 interview, Abraham explained: “When I draw, the drawing is not a step toward the built but an autonomous reality that I try to anticipate. It’s a whole process of anticipation, anticipating that a line becomes an edge, that a plane becomes a wall; the texture of the graphite becomes the texture of the built.” [1]
The intaglio processes used in Untitled include aquatint and soft-ground etching. The single plate image was printed in black ink on cream-colored Arches paper, with an even plate tone creating an overall backdrop of the palest gray behind the etched forms. Although the architectural forms are rendered three-dimensionally, the overall effect is muted, with a close range of grays between shadow and highlight. The stippling created by the use of aquatint generates a visual texture that suggests rolling hills and softens the geometric forms. The lines of the soft-ground etching have a quality that is more like pencil, one of Abraham’s favorite expressive tools.
Notes:
[1] Abraham, quoted in Carlos Brillembourg, “Raimund Abraham,” BOMB, vol. 77 (Fall 2001), http://bombsite.com/issues/77.
ProvenanceFrom 1984
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by the American Art Foundation through The Pace Gallery, New York on March 20, 1984. [1]
Notes:
[1] Letter, March 20, 1984, object file.
Exhibition History
DepartmentAmerican Art
Untitled
Artist
Raimund Abraham
(1933 - 2010)
Date1982
Mediumetching with soft ground and aquatint
DimensionsPaper: 31 x 25 1/2 in. (78.7 x 64.8 cm)
Image (plate): 20 x 14 7/8 in. (50.8 x 37.8 cm)
SignedAbraham 82
Credit LineGift of the American Art Foundation
CopyrightCopyright Unknown
Object number1984.2.1.a
DescriptionAn educator and architect, Raimund Abraham turned to drawing and printmaking as outlets for his inventive designs. Along with Kevin Bone, a colleague at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture, Abraham designed the conversion of New York’s Second Avenue Courthouse into a facility for the Anthology Film Archives. Abraham’s Untitled was included with twelve other prints in a portfolio published to mark the occasion. The etching was made at Studio Porter-Wiener in New York in an edition that included thirteen artist’s proofs and seventy-five impressions. The image is comprised of three architectural renderings of a geometric structure set in a hilly landscape. Along the left edge is a schematic legend referencing the individual views. From top to bottom, there is an isometric of the structure, a side elevation, and a cross-section of the geometric structure without reference to its site. None of the component parts give any indication of scale or human presence. Abraham probably considered the image one of his “imaginary projects” and did not expect that it would be built. In a 1977 interview, Abraham explained: “When I draw, the drawing is not a step toward the built but an autonomous reality that I try to anticipate. It’s a whole process of anticipation, anticipating that a line becomes an edge, that a plane becomes a wall; the texture of the graphite becomes the texture of the built.” [1]
The intaglio processes used in Untitled include aquatint and soft-ground etching. The single plate image was printed in black ink on cream-colored Arches paper, with an even plate tone creating an overall backdrop of the palest gray behind the etched forms. Although the architectural forms are rendered three-dimensionally, the overall effect is muted, with a close range of grays between shadow and highlight. The stippling created by the use of aquatint generates a visual texture that suggests rolling hills and softens the geometric forms. The lines of the soft-ground etching have a quality that is more like pencil, one of Abraham’s favorite expressive tools.
Notes:
[1] Abraham, quoted in Carlos Brillembourg, “Raimund Abraham,” BOMB, vol. 77 (Fall 2001), http://bombsite.com/issues/77.
ProvenanceFrom 1984
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by the American Art Foundation through The Pace Gallery, New York on March 20, 1984. [1]
Notes:
[1] Letter, March 20, 1984, object file.
Exhibition History
Status
Not on view