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There are two untitled prints by Krushenick in the collection of Reynolda House Museum of American Art. Both reflect the artist’s intent; as he explained, “I’m trying to use the forms to complement each other that way, to give a field of quietness something with a fabulous shock element.” [1]
This vertical composition is almost entirely filled by a rectilinear shape printed in metallic gray, with a border-like edge created by blue and red forms pressing up against the delineating black outline around the gray. Along the bottom edge, the assertive red shapes overlap the gray, thus generating some spatial dimension. The black outline contains the gray within the picture plane, but the red and blue extend beyond it. Animating the entire image are the randomized black lines, almost like scribbles or scratches. As one critic puts it, “Krushenick avoided explicit representation, but there is an often weird sense of narrative animation in his tautly frontal compositions of flat, primary-colored shapes defined by black cartoon lines.” [2]
The silkscreen print was done on white rag paper in at least four colors of ink: silver, blue, red, and black, and the process was especially suited to Krushenick’s aesthetic. As the artist commented, “I enjoy silkscreen more because silkscreen is more a direct idea of my paintings than lithography. Lithography goes more to a soft idea of painting than a hard idea of painting. And all of my lithographs come out looking like silkscreens. … [Silkscreen]…it’s my bag.”[3]
Notes:
[1] Krushenick interview with Paul Cumming, March 7–14, 1968, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-nicholas-krushenick-12159
[2] Ken Johnson, “Nicholas Krushenick: ‘A Survey,’” The New York Times
(October 13, 2011).
[3] Krushenick interview with Cumming.
ProvenanceTo 2002
Robert C. Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield, Richmond, VA [1]
From 2002
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Robert C. Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield on December 27, 2002. [2]
Notes:
[1] Letter, December 9, 2001, object file.
[2] Letter, December 27, 2002, object file.
Exhibition History2004
Selections of Recent Acquisitions
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (1/29/2004 - 11/22/2004)
2006-2007
Modern Fun! Prints from the 70’s and ‘80s
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (10/3/2006-1/28/2007)
2008
New World Views: Gifts from Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (5/20/2008-8/31/2008)
Published References
DepartmentAmerican Art
Untitled
Artist
Nicholas Krushenick
(1929 - 1999)
Date1983
Mediumsilkscreen on rag paper
DimensionsFrame: 46 5/16 x 38 9/16 x 2 3/4 in. (117.6 x 97.9 x 7 cm)
Paper: 40 x 32 in. (101.6 x 81.3 cm)
Image: 34 x 24 3/4 in. (86.4 x 62.9 cm)
SignedKrushenick 1983
Credit LineGift of Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs
Copyright© The Estate of Nicholas Krushenick/ Gary Snyder Gallery
Object number2002.6.5
DescriptionThe boldly colorful abstract artist Nicholas Krushenick was happy to avoid being identified with any one of the post-Abstract Expressionism movements: Pop, Minimalism, Hard-edge Painting, or even Op art. A student of Hans Hofmann, he honed his own skills as an abstract painter to reflect his strong graphic sensibilities and paired them with an interest in straightforward color schemes that are often indebted to Hofmann’s “push-pull” theory about how some colors recede, while others advance. There are two untitled prints by Krushenick in the collection of Reynolda House Museum of American Art. Both reflect the artist’s intent; as he explained, “I’m trying to use the forms to complement each other that way, to give a field of quietness something with a fabulous shock element.” [1]
This vertical composition is almost entirely filled by a rectilinear shape printed in metallic gray, with a border-like edge created by blue and red forms pressing up against the delineating black outline around the gray. Along the bottom edge, the assertive red shapes overlap the gray, thus generating some spatial dimension. The black outline contains the gray within the picture plane, but the red and blue extend beyond it. Animating the entire image are the randomized black lines, almost like scribbles or scratches. As one critic puts it, “Krushenick avoided explicit representation, but there is an often weird sense of narrative animation in his tautly frontal compositions of flat, primary-colored shapes defined by black cartoon lines.” [2]
The silkscreen print was done on white rag paper in at least four colors of ink: silver, blue, red, and black, and the process was especially suited to Krushenick’s aesthetic. As the artist commented, “I enjoy silkscreen more because silkscreen is more a direct idea of my paintings than lithography. Lithography goes more to a soft idea of painting than a hard idea of painting. And all of my lithographs come out looking like silkscreens. … [Silkscreen]…it’s my bag.”[3]
Notes:
[1] Krushenick interview with Paul Cumming, March 7–14, 1968, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-nicholas-krushenick-12159
[2] Ken Johnson, “Nicholas Krushenick: ‘A Survey,’” The New York Times
(October 13, 2011).
[3] Krushenick interview with Cumming.
ProvenanceTo 2002
Robert C. Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield, Richmond, VA [1]
From 2002
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Robert C. Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield on December 27, 2002. [2]
Notes:
[1] Letter, December 9, 2001, object file.
[2] Letter, December 27, 2002, object file.
Exhibition History2004
Selections of Recent Acquisitions
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (1/29/2004 - 11/22/2004)
2006-2007
Modern Fun! Prints from the 70’s and ‘80s
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (10/3/2006-1/28/2007)
2008
New World Views: Gifts from Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (5/20/2008-8/31/2008)
Published References
Status
Not on view