Italian Landscape by Irving Amen

This is a colorful woodblock print by noted American artist Irving Amen. It dates from 1953 and is from a series of works Amen did depicting European cities and scenes. This image is of an unspecified location, and is titled Italian Landscape. This piece has a very modernist sense with many curved lines giving the sense of a living landscape. The use of black and purple in the sky givens a sense of foreboding. The moon is visible in the upper left but provides little light. Amen utilizes some type of effect to create voids in the purple ink of the sky to create a field of stars. The piece has a surreal quality to it. A fine but somewhat unusual example of the artist's style from this period. The piece is in very good condition. It is printed on a full sheet (19.25 x 16.25 inches) that is untrimmed. There are no tears, paper loss, stains, fading, or foxing There is some slight toning and mat burn that is visible, but doesn't impact the image. o The colors are vivid without fading. It is signed and dated in pencil lower right, Irving Amen'53 and the edition size (200/200) and title, Italian Landscape, are in pencil lower left. A fine example of the artist's work from this period.

Irving Amen (1918-2011): A fine twentieth century sculptor, painter, etcher, lithographer, silk-screen and woodcut artist, Irving Amen studied at the Art Students League in New York and at the Academy Grande Chaumiere in Paris. Throughout his career he traveled extensively, particularly in Europe, Russia and Central America. Besides practicing his art, Amen also taught classes in sculpting and printmaking at such influential schools as the Pratt Institute (1961) and at Notre Dame University (1962). His art has been exhibited with the Society of American Graphic Artists, the Library of Congress and at the National Academy of Design. In 1949 the Smithsonian Institution also launched a one man exhibition of his work. Amen's famous art is now included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Bibliotheque Royale, Brussels, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.