Mountain Pool by Darwin Musselman

This is a serigraph by noted California artist Darren Musselman. It is titled Mountain Pool Musselman created a suite of serigraphs using this compositional style and earth tone color palette in 1963. While the landscape is apparent, the use of stylized shapes and untextured color gives the piece a surreal quality. This is enhanced by the black sky and the large white negative space in the center of the image that presumably represents the pool. It's stark and dramatic, and has an other worldly quality. It seems like the viewer is standing on an asteroid in outer space, although the presence of a pool of liquid would be incongruous. It's a fascinating work from this period. The piece itself is unframed and is in excellent condition. It is signed in pencil Darwin Musselman lower right, the edition, 19/32 is lower center, and the title Mountain Pool is lower left. The plate size is 23.875 x 17.875 inches. The sheet is 26 x 20 inches. There are two punch holes in the upper margin well away from the image. There is very subtle mat burn also away from the image. Otherwise, there are no tears, fading, stains, or foxing. A fine work by the artist.

Darwin Musselman (1916-2001) Darwin Musselman was a painter and printmaker from California. He is credited with being one of the artists who helped define the past-war “California Style”, as he was included in the book "A California Style," published in 1985. He grew up in Fresno, CA and went to high school and college there. Prior to the war he did further artistic study at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. After the war (where he worked in the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, CA presumably on Liberty Ships that were built there), he pursued further education that included an M.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and a master's at the University of California - Berkeley. He pursued advanced study with several well-known artists, most notably Lyonel Feininger and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Based on these studies and his work, in 1966 he received a doctoral equivalence from the California State University system. He spent the last years of his life in Lancaster, PA. Best known as a painter and watercolorist, he also produced some very interesting prints using a variety of different print techniques. Some of his prints are held in the National Gallery of Art collection.