The Swiss–born artist Hugo Weber harnessed the characteristics of a variety of media—sculpture, painting, prints and even film—to explore the intuitive expression of art making. Weber left Europe in 1946 at the invitation of László Moholy-Nagy to teach in Chicago at the “New Bauhaus.” After marrying and becoming an American citizen, the artist spent the next several years in Europe and New York City. In Manhattan he befriended the second generation of abstract expressionists. In the 1960s, owing to his growing interest in poetry, he fraternized with Jack Kerouac and members of the Beat generation. In Black Up and Down, he has expressed the energy of his calligraphic gesture by rubbing crayon, applying a tusche-water mixture with a brush and removing areas of black by scratching with a razor blade. The sophisticated monochromatic tonal ranges on view here testify to the serious technical achievements attained by Tamarind printers by this time.
Details
- Artist Name: Hugo Weber (Swiss, 1918-1971)
- Title: Black up & Down
- Date: 1964
- Medium: Lithograph
- Dimensions: sheet: 22-1/4 x 30 in. (56.5 x 76.2 cm)
- Publisher: Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc.
- Printer: John Dowell
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Anonymous Gift
- Accession Number: P.1965.010.16
Object Information
Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California
- Norton Simon Museum, 2011-10-02 to 2012-04-02
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