Conrad Marca-Relli

CONRAD MARCA RELLI (Boston, 1913 - Parma, 2000).
Untitled.
Etching and aquatint, copy H.C.
Joan Prats edition.
Signed and justified by hand.
Measurements: 77 x 55 cm; 87 x 66 cm (frame).

Conrad Marca-Relli was an American artist, a leading figure of the first generation of Abstract Expressionism and a member of the New York School. Although born in Boston, he moved to New York in his childhood, where he immersed himself in the vibrant world of avant-garde art. He was one of the founders of the "Artists Club" in 1949 and participated in the influential Ninth Street Show. Eventually, as his career progressed, he distanced himself from the New York School, although he maintained a residence near Jackson Pollock's in East Hampton. His work ranged from primitive cityscapes and still lifes to circus and architectural motifs, often with an aesthetic reminiscent of the surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico. He is especially known for his collages of monumental scale, in which he combined oil paint, intense colors and fragmented surfaces with an expressionistic brushstroke. Over the years, his style evolved towards an abstract simplicity, characterized by the use of somber colors and isolated rectangular shapes on neutral backgrounds.