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Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
FRED BECKER Underwater.
Engraving and embossing, 1948. 148x105 mm; 5 7/8x4 1/8 inches, full margins. Edition of only approximately 15. Signed, titled and dated in pencil, lower margin. A superb, proof-like impression.
In 1940 Fred Becker (1913-2004) joined the inaugural class at Atelier 17 in New York. He showed earnest interest in abstraction resulting in a strong body of complex drawings and prints. In these, he explored spatial environments formed through strands and webs that are pulled and interwoven, which often evolved into Surrealist tendencies, yet strongly grounded in lessons at Atelier 17. The present work, produced when he returned from World War II and in his final year at Atelier 17, illustrates devastation and decay, namely the twisted, scattered forms throughout and skeletal object at the upper left.
