May 12, 2016 - Sale 2415

Sale 2415 - Lot 18

Unsold
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
FRITZ GLARNER
Drawing for Relational Painting.

Lithograph, 1958. 157x366 mm; 6 1/4x14 1/2 inches, full margins. Signed, dated and numbered 3/12 in pencil, lower margin. Published by ULAE, West Islip, with the blind stamp lower left. A very good impression of this extremely scarce, early lithograph.

Born in Switzerland and educated in Italy, Glarner (1899-1972) was a member of the American Abstract Artists, which he joined on moving to New York with his wife in 1936. Glarner developed and employed a theory of abstraction that he called Relational Painting. His theory explored the relationship of simplified color use (blue, yellow, red, and gradations of gray) and compositional constraint (mostly through trapezoids). His paintings and prints especially recall the work of the de Stijl painter Piet Mondrian. Sparks 2.