Urban Landscapes III

Richard Estes
b. 1932

Urban Landscapes III
Eiffel Tower, Restaurant; Airport; Cafeteria, Vatican; Manhattan; Lakewood Mall; Bus; Subway; Movies

each signed in pencil Richard Estes (lower right); numbered 8/250 (lower left)
the set of eight screenprints in colors on Fabriano Cottone wove paper
images: 14⅛ by 20 in. (36 by 51 cm.)
sheets: 19⅝ by 27½ in. (50 by 70 cm.)
framed: 23 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches

Executed in 1981; this set is number 8 from the edition of 250 plus 15 artist's proof sets, each with the blindstamp of the printer, Domberger KG, Stuttgart, published by Parasol Press.

Provenance:
Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston
Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport

We are pleased to present a complete set of Urban Landscapes III, hyper-realistic works by Richard Estes. Regarded as one of the founders of the international photo-realist movement of the late 1960s, Estes is known for his paintings and silkscreen prints of detailed urban settings. 

Estes develops his imagery through a gradual accumulation of information. He takes dozens of photographs of each site from different angles and then combines the information into one complex composition. Each silkscreen print comprises hand-applied layers of color— sometimes up to 150 runs per print.  His unique palette emphasizes every neon sign and reflective surface, transforming commonplace subjects into spatially complex, stylized images.  Although Estes’s work meticulously represents reality, the streets contain no people, traffic jams, dirt, or litter.  The result is a familiar cityscape

Estes was born in 1932 in Kewanee, Illinois. After graduating from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1956, Estes moved to New York City, where he worked as a graphic artist. In the early ‘60s, he began painting everyday scenes of city life. By the latter half of the decade, Estes had devoted himself to painting full time, and he turned his focus to hyper-realistic renderings of storefronts, glass-windowed buildings and the detailed world they reflected. In 1968, Estes had his first solo show at the Allan Stone Gallery.

Richard Estes currently lives and works between New York City and Maine. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Council for the Arts Fellowship (1971), and induction as a member fo the National Academy of Design (1984). His paintings are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tate Gallery, London, Yale University Art Gallery.