Items Similar to Falling Figure, American Modernist Abstract Etching
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 12
Robert A. BirmelinFalling Figure, American Modernist Abstract Etching
About the Item
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Robert Birmelin became a professor of fine arts at Queens College in New York, and is known for paintings that magnify through texture the realism of nature.
He earned his BA in 1956 and his MFA in 1960 from Yale School of Art and Architecture and also studied at Cooper Union and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In 1960, he earned a Fulbright Scholarship, which took him to the Slade School of Art in London.
His work has been acquired by 40 public collections including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art and Washington’s Hirshorn Museum. Among the various art magazines and journals where articles on Mr. Birmelin’s work have appeared are Art In America, American Artists, and Art Forum. Additionally, he has received numerous grants and awards from such organizations as The American Academy in Rome, The National Endowment for the Arts, The American Institute of Arts and Letters, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, Mr. Birmelin found his principal inspiration in the streets of New York where he was fascinated by the energy and diversity of city life. His large paintings evoke movement, using focus and depth manipulations to suggest a close spatial and psychological relationship between the viewer and the world Birmelin has depicted. Hands often play an important role in these works, as exemplified by “The Twenty Dollars Bill.”
From 1993 to 2000, he became absorbed by memory, its unreliability and contradictions. These paintings are of states of mind, structured as a series of “reversible compositions,” which initially present a credible depiction of a place, and then after a moment, reveal insoluble contradictions created by contrasting opposing images of equal visual weight.
A new series of images of the life of the urban crowd was begun in 2001 and continues to the present. Many of these paintings have a sweeping sense of the choreography of masses of people in motion and reflect the tensions of contemporary urban reality.
Selected Grants and Scholarships
1960-61 U.S. Government Grant (Fulbright) for study in the United Kingdom
1961-64 The American Academy in Rome
1955 National Institute of Arts and Letters
1973 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
1976, 1982, 1990 National Endowment for the Arts
2005 The Joan Mitchell Foundation
1980, 1988, 1998, 2006 The New Jersey State Council on the Arts
Selected Public Collections
Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Hirschorn Museum, Washington, DC
Hood Art Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
The Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY
The Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagoaka, Japan
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Academy of Design, New York, NY
New York Historical Society, New York, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
- Creator:Robert A. Birmelin (1933-2003, American)
- Dimensions:Height: 13.2 in (33.53 cm)Width: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Minor Toning, please see photos.
- Gallery Location:Surfside, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3826168872
About the Seller
4.9
Platinum Seller
These expertly vetted sellers are 1stDibs' most experienced sellers and are rated highest by our customers.
Established in 1995
1stDibs seller since 2014
1,536 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 2 hours
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Surfside, FL
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- Chinese Man In Tree, American Modernist Abstract EtchingBy Robert A. BirmelinLocated in Surfside, FLBorn in Newark, New Jersey, Robert Birmelin became a professor of fine arts at Queens College in New York, and is known for paintings that magnify through texture the realism of natu...Category
20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Man In Field With Dogs, American Modernist Abstract EtchingBy Robert A. BirmelinLocated in Surfside, FLBorn in Newark, New Jersey, Robert Birmelin became a professor of fine arts at Queens College in New York, and is known for paintings that magnify through texture the realism of natu...Category
20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Man In Field With Dogs, American Modernist Abstract EtchingBy Robert A. BirmelinLocated in Surfside, FLBorn in Newark, New Jersey, Robert Birmelin became a professor of fine arts at Queens College in New York, and is known for paintings that magnify through texture the realism of natu...Category
20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Speedometer, American Modernist Abstract EtchingBy Robert A. BirmelinLocated in Surfside, FLBorn in Newark, New Jersey, Robert Birmelin became a professor of fine arts at Queens College in New York, and is known for paintings that magnify through texture the realism of natu...Category
20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Speedometer, American Modernist Abstract EtchingBy Robert A. BirmelinLocated in Surfside, FLBorn in Newark, New Jersey, Robert Birmelin became a professor of fine arts at Queens College in New York, and is known for paintings that magnify through texture the realism of natu...Category
20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Fallen Figures. Standing Dog, American Modernist Abstract EtchingBy Robert A. BirmelinLocated in Surfside, FLBorn in Newark, New Jersey, Robert Birmelin became a professor of fine arts at Queens College in New York, and is known for paintings that magnify through texture the realism of natu...Category
20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
You May Also Like
- Bernard Sanders, My RoomLocated in New York, NYSanders was very careful to make sure this subject was at his home at 2020 Grand Avenue in the Bronx. Signed in pencil.Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Bernard Sanders, Man at PianoLocated in New York, NYFor a print that's nearly one hundred years old it feels very contemporary. Signed and titled in pencil. Besides the etching I think there is some false biting that adds tone here.Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Bernard Sanders, (Fantastic City)Located in New York, NYThis extravagant subject is a clear exception in the oeuvre of Bernard Sanders. Signed in pencil; interestingly signed in the plate at the upper right ...Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsEtching
- Points of Departure II: Nijinsky VariationsBy Peter MiltonLocated in Middletown, NYPoints of Departure II: Nijinsky Variations Robert E. Townsend, 1996 Resist-ground etching and engraving on BFK-Rives paper, 24 x 38 inches (618 x 965 mm), full margins. Signed, ti...Category
1990s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsEngraving, Etching
- Les Belles et la Bête: Before the HuntBy Peter MiltonLocated in Middletown, NYResist ground etching and engraving on cream wove paper, 22 x 39 inches (558 x 990 mm), full margins. Signed, titled, dated, and numbered 27/160 in pencil, lower margin. With the blindstamp of the printer, Robert E. Townsend, in the lower left margin. A beautiful, richly inked impression of this highly detailed, large image. In very good condition with minor mat tone, extremely minor scattered light surface soiling, and one pin-point sized dot of brown discoloration on the lower left margin, recto, well outside of image area. [Milton 99]. Milton states that there is a metaphorical evolution at the root of his body of graphic work, and with Les Belles et la Bête, Before the Hunt, he found himself at a crossroads that he viewed as a sort of artistic adolescence, which he felt demanded a natural examination of mysteries of sexual awakening. The image is brimming with fantastical images and metaphors for the confrontation of sexual exploration; a Freudian analyst appears in the left of the image, scattered tableaus of paired figures...Category
1970s American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsArchival Paper, Engraving, Etching
- The Grolier Club Library (Sketch), Demonstration PrintBy John Taylor ArmsLocated in Middletown, NYEtching on light yellow cream laid paper with deckle edges, full margins. Inscribed in the image "Library of the Grolier Club, Demonstration Plate, Drawn, Etched and Printed in a Li...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Interior Prints
MaterialsLaid Paper, Etching
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Mid Century Modern Vintage Interior Design
1960s Interior Design
Contemporary Vintage Interior Design
Contemporary Modern Vintage Interior Design
Etching Library
Japanese Etching
Japanese Etchings
Vintage Interiors Magazine
Vintage Fall Prints
Vintage Fall Print
Nature Etching
American Modernist Prints
American Dollar
Roberts Etching
San Francisco Etching
Etching Boston
Etching 2001
Interiors By Tiffany