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Robert Natkin Paintings

American, 1930-2010
Robert Natkin was born in Chicago on November 7, 1930 into a large family of Russian Jewish immigrants. In 1945 the family moved to Tennessee though soon returned to Chicago where Natkin would attend the Art Institute of Chicago (1948-1952). The museum’s collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, especially those of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse and the whimsical abstractions of Paul Klee, were significant influences on the young artist. Natkin’s influences outside the art world included frequent trips to the Field Museum of Natural History where he was exposed to stylized Native American and Peruvian textiles. Introduced to Abstract-Expressionism in New York in 1952, Natkin was especially drawn to the works of Willem de Kooning who’s agitated marks he began to emulate though after returning to Chicago in 1953 he abandoned ties to action painting and began to form what would become his familiar color field abstraction motif. In 1957 Natkin, now married to fellow artist Judith Dolnick, opened the Wells Street Gallery which showed the works of like-minded Chicago artists including sculptor John Chamberlain and photographer Aaron Siskind as well as New York artists they admired. Due to limited patronage however this was a short-lived venture and, seeking greater opportunities, the couple moved to New York in 1959. Natkin continued to develop bold bright fields of color and texture in his paintings finding success among the Poindexter Galleries stable of up-and-coming artists. Immersed in New York’s dynamic art scene through the 1960s and 70s, Natkin continued to evolve his style through his Apollo series, Field Mouse series, and Intimate Lighting series which includes Remembrance is the Secret of Redemption, Forgetfulness Leads to Exile. Other series followed in a long and successful career. Natkin died in Danbury, Connecticut, on April 20, 2010. Robert Natkin has been the subject of numerous one-man exhibitions and has been included in many more group exhibitions. His work is in the permanent collections of dozens of national and international museums including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Australia, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Additionally Natkin’s colossal 20 x 42 foot mural, executed in 1992, can be seen in the lobby of New York’s Rockefeller Center.
(Biography provided by Taylor Graham)
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Artist: Robert Natkin
Lyrical Abstraction Abstract Expressionist painting for Sonoma CA (signed heart)
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Robert Natkin Lyrical Abstraction for the Sonoma Mission Inn, Sonoma, California, 1990 Acrylic on paper painting with collaged element Signed twice by the ...
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1990s Abstract Geometric Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Pencil

Field Mouse Series
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Robert Natkin (1930-2010) Abstract Expressionist Painter 'Field Mouse Series,' about 1970 Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 44 in. Signed (at lower right): Natkin
Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Bath Apollo Series "Blue Gaze"
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Blue Gaze, 1977, by Robert Natkin (1930-2010) Acrylic on canvas 66 x 66 inches framed 25.98 x 25.98 cm) Signed on bottom right Exhibitions: In 1957, Momentum, Chicago, IL In 1968, Pointdexter Gallery, New York, NY (solo) In 1969, San Francisco Museum of Art (retrospective 1952-1969), San Francisco, CA (solo) In 1974, Within the Decade: Selections from the Guggenheim Museum Permanent Collection, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY In 1980, Masters of American Watercolor, The Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK In 1992, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, UK (solo) In 2007, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe...
Category

1960s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Bern Series
By Robert Natkin
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Bern Series" is a painting by Robert Natkin. The painting is signed lower middle, "Natkin". The framed piece measures 49 x 54 x 1 7/8 in. Robert Natkin (1930-2010) was born in Chicago and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1952. Natkin’s art blends Abstract Expressionism with Post-Impressionist colors. His work often runs in series he created using columns...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in Lawrence, NY
We are pleased to offer this work by second generation AbEx painter Robert Natkin and painted in delicious colors of yellow, tangerine, blue, red and purple. It fits well within a variety of decor settings. Described as the "author of a dappled infinite," Natkin created some of the most innovative color abstractions of the late 20th century. Populated by stripes, dots, grids, and an array of free-floating forms, his light- filled canvases are sensuous, playful, and visually complex. While attending the school of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1948 to 1952, Natkin was afforded the opportunity to study the museum's world-class collection of French post-impressionist art and decided to turn his attention to painting instead. During these formative years, Natkin was inspired by the examples of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, who used decorative patterning and arbitrary color to evoke mood. Most importantly, he also discovered the work of Paul Klee, the Swiss-German artist whose whimsical, semi-abstract paintings reflected his belief that "art does not reproduce the visible but makes visible"--a credo that nurtured Natkin's burgeoning interest in emotional content. In 1952, he lived briefly in New York, where he saw and was influenced by the bold canvases of Willem de Kooning. In 1959, aware of the limited patronage for abstract art in Chicago, Natkin and Dolnick moved to New York, where Natkin joined the stable of artists associated with the Poindexter Gallery, known for its support of emerging painters and sculptors. Immersed in the dynamism of the New York art world, where Abstract Expressionism and Color-Field painting were the dominant styles of the day, Natkin's aesthetic approach continued to evolve. In 1961, he adopted a serial approach to painting, a practice he would adhere to throughout his career. Natkin began to develop a more intricate style (indebted to Klee), depicting diamonds, polygons, ovals, squiggles and other shapes against textured, delicately toned backgrounds interspersed with seemingly randomly placed dots and daubs of pigment and areas of crosshatching. This new style is evident in the "Intimate Lighting" series works. In 1970 Natkin put aside his brushes and began to use sponges...
Category

1970s Color-Field Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Robert Natkin. "Untitled" is an abstract expressionist painting, oil on canvas in a palette of greens, blues, and purples by Post-War, American artist Robert Natkin. The artwork is signed in the lower left, "Natkin 1956". Robert Natkin was born in Chicago and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1952. Natkin’s art blends Abstract Expressionism with Post-Impressionist colors. His work often runs in series he created using columns...
Category

Mid-20th Century Post-War Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled
By Robert Natkin
Located in Palm Desert, CA
An acrylic on canvas painting by Post War artist Robert Natkin. This Untitled, abstract painting is executed in thin layers of acrylic paint of violet, orange, yellow, teal blue, och...
Category

1970s Post-War Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Abstract expressionist, multicolor stripes, acrylic on paper mounted on canvas
By Robert Natkin
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Robert Natkin For Duke Ellington, 1978 Acrylic on paper mounted on canvas 27 1/2 x 39 1/2 inches RNa005
Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Paper, Acrylic

Abstract expressionist, multicolor stipes, small acrylic on canvas
By Robert Natkin
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Robert Natkin Apollo #154, 1981 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 40 inches RNa006
Category

1880s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Untitled (From Intimate Lighting Series)
By Robert Natkin
Located in Missouri, MO
Robert Natkin "Untitled" From the Intimate Lighting Series c. 1975-1978 Acrylic on Paper Signed Lower Left Image Size: Approx 22 x 29 inches Framed Size: Approx. 27.5 x 35.25 inche...
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1970s Abstract Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper

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Located in Palm Desert, CA
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Untitled
H 31.5 in W 38.75 in
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By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
This is a major example of Natkin's Field Mouse Series. It is perfect in size to go over a sofa or on a long wall. It has lively movement and a palpable energy. Bright colors and as...
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"Intimate Lighting Series, " Robert Natkin Abstract Expressionist Lyrical Color
By Robert Natkin
Located in New York, NY
Robert Natkin (American, 1930 - 2010) Intimate Lighting Series, 1978 Acrylic on canvas 34 x 45 inches Signed lower left Provenance: Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York Private Collection, Connecticut Intimate Lighting is part of a series of the same name, which is characterized by textured surfaces, modulating tonalities and floating calligraphic shapes. The work is spare and highly atmospheric. One of the most important abstract painters of his generation, Robert Natkin was known for his innovative blending of form, pattern, color and space to create a distinctly personal and lyrical style. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1930, Natkin began his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago in the early fifties. In 1957, Natkin and his wife, fellow painter Judith Dolnick, opened Wells Street Gallery which featured the work of artists such as Aaron Siskind, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, and John Chamberlain. Seeking further opportunities to show his work, Natkin moved to New York City in 1959, and was represented by Poindexter Gallery and later André Emmerich. Natkin was the subject of solo exhibitions throughout the country and abroad, most notably at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., the Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain, Grand Palais, Paris, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Additionally, Natkin was featured in a number of prominent group shows, such as Young America at the Whitney Museum of Art, New York, in 1960. In the crowded field of Post-War Abstraction, Robert Natkin’s lifetime exploration of color and light set him apart. His poetic paintings combine a Post-Impressionist color sensibility with the lyricism of Paul Klee, a major influence on the artist. Celebrated in his lifetime even as abstraction fell in and out of favor, Natkin remained stubbornly committed to his vision and produced cohesive and challenging work throughout his career. The high-keyed color and all-over treatment recalls the work of Pierre Bonnard, as well as American Modernist Stuart Davis. Indeed, Natkin’s work can be seen as a bridge between the flattened non-objective forms of the American Abstract Artists group of the 1930s and 40s such as Josef Albers, Suzy Frelinghuysen, A. E. Gallatin, Paul Kelpe, George L. K. Morris, and the increasing graphicness found in contemporary abstraction, by painters like Trudy Benson, Keltie Ferris, and Jonathan Lasker. In 1963, the geography of Natkin’s paintings began to take on a different look. The tangent vertical structures of the Apollo series, with their semi-fixed framework, freed the artist from earlier compositional constraints. Within this simplified structure, Natkin could now concentrate further on paint application and surface rather than on broader structural concerns. Named for the Greek god of the sun and of poetry, the paintings of the Apollo series reflect Natkin’s preoccupation with light and with the interplay between light and color. Paul Cézanne feared that his fellow artist Paul Gauguin would steal what he referred to as his “little sensations,” the vibrations resulting from contrasting colors. It is precisely this glowing and resonance, described by Natkin as a kind of “visual vibrato” that began to increasingly preoccupy Natkin in the mid-1960s. The vertical planes of his Apollo canvases served as pre-defined spatial strips, a set of separate yet interacting counterparts, in which the artist could safely play with hue modulation and counterpoint. The spatial aesthetic of the Apollo paintings...
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1970s Abstract Expressionist Robert Natkin Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Robert Natkin paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Robert Natkin paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of paintings to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of orange and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Robert Natkin in paint, acrylic paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Robert Natkin paintings, so small editions measuring 15 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Elwood Howell, Richard Andres, and Amaranth Ehrenhalt. Robert Natkin paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,850 and tops out at $85,000, while the average work can sell for $45,000.

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