Auction Ends: Apr 22, 2009 12:01 PM EDT

Art

Gretchen Dow Simpson Print

Item Number: 110

Estimated Value: 650 USD
Sold: 425 USD to fredmerle

Number of Bids: 1 - Bid History

Item Description

Enjoy this soothing impression of Jamestown, Rhode Island, as seen through the eyes of renowned artist Gretchen Dow Simpson. The easy ambience of this island town is suggested through Simpson's distinctive use of color, line and space.

Jamestown, Rhode Island 1993 is a limited edition, signed Serigraph. 25 colors printed on Coventry Rag Paper. Edition #45 of 175. Print size is 22" W x 27 H 1/2". Cleanly framed by Providence Picture Frame Company in a 3/4" wooden, black, matte-finish frame.

A longtime contributor of cover art to The New Yorker (65 covers to date), Gretchen Dow Simpson's signature style involves architectural studies, or as one critic put it, "the geometry of man-made structures." Her focus has frequently been on New England, although she has produced work influenced by travels in Europe, Morocco and Mexico.

Dow Simpson pieces explore the relationship between line and tone, mood and space. Her dedication to form often seems at first to offer a pristine view of the man-made world. However, as one delves deeper into the works, one may also discover a Hopper-influenced study of absence--and delight in how she employs light and color to create commentary on these themes.

Item Special Note

Simpson attended Rhode Island School of Design in 1957-1959. She majored in painting, but after she left RISD she didn't take up a brush again until 1970. She worked at the 1964 World's Fair in New York; she learned how to type and took secretarial jobs in Boston. She started taking photographs of the buildings and set up a dark room in her kitchen. Eventually, she landed a job at an advertising agency in New York, starting as a secretary, but then becomming assistant to the photographer.