Artwork details

Artist

Title

Spider Web

Description

b. 1938, Riga, Latvia

This photorealistic print was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lincoln Center. It depicts one of Celmins' signature subjects, the spider web, which she has represented in various media, including charcoal, oil paint, and multiple printmaking techniques. "Maybe I identify with the spider," the artist has said. "I'm the kind of person who works on something forever and then works on the same image again the next day."

A master of several mediums, including oil painting, charcoal, and multiple printmaking processes, Vija Celmins’ work depicts renditions of natural scenes with uncanny accuracy and attention to detail. Her meticulously rendered images that convey solitude, stillness, and the indeterminacy of life lack a specific point of reference, horizon, or discernible depth of field and become limitless spaces, lending each image a sense of wonder and discovery. A retrospective exhibition of 120 works spanning the artist's career was curated at the Met Breuer in 2020.

This edition of 117 is signed and numbered in pencil.

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Date

2009

Medium

Screenprint

Edition

117

Signature

Signed

Sheet

17 x 19 inches

Status

Available

Price

$7,500.00

Vija Celmins

Vija Celmins is a Latvia-born artist who works in several mediums, including printmaking, charcoal, and oil painting. She arrived in the US aged 10, speaking no English, and found art as a way she could express herself without needing words. Early in her career, in the early 1960s, Celmins created several pop sculptures and representational paintings, including monochromatic panels. Much of her work reflects the photo-realistic, abstract, and minimalist styles, and nature and natural phenomena are themes depicted in many of her pieces. She painted a huge range of environments, from rocks to stars, from spider webs to the sea. She is well-known for focusing on organic details and embracing natural imperfection.