Four Stories in Black and White: Plate 16

1926

Frantisek Kupka

(Czech, 1871–1957)

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Culture

Czechoslovakia, 20th century

Medium

woodcut

Support

Wove paper

Measurements

Sheet: 33 x 25 cm (13 x 9 13/16 in.); Image: 20.4 x 15.5 cm (8 1/16 x 6 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 2001.143.18

Edition

300 (100 numbered 1-100 signed by the artist, with extra suite of first state woodcuts; 200 numbered 101-300)

Impression

207

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

Frantisek Kupka was a Bohemian painter and graphic artist who worked primarily in France. Kupka was influenced in his early work by a pre-occupation with the occult and spiritualist ideas which he incorporated within art nouveau-inspired compositions similar to Kandinsky's work in the first decade of the twentieth century. Around 1910, Kupka began to evolve his own form of non-objective art which incorporated both lyrical curvilinear forms and strong architectonic geometrical elements. He was among the first European artists to develop a purely abstract style. The woodcuts in this set display the full range of his mature style, dramatically rendered in black and white. This is the first work on paper by Kupka to enter the Museum's collection and it is a marvelous complement to the 1910-11 Kupka painting owned by the Museum.