Carol Summers American, 1925-2016

Carol Summers was born in upstate New York to artist parents who introduced him to various painting methods and the interplay between different paper textures from an early age. After serving in World War II, Summers studied art at Bard College and later undertook apprenticeships with Steven Hirsh and Louis Schanker. His artistic journey continued in Italy, where he developed his signature style of richly colored landscapes.

Summers quickly established himself as a leading woodblock artist, participating in exhibitions at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and creating innovative techniques that defined his aesthetic and influenced fellow woodblock artists such as Leonard Baskin. He rebelled against the rigidity of traditional Japanese woodblock techniques by applying colored ink after placing paper on the wood blocks. He then used mineral oil to give the ink fluidity and depth. This approach resulted in a subtle and controlled blending of color borders, contrasting with the defined separations typical of traditional methods. Moreover, Summers applied his colors to rice and mulberry paper, whose pores absorbed his vibrantly hued palette, giving his works a distinctive glow. Today, his art is part of the permanent collections at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.