CAROL SUMMERS

ABOUT THE WORK

Let's Make Love is a watercolor print produced in the 1970s by master woodcut artist Carol Summers. It depicts Summers' signature landscape motif, comprised of bright, saturated color fields that subtly bleed into each other and over the paper's edge. This print differs subtly from others in the series due to the individual application of ink that Summers applied to each press. Further, its uniquely large size is a product of Summers' pioneering expansion of the traditional hand press, resulting in works later termed "monumental woodcuts."

This work has undergone treatment by an IAC specialist to restore the brightness of the colored ink and translucence of the rice paper. A minor marking at the upper left is considered original to the paper. Please contact the gallery for more information.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Carol Summers (1925-2016) was born in upstate New York to artist parents who exposed him early on to various painting methods and their respective interplay with different paper textures. After serving in WWII, Summers studied art at Bard College before undertaking apprenticeships under Steven Hirsh and Louis Schanker. He then undertook additional study in Italy, which would inspire his signature depiction of deeply hued landscapes.

Summers quickly distinguished himself as a preeminent woodblock artist, contributing to exhibitions at New York's MOMA and crafting new techniques that would categorize his aesthetic and influence fellow woodblock artists, such as Leonard Baskin. Summers rebelled against the fixity of traditional Japanese woodblock methods by applying colored ink after placing paper on wood blocks and using a subsequent application of mineral oil to give the ink fluidity and depth. The effect was a subtle and controlled blending of color borders, which differed from the defined separation of traditional methods. Further, Summers applied his color to rice and mulberry paper, whose pores absorbed Summer's deeply-hued palette, bestowing his works with a recognizable glow. Today, his work occupies the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the MOMA, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.