(Click on any thumbnail to display larger image/slideshow)
Karel Appel (b. 1921, Amsterdam) is one of the Netherlands’ most celebrated 20th century
artists. In the years following his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam,
he became a founding member of CoBrA. Established in 1948 and active through 1951,
CoBrA (a title created by incorporating the first letters of the members’ cities of
residence – Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam) rejected the formal and rationalist
conventions of art establishment following World War II and adopted a doctrine that
embraced the raw energy of primitive art, the imagination of children’s drawings,
and a bright, bold palette.
Cats, a portfolio of seventeen lithographs is a fanciful series of images that may
be seen as a meditation on this domestic animal. It is an exquisite example of Appel's
career-long interest in animals as a subject and his masterful use of flat brushtrokes
to yield a patterning of rectangular strokes of ink reminiscent of the aggressive
layers of paint that distinguishes his paintings.
Appel has exhibited in galleries and museum worldwide and is represented in major
museums throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He was awarded the UNESCO
Prize at the 27th International Biennale in Venice and the first prize at the Guggenheim
International Exhibition in New York in 1960. The Reality of Karel Appel, a film by
Dutch director Jan Vrijman and music by Dizzy Gillespie and Karel Appel was released
in 1961. Since 1997, he has divided his time between Tuscany and the United States.
Edition #117/125 is part of Ferris State University's private art collection. Cover
sheet reads:
PORTFOLIO OF SEVENTEEN LITHOGRAPHS IN COLOR, EACH SIGNED IN PENCIL AND NUMBERED. EDITION
OF 125, NUMBERED 1 TO 125 IN ARABIC NUMERALS, ON ARCHES PAPER; 65 PROOFS ON JAPAN
PAPER, NUMBERED I TO LXV IN ROMAN NUMERALS; 15 ARTIST'S PROOFS MARKED A.P.; 15 DEALER'S
PROOFS MARKED H.C.
PRINTED 1978 BY ARTS LITHO-PARIS
PUBLISHED AND DISTRIBUTED BY
LONDON ARTS, INC.
321 FISHER BUILDING
DETROIT, MI. USA
LERUM ARTS
9924 SIXTY FIRST AVE.E.
PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON, USA 1978