Robert Kipniss: The Graphic Work is the first book about Kipniss's prints. It includes two hundred and eight color reproductions of the artist's lithographs made from 1967 to 1979.  < Back to all books Robert Kipniss: The Graphic Work Consult Bookfinder for availability Catalogue raisonné of works in intaglio and lithography, 1967-1979 Compiled and with a preface by Karl Lunde Artist's note by Robert Kipniss Published by Abaris Books, 1980 Trade and deluxe edition Robert Kipniss: The Graphic Work documents the artist’s earliest prints in intaglio techniques, followed by his subsequent work in lithography, which dominates much of the content. Karl Lunde, art historian and professor at William Patterson College, observes: "In his prints he portrays a world of restorative quiet, a contemplative solitude hard to achieve in contemporary life, a quiet marshalling of energies exactly paralleled by the very process by which the works are achieved. Through subtle landscapes he shows us what is means to be a human being.” The artist’s first 208 editions are documented, including image size, printing details, number and types of impressions, dimensions of the image area, and publisher, when relevant. This book is out of print. It was published both as a trade edition and a signed and numbered deluxe edition of 160 plus 20 artist’s proofs in a custom slipcase, including two signed lithographs: Shadows and mists and Four trees (1979), color lithographs, 5 x 5 inches each.

Robert Kipniss' unique works on paper consits of pencil and watercolor drawings. < UNIQUE WORKS ON PAPER Landscape w/ pale trees 2019, watercolor on paper, 12.25 x 10 inches. Landscape w/ seven trees 2019, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 12 inches. White trees ca. 2013, pencil on paper. Splash III ca. 2003, pencil on paper. Still life w/ two vases ca. 2002, pencil on paper, 12.75 x 8.75 inches. White Forest III 2001, pencil on paper. Still life w/ dark window 2001, pencil on paper, 9.5 x 6.75 inches. Untitled (bushy trees) ca. 2000, watercolor on paper, 9.5 x 7.25 inches. Study for “Spring Secrets” 1995, graphite on laid paper, 8.875 x 7.62 inches. Through bedroom curtains ca. 1983, pencil on paper. Untitled ca. 1980s, pastel on paper. Study for “Essence” 1976, graphite on wove paper. Untitled #16 1963, pencil on paper, 8.375 x 10.75 inches. View more "In sketching and drawing I search for structure, the formal understanding of my seeing the physical world, and the layers of awareness that visual events provoke. Whether in the countryside or in my studio, I work with the elements of landscape as a vocabulary to express the vision, the voice, the sense of what it is within myself so touched by what I see." Robert Kipniss, 1999

Robert Kipniss dabbled in editioned metalwork in the early 1970s: rings, belt buckles, bas-reliefs, and medallions were some of the formats he explored. < METALWORKS Autumn textures 1975, bronze, 8.75 x 9.75 x .25 inches. Edition of 500. Large landscape ca. 1970, bronze, 11.875 x 16.125 x 1.25 inches. Edition of 8. Untitled small landscape (horizontal) ca. 1970, bronze and silver editions, 5.625 x 3.75 x .825 inches. Two small editions of under 6. Untitled belt buckle ca. 1970, bronze, 2.0 x 2.0 x .375 inches. Small edition of under 6. Untitled medallion ca. 1970, bronze and silver editions, 1.5 x .125 inches. Two small editions of under 6. Untitled ring (rectangular face) & Untitled ring (circular face) ca. 1970, 14 carat gold and sterling silver editions, under 6 of each type. View more

Robert Kipniss has primarily worked in oil painting, lithography, and mezzotint over his seventy-year career. As a young man he was a poet and artist, abandoning poetry in 1964 to focus on painting, which he continued until 2018. From 1968 to 1994, he created over 450 lithographs. He is perhaps best known as one of the leading living practitioners of mezzotint, of which he has created over 275 editions, and has also made several drypoints and etchings. SELECTED ARTWORKS Learn more about the artworks here MEZZOTINTS View More PAINTINGS View More LITHOGRAPHS View More DRYPOINTS & ETCHINGS View More UNIQUE WORKS ON PAPER View More METALWORKS View More

Robert Kipniss Paintings 1950-2005 presents the first comprehensive investigation of this artist's painting, from the distinctive and original style found in his earliest works, to those of the 1970s and 1980s when he was consolidating and refining his visual vocabulary, to the recent achievements of a mature artist. < Back to all books Robert Kipniss: Paintings, 1950 - 2005 Consult Bookfinder for availability Foreward by E. John Bullard Essay, "Solitude and Silence," by Richard J. Boyle Essay, "Notes from the Studio," by Robert Kipniss Published by Hudson Hills Press, 2007 Robert Kipniss: Paintings 1950-2005 presents the first comprehensive investigation of this artist's painting, from the distinctive and original style found in his earliest works, to those of the 1970s and 1980s when he was consolidating and refining his visual vocabulary, to the recent achievements of a mature artist. Essays by E. John Bullard and Richard J. Boyle, and by Kipniss himself, introduce us to an artist with an intensely independent vision and methodology, as well as his process and inspirations, and the profound impact of his art on viewers. The book has one hundred and two reproductions of Kipniss paintings, almost all of them in full color. In his essay, "Notes from the Studio," Kipniss wrote that as this book came into being "I am surprised to see the wholeness, the one shape, formed by the various points of my gradual evolution." "During the ten weeks the Kipniss show was on view in New Orleans, I had the pleasure of seeing the works numerous times," wrote E. John Bullard, director of the New Orleans Museum of Art. "I thought of Zenga, paintings by Japanese Zen Buddhist monks and priests...The twilight lyricism of many of his landscapes, with muted colors and soft edges, could almost be scenes in Japan." "If the work of the fifties and sixties was exploratory, searching, the work of the seventies and eighties was consolidating and refining, the forming of a vocabulary for the expression of his ideas. The work of the nineties to the present represents the achievement of a mature artist, the marriage of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary to fulfill the intensity of his vision; in Rilke's words, 'not to form, nor to speak, but to reveal'," wrote Richard Boyle, former director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and adjunct professor of art history at Temple University in Philadelphia.

View exhibitions, collections, essays, and books by Robert Kipniss. RESOURCES BOOKS View COLLECTIONS View ESSAYS View INTERVIEWS View

Robert Kipniss is a distinguished American painter and printmaker. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at major galleries and museums worldwide since 1951. ​The Robert Kipniss studio is resource for the artwork and literature from the artist's longstanding career. ​ Robert Kipniss is a distinguished American painter and printmaker. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at major galleries and museums worldwide since 1951. Robert Kipniss Studio is a resource for the artwork and literature from the artist's longstanding career. ABOUT Learn more ARTWORKS View selected works EXHIBITIONS View selected exhibitions RESOURCES View books, collections, essays, and interviews

Kipniss's first print and only etching was made in 1967. That year he began producing drypoints, which he has made periodically since, although in smaller numbers than his works in other mediums. "Almost all of his drypoints have the large areas of white typical of that medium, creating much more of an effect of outdoor light than his mezzotints." < DRYPOINTS & ETCHINGS Untitled 2020, drypoint, 9.875 x 8 inches. Not editioned. A small copse in a field 2016, drypoint, 6.5 x 7.875 inches. Edition of 16. Untitled 014 1992 (Grace 29), soft-ground etching; key plate impression in black (the edition was printed in three colors from three plates), 6.875 x 7.875 inches. Edition of 75. Pages from a sketchbook #2 2003 (Grace 126), drypoint - printed from two plates w/ chine collé, 9.875 x 8 inches. Edition of 60. Pages from a sketchbook #4 2003, drypoint, 9.375 x 6.875 inches. Edition of 50. Trees 2003 (Grace 128), drypoint, 2 x 2 inches. Edition of 20. Hilltop 1996 (Grace 62), drypoint, 6.875 x 7.5 inches. Edition of 30. Morning, Springfield OR Sunday, Springfield 1992 (Grace 40), drypoint, 6.875 x 7.375 inches. Edition of 50. Near Lancaster 1992 (Grace 39), drypoint, 6.75 x 7.375 inches. Edition of 50. Springfield, O 1991 (Grace 31), drypoint - printed from two plates, Fifth and final state, 1 impression pulled from each previous state, 12.75 x 10.875 inches. Edition of 60. Self-portrait, second state 1969, reprinted 2019 (Lunde 15), drypoint, 10.75 x 9.825 inches. Edition of 17 (1969), and 16 (2019). Pale trees 1968 (Lunde 3), drypoint, 8.25 x 11.75 inches. Edition of 30. View more Kipniss's first print, an etching, was made in 1967 at Pratt Graphics Center. That year he began producing drypoints, which he has made periodically since, although in smaller numbers than his works in other mediums. Almost all of his drypoints have the large areas of white typical of that medium, creating much more of an effect of outdoor light than his mezzotints. Springfield, O . (1991) shows the typical velvety black lines of the drypoint, caused when ink adheres to the raised burr next to the furrow, but Kipniss's lines are placed more tightly than is usual in drypoints. The work is in three institutional collections, including the British Museum, London. After a long hiatus from drypoint, Kipniss has returned to the medium in his later years. Since 2016, he has completed several atmospheric compositions in the medium, working with Anthony Kirk Editions.

In this candid memoir, Kipniss recounts the ups and downs of his early career, the failures and successes of gallery exhibitions and gaining recognition, and the joys and struggles of trying to support a family as an artist, all while tenaciously developing his unique style of landscape painting. < Back to all books Robert Kipniss: A Working Artist's Life Hardcover: consult Bookfinder for availability Published by the University Press of New England, 2011 In this candid memoir, Kipniss recounts the ups and downs of his early career, the failures and successes of gallery exhibitions and gaining recognition, and the joys and struggles of trying to support a family as an artist, all while tenaciously developing his unique style of landscape painting. "Poetry and painting were equal passions of mine until I turned thirty and became a father, and I had to earn more money. Getting an evening job meant making a choice, and I stayed with painting, shelving my writing as something I would return to later, perhaps when I was much older," he wrote in the introduction. Decades later he began writing down memories, and when he was fifty-two, he wrote twenty-eight chapters of something he thought might eventually become a memoir. Writing on a typewriter was laborious and discouraging, and he ended up putting the pages aside except for essays about working as an artist for gallery catalogs. After he bought a computer and rewriting became easier, he took up the memoir again. When he neared the ending, he recalls: "I was startled and pleased to see that instead of a random collection of episodes, I saw my life emerging as a whole. I found a consistency and coherence that was as much a function of personality, instinct, and my compulsion to create as it was of conscious thought. It was a perspective impossible to have until I had lived almost eighty years." "Writing about my life has been a little like reliving it, but with the advantage of seeing the unfolding problems and troubles in the context of their eventual resolution. I found this second visit a good thing, even with its many uncomfortable moments, and it has left me at peace, my enthusiasm undiminished." E-book: Brandeis University Press Reviews Sidney Offit "I was enlightened, entertained, and frequently moved by this portrait of the artist composed with a touch of the poet." — Sidney Offit, author of Memoir of the Bookie's Son ; Curator Emeritus, George Polk Journalism Awards; and president, Author’s Guild Association Avis Berman "Like his paintings, Kipniss's prose is clear and evocative, and readers will enjoy following his adventures as he fences against the follies and venality of the art world." — Avis Berman, art historian and author of Rebels on Eighth Street E. John Bullard "Few great painters are great writers, but Kipniss is an exception. In his sensitive and personal memoir, we discover his passionate struggle to achieve his artistic goals, balancing the obligations of his personal life with the great demands of his art." — E. John Bullard, Director Emeritus, New Orleans Museum of Art William A. Kinnison "This is a rare treat. A working artist reviews his life with the same skill with words that he has with brush and stylus." — William A. Kinnison, President Emeritus, Wittenberg University Richard J. Boyle "Robert Kipniss has fashioned a memoir of clarity, sensitivity and insight. Anyone seriously interested in art and the lives of artists, but especially in the mysterious and always fascinating connection between an artist's life and his work, would find this book both enlightening and enjoyable."-- Richard J. Boyle, art historian, former director, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Carol Ascher "Kipniss is an engagingly unpretentious and often humorous raconteur, with pitch-perfect dialogue and a wonderful eye for the telling detail. It's a pleasure to ride along with Kipniss on his candid, well-paced, and witty romp through the New York art world and his life in art." — Carol Ascher, author of Afterimages: A Family Memoir

From 1968 to 1994, Kipniss created lithographs that followed the style and content of his paintings, whether generally or specifically. A commission from a print publisher in 1968 for five editions of lithographs precipitated his adoption of lithography as a medium. < LITHOGRAPHS Hillside w/ porch & moon 1994, color lithograph, 6 x 5.125 inches. Edition unknown. Roadside, Elsah 1990, color lithograph, 12.5 x 15 inches. Edition of 90. Road to Middleburg 1988, color lithograph, 13 x 11.375 inches. Edition of 120. Revisitation, afternoon 1987, color lithograph, 11 x 15 inches. Edition of 150. Green, Green 1987, color lithograph, 16 x 12 inches. Edition of 120. Streets & alleys, afternoon 1987, color lithograph, 11 x 12.75 inches. Edition of 120. As the rain ends 1987, color lithograph, 10 x 16 inches. Edition of 120. The Blue Stove 1987, color lithograph, 17.5 x 14 inches. Edition of 120. City, dusk 1987, color lithograph, 6.5 x 5 inches. Edition of 150. The Artist’s Bedroom 1986, color lithograph, 12 x 10 inches. Edition of 120. August 1986, color lithograph, 8 x 9 inches. Edition of 120. Invitations 1986, color lithograph, 15.75 x 17 inches. Edition of 120. Small Porch & Clouds 1986, color lithograph, 13.25 x 11 inches. Edition of 120. Poised 1986, color lithograph, 11 x 15 inches. Edition of 120. Just before the sun 1985, color lithograph, 12 x 11 inches. Edition of 120. Suspension II 1985, color lithograph, 10 x 13.5 inches. Edition of 120. Splash 1984, color lithograph, 6.5 x 5 inches. Edition of 175. Ohio moment 1984, color lithograph, 11 x 14.5 inches. Edition of 175. Window sitting 1983, color lithograph, 10.5 x 14 inches. Edition of 120. Souvenirs 1982, color lithograph, 13.5 x 10 inches. Edition of 200. The Other Room 1981 (Lundgren 232-SL), color lithograph, 13.5 x 9 inches. Edition of 150. Small Hilltop 1981 (Lundgren 241-SL), color lithograph, 10 x 13.5 inches. Edition of 120. Remembering 1981 (Lundgren231-SL), color lithograph, 22 x 28 inches. Edition of 120. Just beyond 1980 (Lundgren 216-SL), color lithograph, 14 x 16.75 inches. Edition of 275. Dark Fields 1980, (Lundgren228-SL), lithograph, 4 x 3 inches. Edition of 250. View more "In lithography my great excitement came from effects I can best describe as silvery, like ghosts of gray, grays faint yet fully drawn, with nuances that gave the appearance of images have been just breathed onto the stone, and from there with Burr [Miller]’s magic coaxed to the paper…When printing went smoothly the experience was deeply rewarding, a sense of well-being at having brought to life a vision that could have gone wrong in so many ways, at so many moments. These times were like gifts from an unpredictable printing god, and were the events that made painful failures endurable. It was essential to know my goals could be reachable." - Robert Kipniss, 2002 From 1968 to 1994, Kipniss created lithographs that followed the style and content of his paintings, whether generally or specifically. A commission from a print publisher in 1968 for five editions of lithographs precipitated his adoption of lithography as a medium. Kipniss's first lithographs were done in black and white, but by 1970 he was also working in color. He taught himself "to lay in the most delicately light silvery tones on the surface of the limestone by maintaining an exceptionally sharp point on the lithographic pencil and drawing with no pressure other than the weight of the pencil itself." He built up a support so that his hand and wrist could "dangle" over the stone. By 1994 Kipniss had completed about 450 editions of lithographs, usually of 90 to 250 impressions, at the Burr Miller studio in Manhattan. He worked from 1969 with master printer Burr Miller and then with Steve and Terry, his sons. In 1980 Kipniss began to draw on aluminum to make all of his lithographs, and by 1986 he was achieving an increased subtlety in the use of color with a light palette including "greens, blues, pinks, browns, and grays," as a critic noted that year. He added: "Kipniss enhances the remarkable purity and elegance of line in these lithographs by his restrained use of color. The delicate hues of his prints are of such extraordinary subtlety that it is only on careful examination that the viewer can recognize how complex they are, requiring as many as eight different plates to produce a single print." In 1994 Kipniss's concern with densely drawn fine tones led to increased difficulties in printing, and he gave up the medium.

This intriguing monograph of painter and printmaker Robert Kipniss is an intimate look at a memorable period in his life and career. Thoughtful and articulate from conception to completion, the artist's never-before-published poems are choreographed with his early paintings in this contemplation of the influential and foundational years from 1950 to 1964. Robert Kipniss: Paintings and Poetry, 1950 - 1964 Available from the publisher Monograph with paintings and poetry by the artist Preface by Robert Kipniss Introduction by Marshall N. Price, National Academy of Art Essay by Robin Magowan, Poet Published by The Artist Book Foundation, New York and North Adams, Massachusetts, 2013 This intriguing monograph of painter and printmaker Robert Kipniss is an intimate look at a memorable period in his life and career. Thoughtful and articulate from conception to completion, the artist's never-before-published poems are choreographed with his early paintings in this contemplation of the influential and foundational years from 1950 to 1964. Kipniss's own thoughts on this period of his career are accompanied by insightful essays by Marshall N. Price, curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Academy Museum, New York; and Robin Magowan, an award-winning poet based in Santa Fe. Preview Book < Back to all books

Robert Kipniss has artwork in major collections including the Syracuse University Art Museum, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and the Allentown Art Museum to name a few. COLLECTIONS MAJOR REPOSITORIES Smithsonian Archives of American Art View Details Washington, DC Wittenberg University Library View Details Springfield, Ohio Syracuse University Art Museum View Details Syracuse, New York Fort Wayne Museum of Art View Details Fort Wayne, Indiana Allentown Art Museum View Details Allentown, Pennsylvania The British Museum View Details London, England The Metropolitan Museum of Art View Details New York, New York The Heckscher Museum of Art View Details Huntington, New York SELECTED ADDITIONAL PUBLIC COLLECTIONS A - F Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris The Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio Canton Art Institute, Canton, Ohio Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The Century Association, New York, New York Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, Florida Davis Gallery, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York The Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York Federal Reserve Board Fine Arts Program, Washington, D.C. Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis G - M Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, New York Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Stanford, California Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, Virginia Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California Maier Museum of Art, Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, Minnesota Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina The Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Michigan The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, New York Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas N - Z National Academy of Design, New York, New York The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri The New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana The New York Public Library, Print Collection, New York, New York Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pinakothek der Moderne, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, Ohio Victoria and Albert Museum, London Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, Wichita Falls, Texas Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut