Sigmund Abeles - Pietrasanta Carver Portrait of the Sculptor and Photographer Anne Merck

Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck)

Sigmund Abeles’s original lithograph, Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck) is an artist proof printed upon BFK Rives watermarked, hand made paper and with full, deckled margins as printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan in 1977 in an edition of fifty numbered s plus several artist proofs. It is signed, titled and annotated, ‘Artist. Proof.’ by Sigmund Abeles in pencil along the lower margin. s of this work of art are included in the collections of the University of Iowa Art Museum (identifier #1977-30) and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (object #1977/8.66). The artist remarks, “Pietrasanta Carver is an image of my ex-wife, then a stone carver who was working in the same quarries that supplied stone for Michelangelo! Needless to say, masked figure(s) spell mystery and carving stone by hand is one of the slowest art media. I want the image to ‘grab you!’.” * Pietrasanta Carver is a striking, original example of the lithographic and portrait art created by one of the foremost American artists, Sigmund Abeles.

Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck)

View other original works of art by Sigmund Abeles.

Abeles, Sigmund (New York, born, 1934)
#	Image	Title & Artist	Medium	Date	Notes	-
01.-		Afternoon Light (Figure Study of the Sculptor and Photographer, Anne Merck) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph	1978	Signed, "Abeles", & inscribed, "A. P." (Artist Proof) in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
02.-		B. G. Seated (Assistant at the Ahmherst Workshop) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Engraving with Plate Tone	1981	Signed & titled, "Abeles", "B. G. Seated", & inscribed "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And, bearing the text, "Nude Seated on Floor" on the back of the print. Printed by Robert Townsend, Amherst, Massachusetts.
03.-		Carl's Angus Cow (A Prize Winning Angus) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph (Rare)	1979	Signed, "Abeles", & inscribed "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And,bearing the text, "Carl's low" on back of print. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
04.-		Cock of The Roost by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint Engraving	1981	Signed and numbered "Abeles", "168/250"' by Sigmund Abeles in pencil, and signed within the plate, 'Abeles 01'. Published by the Associated American Artists, New York.	Sold
05.-		Curled Up (Figure Study of a Woman) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Etching with Plate Tone	1981	Signed, "Abeles", & inscribed "proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Robert Townsend, Amherst, Massachusetts.
06.-		Deadly Dancers (Commissioned for ‘The Permanent Revolution’ by the filmmaker, Manfried Kirchheimer) by Sigmund Abeles	Aquatint, Etching, Soft Ground, & Drypoint (Intaglio)	2008	Signed, titled, & numbered, "S. Abeles", "Deadly Dancers", "16/25" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Kathy Caraccio, NYC
07.-		Female Figure Standing with Fist at Back by Sigmund Abeles	Original Charcoal Pencil Drawing	2016	Signed, "Abeles", and dated "2016" in lower margin. Inscribed, "Female Figure Standing with Fist at Back", "2016" in pencil by the artist in lower right margin.
08.-		Janus Headed Man (Two Seated Figures Facing in Opposite Directions), with a 2nd Figure Study of Woman (on Back of Paper), both drawings by Sigmund Abeles	Original Charcoal Drawing with a 2nd Original Pencil Drawing (Back of Paper)	2014	Signed, "Abeles", titled, "2. Janus headed Man, and dated "2014" lower right corner. Also Inscribed, "Janus Headed man " "2014", & "charcoal" to the right of a second drawing, a figure study of a sleeping woman on the back of the paper.
09.-		Max / Shabbat (The Artist's Son, Maxwell Merck Abeles and his mother, Anne Merck-Abeles on Sabbath) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint on Chine Colle	1993	Signed and numbered "Abeles", "4/30" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in the lower margin, and published by the artist.
10.-		Max, ‘Max's Laugh, Max-Gelding's Laugh, Gelding's Laugh’ (My Horse, Max's Laugh) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Engraving & Etching	1971	Signed, titled, & numbered, "Abeles", "Max", "5/20" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles below the image. Also titled in pencil by him "Max's Laugh, Max-Gelding's Laugh, Gelding's Laugh" in lower right margin, and bearing the text, "Gelding" on the back of the print. Published by the artist.
11.-		My Rolling Mare, ‘Sayida’ (Study of the Artist's Horse) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint in Mauve Ink	1981	Signed, "S. Abeles", & inscribed "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Robert Townsend, s Workshop Boston, Ma..
12.-		Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph	1977	Signed, "S. Abeles", titled, "Pietrasanta Carver", & inscribed, "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
13.-		Portrait of a Young Woman (Margo Lillian Jefferson) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Drypoint Engraving	1969	Signed and numbered, "S. Abeles", "20/250" by Sigmund Abeles in pencil. Published by the Associated American Artists, New York	Sold
14.-		Red Haired (Seated Figure Study) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Graphite Drawing	April, 25, 2014	Signed, "S Abeles", "CA NYC" (Century Association, New York City), and dated "4.25.2014" in lower margin. Titled, "Red-Haired" in upper left corner. Also Inscribed, "Red-Haired" "4.25.2014", & "Pencil" on back of paper.
15.-		Seated Lady with folded Fingers (Figure Study) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Pencil Drawing	October, 1, 2015	Signed, "Abeles", and dated "1.10.2015" under the image. Also Inscribed, "Seated Lady with folded Fingers" in pencil on back of paper.
16.-		Self Portrait Shaved (Portrait of the Artist, Sigmund Abeles) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Lithograph	1978	Signed, "Abeles", & numbered, "1/10" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And, bearing the title, "Self Portrait" on the back of the print. Printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan.
17.-		The Artist's Mother The Artist's Mother (Henrietta Banner Abeles) by Sigmund Abeles	Original Etching and Aquatint	1966	Signed, titled, & numbered, "Abeles", "The Artist's Mother", "10/30" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. And bearing the text, "The Artist's Mother" on the back of the print. Published by Ferdinand Rodent, Maryland.
18.-		Widowed Eve by Sigmund Abeles	Original Etching and Aquatint	1964	Signed, titled, & inscribed, "Abeles", "Widowed Eve", "artist proof" in pencil by the artist in lower right margin. Published and printed by Sigmund Abeles.

Selected Directories in our Gallery (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com), with a focus on the area of interest for this original work of art.
Art of the Print / www.artoftheprint.com sells international fine art. Our collection consists of original paintings, watercolors, drawings, and original prints, such as etchings, engravings, lithographs, woodcuts, silk-screens, aquatints, mezzotints, linocuts, monoprints, and other mediums of original art. All of these works of art have been created by prominent and established painters, illustrators, watercolour artists and printmakers from around the world. The art in our gallery ranges from the early Renaissance period to the modern and contemporary art period. You can view other original artworks similar to the subject under discussion on this page listed in the following art directories.
Century:
Fine 20th Century Artist Index	The '20th Century artist' directory contains a listing of original works of art created by watercolor artists, painters, illustrators and graphic artists from around the world. These original works date from 1900 to the present day.
Country:
American Artist Index	The 'American Artist' directory contains a listing of original works of art created by artists from the United States of America, and or art with an American theme. These artworks date from the 17th century to the 20th century.
Subject:
Portraits & Figure Studies Index	The 'Portrait Studies' directory contains a listing of original works of art concentrating upon the theme of portraits, self-portraits and studies. Created by International artists throughout the centuries, these fine examples of portraiture have left a permanent and vivid record of their sitters.
Women Portrayed in Art Index	The 'Women in Art' directory contains a selection of original works of art with depictions of women in an almost infinite variety of roles, such as women as an object of beauty & desire, at work and of course, motherhood are major themes, as well as many other representations of women have emerged in the fine arts throughout the centuries.

Title:	Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck)
Artist:	Abeles, Sigmund (New York, born, 1934)
Date:	1977
Medium:	Original Lithograph
Publisher:	Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan
Printer:	Paul Macguire, Lakeside Michigan
Edition:	Limited Edition of 50 (Artist Proof )
Note:	Sigmund Abeles: One of the most honoured figurative artists of our time, Sigmund Abeles began his formal art education in 1952 at the Pratt Institute, New York. Two years later he enrolled at the Art Students League of New York and studied under Reginald Marsh, Harry Sternberg and Morris Kantor. As well, in 1955, Abeles received a scholarship to study at the Showhegan School in Maine, working under Isabel Bishop and Edwin Dickenson. A second scholarship in 1956 sent him to the Brooklyn Museum School to explore printmaking techniques. He also received his BA in painting from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University.
	The U.S. Army drafted Sigmund Abeles in 1957. After refusing to answer personal questions concerning some of the more liberal artists with which he had associated Abeles found himself classified as a security risk. (This was, after all, the incomprehensible, potential Communist under every bed, decade of McCarthyism.) Nevertheless, the Army employed Abeles as a technical illustrator and even assigned him top secret clearance. The artist worked for the Army in France, Czechoslovakia and Germany and describes his time there as "living Dr. Strangelove." **
	During his career, Abeles has been active as an original printmaker, painter, sculptor and as a teaching professor. In this latter category he has taught at the Swain School of Design, New Bedford (1961-64), Wellesley College (1964-67) and at Boston University School of Fine Arts, Boston (1969). Sigmund Abeles began teaching at the University of New Hampshire in 1970. He became a full professor there in 1979 and retired in 1987.
	As a sculptor, Sigmund Abeles has also achieved international acclaim, and like his paintings, drawings, and graphic art, a large body of his work in this medium consists of figure studies and portraits. Such works include, Gazing Upward (c. 1963), Expectant Sleeper (1965), Reclining Reader (1967), Caryatid Figure (1975), and many others. In 2007, the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum held the exhibition, From Whence I’ve Come featuring paintings, prints drawings, pastels and sculptures created by the artist from 1951 to 2007. Abele's pensive sculpture of a young girl in bronze, Kaethe, Age Nine, (1968), can be viewed at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina.
	Sigmund Abeles’ engravings, lithographs, pastel drawings and paintings are currently found in such major collections as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, the San Diego Museum of Art, Yale University, University of Iowa Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Harvard University Art Museum, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, the Worcester Art Museum and the Honolulu Academy of Art, as well as other important public and private collections. s of Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck) are included in the collections of the University of Iowa Art Museum (identifier #1977-30) and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (object #1977/8.66).
	Sigmund Abeles has held countless solo exhibitions throughout his artistic career, some of which were traveling exhibitions. The latter includes, Abeles: The First 20 Years, Prints & Drawings, held at five different locations (1979), Sigmund Abeles, Pastels, Oils, Prints & Drawings (1992), It Figures, The Art of Sigmund Abeles held at Hampton III Gallery, Greenville, SC, and The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC (2012), as well as other important exhibitions. A selection of major institutions that have held exhibitions featuring the artist's work include the University of Nebraska, the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI, the University of New Hampshire, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, the Visual Arts Gallery at the State University of New York and at the Culture Center, New York City. He has also participated in a number of important group exhibitions throughout the United States, England, and Holland such as the, American Printmakers, Rijksacademie, Amsterdam (1968), American Contemporary Prints, Institute of Contemporary Art, London (1970), Living American Artists & The Figure, Penn, State U. Museum of Art, Univ. Park PA. (1976), and The Art of Aging, Artists from Israel, England and North America, Hebrew Union College, NYC (2004), as well as many other successful exhibitions.
	Among the many professional honours received, Sigmund Abeles was honored with the Arts and Letters Award and grant from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters for "etchings that pierce the comforting screen and reveal man in all his naked helplessness." (1965). He was elected a National Academician of the National Academy of Design, NY in 1977, Honorary Doctorate of Arts Degree and commencement speaker, Coastal Carolina University in 2000, and the Hall of Fame Honoree, Pastel Society of America, National Arts Club in 2004.
	Many scholars have tried to find a definition for the compelling art of Sigmund Abeles. Perhaps the most appropriate words come from the artist himself: "I'm a figurative artist - but not in a straight representational way. My work has an expressionist quality with psychological overtones; it might be called ' expressive realism' or 'psychological realism'. When I look at a figure, I don’t see just form - I see who the person is and what the person is feeling." He has also stated, "People often quote me on something I wrote about Degas. "He kept looking when most people look away. ' When I look, I constantly seek for a corner to start peeling back the surface layers." ***
	Pietrasanta Carver: An original lithograph by Sigmund Abeles, Pietrasanta Carver depicts a portrait of the sculptor and photographer, Anne Merck. This artist proof was printed in 1977 by Paul Macguire at Lakeside Studio, Lakeside, MI, a gallery run by John Wilson. This is signed, "S. Abeles", & inscribed "artist proof" in pencil by Sigmund Abeles in lower right margin. In this portrait, Anne is dressed in her protective sculptor's gear, with a heavy coat, working gloves, a mask pulled over the lower part of her face, and a cap covering her hair which has her protective glasses pulled over it; then stopping for an instant to look at the viewer. She is holding up a mallet with one hand and a chisel with the other, and has placed four other carving tools upon a massive stone that will soon be a wonderful work of art. Sigmund Abeles remarks, “Pietrasanta Carver is an image of my ex-wife, then a stone carver who was working in the same quarries that supplied stone for Michelangelo! Needless to say, masked figure(s) spell mystery and carving stone by hand is one of the slowest art media. I want the image to ‘grab you!’.” * Pietrasanta Carver is a striking, original example of the lithographic portrait art created by the leading American artist, Sigmund Abeles.
	Anne F. Merck (B. Newark, New Jersey): A fine sculptor and photographer, Anne Merck, graduated with an AA from Bradford College and received her BA from the University of Durham, New Hampshire. She studied art in the South of France with a Sarah Lawrence College program, and spent several months in Italy learning the medium of sculpting in the internationally known headquarters for sculptors, the Pallas section of Piatrasante. Works created by the artist in the field of sculpture include Daphne and Apollo and Western Vision in Limestone exhibited in 1978 at Liberty Hill International Sculpture Park Liberty Hill, Texas. In 1978, the artist, Sigmund Abeles created a full length figure study in the medium of lithography entitled, Afternoon Light which portrays the artist, Anne Merck asleep in bed. That same year, Anne married Sigmund Abeles and became Mrs. Anne Merck-Abeles.
	Pietrasanta is a lovely medieval town located in the province of Lucca on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy. First recognized by Michelangelo for its local stone, this town is now famous for its marble and bronze workshops. Pietrasanta (Sacred rock), also referred to by many, as the 'City of Artists', or the 'Little Athens of Italy', has been host to artists and sculptors since the 15th century.
	* Comments by Sigmund Abeles to Art of the Print, August. 2016.
	** David S Andrew, Sigmund Abeles: A Retrospective, Durham, University of New Hampshire, 1988.
	*** Sigmund Abeles: Expressive Realist Painter & Printmaker, Biddington’s, New York, http://www. biddingtons. com.
Size:	22 x 18 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	UnMatted
Buy Now	Price: $700.00 US
Condition:	Printed upon BFK Rives watermarked, handmade paper and with full, deckled margins as printed by Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan in 1977. Signed, titled and annotated, ‘Artist. Proof.’ by Sigmund Abeles in pencil along the lower margin. Apart from very slight creasing in the lower right corner (well removed from the actual image) this is a finely printed and is in excellent condition throughout. Pietrasanta Carver, (Portrait of Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck) represents a striking, original example of the figurative art of Sigmund Abeles.
Subject	Sigmund Abeles, Pietrasanta Carver (Portrait of the Sculptor & Photographer, Anne Merck), original lithograph, stone carving, Paul Macguire, Lakeside Studio, Lakeside Michigan, collections of the University of Iowa Art Museum and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, studied under Reginald Marsh, Harry Sternberg and Morris Kantor at the Art Students League of New York.
Important Information:	The artist biographies, research and or information pertaining to all the original works of art posted on our pages has been written and designed by Greg & Connie Peters exclusively for our site, (www.artoftheprint.com). Please visit us regularly to view the latest artworks offered for sale. We will soon be posting an update of our most recent research and include the biographical and historical information pertaining to our next collection of original works of art created by artists throughout the centuries. We hope you found the information you were looking for and that it has been beneficial. Our Gallery, (Art of the Print / www.artoftheprint.com) guarantees the authenticity of every work of art we sell 100%. Full documentation and certification is provided. We offer a wide selection of international fine art dating from the early Renaissance to the contemporary art period.