Nicky Chubb Abstract Photography

Franco Fontana (Italian, born 1933) Title: Varsavia, (Warsaw, Poland streetscape with buildings) 1977 Medium: dye-transfer Dimensions: Frame 28.5 x 20.5. Sight 20 x 13. Provenance: Monique Goldstrom Gallery Franco Fontana (Italian, 1933) is an Italian photographer. He is best known for his Minimalist abstract colour landscapes. He was influenced by Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism. Franco Fontana was born in 1933 in Modena. He started taking photographs in the 1950s when he was working as a decorator in a furniture showroom. In 1961 he joined a local amateur club in Modena. The experience would be a turning point in his career, and Fontana went on to have his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the Società Fotografica Subalpina, Turin and at the Galleria della Sala di Cultura in Modena in 1968. Since then he has participated in more than 400 group and solo exhibitions including the exhibit Lines, Spheres and Glyphs at Robert Klein Gallery with works by photographers: Franco Fontana, Mario Giacomelli, Ernst Haas, Gyorgy Kepes and Aaron Siskind. Franco Fontana is considered one of the most relevant photographers of our time, In 1963 he exhibited his work at the Biennale of Color in Vienna, and in 1968 he held his first solo exhibition in Modena. Fontana often pares landscapes down to their essential elements, producing flat, geometric compositions reminiscent of the color field abstract expressionist paintings of Mark Rothko Ad Reinhardt and Barnett Newman, by underexposing his transparencies. Contrasting blue skies with green or yellow grass and the rigid lines of buildings with the softness of puffy clouds, he makes color and texture his primary subjects. He has also shot in Polaroid film. His art has been acquired by some of the most important museums worldwide, including the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, MoMA in New York, Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Museum of Modern Art in Norman, Oklahoma, National Gallery in Beijing, Australian National Gallery in Melbourne, University of Texas in Austin, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris. Fontana has photographed for advertising campaigns for brands such as Fiat, Volkswagen, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Snam, Sony, Volvo, Versace, Canon, Kodak, Robe di Kappa, Swissair, and has been a magazine photographer for publications including Time, Life, Vogue (USA and France), Venerdì di Repubblica, Panorama, and with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The New York Times. Fontana's first book, Skyline, was published in 1978 in France by Contrejour and in Italy by Punto e Virgola with a text by Helmut Gernsheim. Fontana is the art director of the Toscana Foto Festival. He has received numerous awards, such as the 1989 Tokyo Photographer Society of Japan - The 150 Years of Photography - Photographer Award. Fontana is especially interested in the interplay of colours. His early innovations in colour photography in the 1960s were stylistically disruptive. According to art critic Giuliana Scimé, Fontana "destroyed all the structures, practices, and technical choices within the Italian tradition." Fontana uses 35mm cameras, and as noted by Iwan Zahar, deploys distant viewpoints with telephoto lenses to flatten contours in a landscape of crops and fields into bands of intense, saturated colour. This is an effect that Franco Lefèvre has described as 'dialectical landscapism'. Of his use of colour in his 2019 retrospective exhibition Sintesi ('Synthesis') at Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, curator Diana Baldon has observed; “His bold geometric compositions are characterised by shimmering colours, level perspectives and a geometric-formalist and minimal language, By adopting this approach during the 1960s, Fontana injected a new vitality into the field of creative colour photography for then multicolour was not in fashion in art photography., The way Fontana shoots, dematerializes the objects photographed, which loose three-dimensionality and realism to become part of an abstract drawing”. Aside from the rural landscape Fontana has applied his graphic sensibility to other subjects: city architecture, portraiture, fashion, still-life and the nude. He was included in the exhibition of the Helmut Newton Collection along with Brassaï, Diane Arbus, Franco Fontana, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, June Newton, Just Loomis, Man Ray, Mark Arbeit...

Embracing a need to innovate in color photography in 1975, Mitchell Funk, takes a new approach to the interpreting the New York skyline. In "Chrysler Building Manhattan Blur" Funk depicts the vibrant emotion of the city rather than a straight forward document of it. The blur technique and subject matter are a perfect fit for the city that never sleeps. Signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso. Edition: 2/15 Unframed, other size available printed later, Printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper Beginning in the late 1960’s, Mitchell Funk has spanned 5 decades of photo innovation. He’s a 10 trick pony...

This artwork captures a dreamy landscape through a masterful blend of pastel colors. Soft pinks, purples, and blues dominate the scene, evoking a serene, ethereal atmosphere. Gentle ...

Adult movie marquees of old 42nd street in 1970. Double header, ABC's of Marriage and Diamond Stud Signature: Signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso Edition 2 of 15. U...

Museum in a car - The artsiest of art museums is artfully depicted in street photographer Mitchell Funk's imaginative photograph. A passing red car with similar curvilinear forms has the museum's facade reflected in its roof window...

A flock of birds at sunset in East Hampton is captured by color photographer Mitchell Funk. The overall composition without a central point of focus is not unlike the work of East H...

The history of street photography has been characterized by a loose snapshot style where the central purpose was to capture random moments as they unfold in time. Little emphasis was...

"Rothko Series 3:ND2-2-2" Is a beautiful original edited photography print, done on archival photo canvas. Daniel J. Kaufman (b. New York City, May 4th, 1949) Childhood in Great Nec...

Abstracted landscape color photograph of clouds and blue sky on 4 panels Japanese Kozo paper infused with encaustic on 4 panels, each panel is 36...

"Rothko on the Savannah: 14-3" Is a beautiful original edited photography print, done on archival photo canvas. Daniel J. Kaufman (b. New York City, May 4th, 1949) Childhood in Grea...

Since 1969 Mitchell Funk has been photographing the Chrysler Building in dramatic and novel ways. This recent image incorporates the Chrysler Building's pointy neighbor, the supertall skyscraper One Vanderbilt. Its modern spire harmonizes with the 1930 soaring Art Deco icon. Notice how Funk incorporates accents of yellow that offsets the twilight blue. The entire image is accented by a cozy moon that consummates the composition. Signed and dated on the lower right, numbered on verso, 3/15 other size available, unframed, Printed Printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper. Mitchell Funk is a pioneer of " Color Photography" In 1970 he participated in one the first " Color Photography" show...

“Shadows Kept Alive No. 14” is a triptych of 3 abstract images composed together as one single image measuring 14” high by 42” wide. It is a giclée print on archival Hahnemüle paper. The gallery is offering Free Shipping on this item globally, which ships rolled carefully in a tube. From the artist, Chris MaGee...