Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer, Circus Series #6, oil, charcoal and collage

Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer American/Louisiana, 1912-1997 "Circus Series #6" oil, charcoal and collage on canvas 1978, signed and dated lower right, handwritten label with title and date on stretcher, framed. Note: By the mid-1970s, Ida Kohlmeyer had adopted the grid form that would dominate the paintings of her Clusters series. This series represents the first style that was solely identified with the artist and consists of a grid of variously colored rectangular elements, similar in shape and size, surrounded by a white border. The Clusters afforded Kohlmeyer the opportunity to experiment within her grid with automatic drawing, an element which would define the series and the artist as much as her characteristic use of color. The series drew critical acclaim for Kohlmeyer, and, in her words, embodied "my whole voyage through years of searching for a personal visual statement." By the late 1970s, Kohlmeyer transitioned into a sequence of Clusters titled the Circus paintings. In the lot offered here entitled "Circus Series #6," Kohlmeyer expanded her Clusters and enhanced their scale, enlarging her glyphs until they practically quarter the canvas resulting in a bold and impactful composition. References: Plante, Michael. Ida Kohlmeyer: Systems of Color. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2004. Kessler, Jane. Ida Kohlmeyer: Thirty Years. Charlotte, NC: The Mint Museum, 1983.

Estimate:$25,000

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