Conrad Marca-Relli
American Painter
Movement: Abstract Expressionism
Born: June 5, 1913 - Boston, Massachusetts
Died: August 29, 2000 - Parma, Italy
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"Collage forces you to think and clarify ideas, with regard to both space and volumes. This discipline obliges me to think in terms of forms, outlines, real and imagined spaces, so as not to fall into the temptation of thinking that nature is a reality."
Synopsis
Conrad Marca-Relli was a Boston-born painter and sculptor who belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists. Following a period of painting Surrealist inspired imagery, Marca-Relli made a critical breakthrough with large-scale collage paintings that frequently drew inspiration from the human form to create abstract compositions of interlocking curves and angles. He is considered to be one of the first artists to raise the art of collage to a status comparable with monumental painting, which paved the way for the large "combine paintings" of the Neo-Dada artists of the 1960s.
Key Ideas
Biography
Childhood
Conrad Marca-Relli was born Corrado di Marcarelli in Boston, Massachusetts to Italian immigrant parents. Marca-Relli's father was a news commentator and a journalist whose job required frequent travel, he therefore spent much of his childhood moving back and forth between the United States and Europe. He began to draw at an early age and was encouraged by his family to pursue his artistic interests, taking his first lessons during his many extended trips to Italy. There he developed a lasting feeling for the heritage of Italian art and culture and the atmosphere of European life. When he was thirteen, Marca-Relli and his parents permanently settled in New York, where Marca-Relli finished his last year of high school at night so he could dedicate his days to painting.
Important Art by Conrad Marca-Relli | |
 Artwork Images | Untitled (1940)Artwork description & Analysis: This untitled painting from 1940 reveals the influence of Giorgio di Chirico on Marca-Relli's early career as a painter. This strangely unpopulated square is strongly evocative of di Chirico's enigmatic imagery inspired by the architecture and melencholy atmosphere of Turin. The archway in the background indicate the scene is an imagined European city with its tilted perspective enhancing the flatness of the picture plane. Oil on board - Private Collection |
 Artwork Images | Seated Figure (1953-54)Artwork description & Analysis: Seated Figure won Marca-Relli the prestigious Logan Medal of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1954. The composition was produced during a period in which the artist focused almost exclusively on interpretations of single figures using layered planes of collaged canvas. In these works, Marca-Relli sought to explore abstract form using "the architecture of the human figure" as a starting point for interchanges between light and dark, positive and negative space. Oil and canvas on linen - The Art Institute of Chicago |
 Artwork Images | Trial (1956)Artwork description & Analysis: The interlocking biomorphic forms in Trial represent the increasing complexity of Marca-Relli's collage technique during the 1950s. The artist has deliberately obliterated any recognizable sections of human anatomy, yet the work suggests a myriad of jostling figures. This vast composition combines an extraordinary variety of overlapping shapes, textures and contrasts to create a sense of movement that was inspired in part by Paolo Uccello's monumental battle scenes. Oil on canvas and collage - The Minneapolis Institute of Arts |
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Influences and Connections
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Influences on Artist
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Useful Resources on Conrad Marca-Relli
Books
Articles
Videos
paintings
Conrad Marca-Relli  By David Anfam | Conrad Marca-Relli By Conrad Marca-Relli | ||
| Marca-Relli: John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, November 6th, 1979 through January 1st, 1980 By Conrad Marca-Relli |
| Conrad Marca-Relli: City to Town By Phong Bui | Celebrating a Few Fertile Years in the Hamptons By Karin Lipson | ||
| Conrad Marca-Relli: The New York Years, 1945-1967 By Craig Olson | Conrad Marca-Relli, Collagist and Painter, Is Dead at 87 By Michael Kimmelman |
Content compiled and written by The Art Story Contributors
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
" Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by The Art Story Contributors
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
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