Artists Conrad Marca-Relli

Conrad Marca-Relli

American Painter

Movement: Abstract Expressionism

Born: June 5, 1913 - Boston, Massachusetts

Died: August 29, 2000 - Parma, Italy

Table of contents

> Summary
> Key Ideas
> Most Important Art
> Biography & Legacy
Influences and Connections
Resources

"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."

Summary

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

Early in his career, Marca-Relli recognized that for abstraction to be emotionally moving, the use of psychologically affecting shapes and textures were necessary. Contours and shapes in his work were therefore based on imagined architectural themes or figure arrangements but were deliberately left ambiguous.

Marca-Relli took a constructive approach to image making, building up surfaces by cutting out and applying shapes to canvas or metal supports. He did not seek gestural movement or uncontrolled spontaneity, but sought to create controlled, complex compositions of interlocking forms.

Marca-Relli maintained strong links to Europe throughout his life and did not wish to break from the traditions of the "Old World" unlike many of his contemporaries. He lived and worked in France, Spain, and Italy and looked to European painters from the Renaissance, Cubism, and metaphysical movements for inspiration.

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.

Conrad Marca-Relli's childhood, life, career, and various anecdotes

Read Conrad Marca-Relli's Biography

And, the artists and movements that built upon Conrad Marca-Relli's art

Read Conrad Marca-Relli's Artistic Legacy

Influences and Connections

Influences on Artist

Artists, Friends, Movements

Influenced by Artist

Artists, Friends, Movements

Interactive chart with Conrad Marca-Relli's main influences, and the people and ideas that the artist influenced in turn.

View Influences Chart

Artists

	Paolo Uccello
	Henri Rousseau
	Pablo Picasso
	Georges Braque
	Giorgio de Chirico

Personal Contacts

	Jackson Pollock
	Franz Kline
	Eleanor Ward
	Philip Guston

Movements

	Surrealism
	Metaphysical Art
	Constructivism
	Cubism

Influences on Artist

Conrad Marca-Relli

Years Worked: 1953 - 2000

Influenced by Artist

Artists

	Afro
	Alberto Burri

Personal Contacts

	Harold Rosenberg
	Leo Castelli

Movements

	Abstract Expressionism
	Art Informel
	Neo-Dada

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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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First published on 05 Dec 2013. Updated and modified regularly.
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