Christina Ramberg: Retrospective, 1988 Chicago Imagists softcover RARE

Christina Ramberg: a Retrospective Chicago Imagist Catalog Author:
Denis Adrian, Carol Becker
Publisher:
The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago
Release Date:
1988
Seller Category:
ART EXHIBIT CATALOGS
Qty Available:
1
Condition:
Used: Excellent
Sku: AFAB0025
Notes: Text by Denis Adrian and Carol Becker. Near Fine exhibition catalog, staple-bound, stiff grey paper wraps with white lettering and artist's image of a hand in color on the cover, slight wear to edges and corners, but otherwise mint. 12" x 9", clean interior, tight binding, full-color reproductions of the artist’s paintings from 1968-1988 with accompanying essays. 31 pp. + full list of works from the exhibition. Christina Ramberg (1946-1995) is a member of the Imagist movement coming out of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 60s. She studied under Ray Yoshida and later became faculty herself. Ramberg paints acrylic on Masonite to achieve a hard finish that drives dark lines, dramatic contours, and muted tones. Her female forms are often segmented, contorting into cramped spaces, and her fascination with bondage and fetish fashion as a form of both power and containment is really resonant now. Her hyper-stylization and the implications must have been shocking at the time but, the ideas and style are ubiquitous now. Later in her career, Ramberg put down painting and took up quilting, apply her same precise geometry to fabric and abstract forms. Her career was sadly cut short by a fatal diagnosis, and she died in 1995 at the age of 49. The skill and evocative questions that formed the basis of her work are on full display in this potent catalog. Scarce in the trade, as is all print on this important artist.