Date: Fri 25-Sep-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Landeck-Conn-GraphicArts-Centr

Full Text:

Master Etcher At Graphicarts

(W/3 Cuts)

NORWALK, CONN. -- Prints and drawings by Armin Landeck (1905-1984), a

retrospective exhibition of an important Connecticut, Twentieth Century

printmaker, will open on Sunday, October 4, with a reception from 2 to 5 pm at

the Connecticut GraphicArts Center, a non-profit workshop and gallery.

The show will continue through November 21.

The opening will include a talk at 3 pm by the artist's dealers, and authors

of Armin Landeck, the Catalogue Raisonne of His Prints, June and Norman Kraeft

of Bethlehem, Conn. It will be hosted by a master printer of his work, Anthony

Kirk of North Salem, N.Y.

"Landeck's black and white etchings are a superb representational expression

of both urban and rural architecture," explained Andrew Stasik, curator and

director of the center's exhibitions. "And in our first major showing of his

work, we can offer the opportunity to acquire these rare and beautiful prints

of New York and Connecticut scenes."

Wisconsin-born, Landeck earned a degree from the University of Michigan and

then moved to New York, where he received a bachelor of architecture degree

from Columbia University in 1927. He studied at the Art Students League and

developed an interest in printmaking.

In 1928, Landeck set off for Europe to study modern and classical art, making

prints from his drawings and sketches as he traveled, according to the

Kraefts. He was especially intrigued by the Cubists, in vogue in Paris of the

1920s, and it is said that Cubism and early Italian Renaissance were the "most

important and lasting influence on his work."

As the Great Depression struck, he returned with his family to New York and

finding building at a standstill, he eschewed architecture for printmaking,

working first with lithographer George Miller. Then Landeck and Martin Lewis

opened the School of Printmakers at Miller's studios at 5 East 14th Street.

Fourteenth Street became the subject later of many of his most dramatic

prints.

"I spent a lot of time wandering the streets of New York in those days,"

Landeck told Kraeft, who felt that this was, for the most part, `lonely

wandering.'" Evident in this exhibition are those lonely, powerful drypoints

"Manhattan Canyon" and "Manhattan Vista," from 1934, and "Lonely Street,"

1936.

In 1931 Landeck purchased a house in East Cornwall where he maintained a

studio until his death in 1984. He spent a great deal of time in New York,

teaching at the Brearley School until he retired in 1958. It is said that the

1930s were "particularly productive" for Landeck, who created some 51 prints

of New York and Connecticut scenes during that time.

Perhaps the Wisconsin-born artist felt the strong pull of the countryside,

where he found inspiration for the 1936 drypoints "Cornwall Bridge Station"

and "West Cornwall Station." In 1945 Landeck traveled the length of the

Housatonic River making drawings to illustrate Chard Powers Smith's The

Housatonic, Puritan River (Rinehart & Co, 1946). He also illustrated a work by

Mark Van Doren and a rare book with a poem by Robert Frost.

In 1953 Landeck was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which enabled him to make

a second visit to Europe. During his career he was awarded many prizes

including those from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of

Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, and the

National Academy of Design. His work is in the collections of numerous museums

including the Metropolitan, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of

Modern Art, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, Washington,

D.C., the Swedish National Museum and the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin.

Landeck was a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists, the National

Academy of Design, the American Institute of Arts and Letters and the

International Institute of Arts and Letters.

The center is in a renovated carriage house at 299 West Avenue on the grounds

of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum. For information, 203/899-7999.