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33. Federico Castellón (1914-1971) Of Land and Sea
Lithograph, 1939, 263 x 252 mm., Freundlich 7. A fine impression on thick wove paper with full margins, signed in pencil and from the edition of 30. Perhaps his finest print, this haunting, dream-like image is a milestone in the history of American graphic art, for Castellón’s early lithographs and drawings were the first surrealist images to be created by an American artist. Born in Spain, but raised and educated in New York, Castellón was largely self taught. The great New York museums were the major sources of his education, where he became familiar with the Old Masters as well as with Picasso, De Chirico, Dalí and others. His promising youthful work was noted by Diego Rivera, who did much to aid his career. Of Land and Sea might well be considered “classic” surrealism, its elements drawn realistically, their relation seemingly logical but inexplicable. There is no easily-apparent meaning. Instead, there are tugs at the subconscious, fragments of memory, a tableau taken from a dream whose prior and post actions are lost in time and only a single image remains to tell (or not tell) the story. The print is exceptionally rare today. |
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