Carmen Cicero

Carmen Cicero (b. 1926) is now in the midst of his seventh decade at the cutting edge of contemporary art. His works of the 1950s--collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and other major museums--combined the gestures of Abstract Expressionism with the complex emergent forms of Surrealist automatism. In the 1960s, Cicero was one of the first members of the American avant-garde to return to figuration, pursuing, through the 1960s and 1970s, a style he called "figurative expressionism." This evolved into his more recent "visionary" mode, in which he depicts, with a startling clarity, mysterious scenes animated by multiple contradictory feelings--unfulfilled desires, jealousy, despair, and isolation--as well as a generous dose of humor.

Throughout his entire artistic evolution, drawing and watercolor have remained central to Cicero's practice, allowing him to body forth his fertile imaginings with a vivid immediacy. This oversize volume presents a generous selection of drawings and watercolors from every stage of Cicero's career; it is printed on a quality uncoated stock that recalls the artist's favored Arches watercolor paper, and many of the drawings are reproduced at actual size. An essay by the noted critic David Ebony brings out the humor, pathos, and consummate skill of Cicero's art, and a full apparatus--including an artist's statement, chronology, and bibliography--further add to the value of this work, which will be an essential addition to any library of American art.