The forthcoming exhibition of collages on paper by Conrad Marca-Relli will be the artist’s second show at the Washburn Gallery. In 2001 the gallery organized a Marca-Relli exhibition of collages on canvas. The 20 works in this exhibition date from the 1950s and 1960s. Conrad Marca-Relli was considered an Abstract Expressionist but Marca-Relli’s medium of freely cut abstract shapes in canvas, burlap, metal and vinyl, sometimes painted, was unique in the New York School.
Born in Boston in 1913, Marca-Relli spent part of his youth in Italy and moved to New York in 1931. He was employed by the WPA; fought in World War II; a founder of the Club in 1949; and with Franz Kline, organized the Ninth Street Show in 1951.
During Marca-Relli’s life, many solo exhibitions of his collages were held at the Stable Gallery, Kootz Gallery, Marlborough Gallery, and Marisa del Re Gallery. In 1967, a retrospective exhibition was organized by the Whitney Museum. Marca-Relli’s work has been shown extensively in Europe, particularly Italy where he died in Parma in 2000. Marca-Relli was included in the 1955 Venice Biennale, Documenta II, and in 1999 a retrospective was held at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum.
A catalogue will be published with color reproductions and an introduction by Carlos Basaldua, a close, long time friend of Marca-Relli.