Pat Steir
Though her early work was loosely allied with Conceptual Art and Minimalism, Pat Steir's poured “Waterfall” paintings of the 1980s gained her acclaim. Profoundly influenced by Chinese painting traditions and techniques—especially the marks of the eighth- and ninth-century Yi-pin “ink-splashing” painters—mentorships from John Cage and Agnes Martin, and the harmony between man and nature espoused by Taoist philosophy, Steir considers elemental forces active participants in her work, intentionally removing herself from the action and allowing gravity, time, and the environment to determine the work’s result.
Long Vertical Falls #1
1991
Soap ground and spit bite aquatint
54.25 × 30 inches (sheet)
Publisher, Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Printer, Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Edition of 20
Signed, dated and numbered in pencil
$18,000
Small Vertical Falls
1991
Soap ground aquatint
25 x 19 inches (sheet)
Publisher, Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Edition of 25
Signed and numbered in pencil
Provenance, Crown Point Press, San Francisco
$6,000
Beautiful
2008
White ground aquatint with drypoint
29.75 x 22.25 inches (sheet)
Publisher, Madison Print Club
Printer, Harlan & Weaver, Inc., New York
Edition of 120
Signed, dated and annotated in pencil
$6,000
Waterfall (from the Documenta IX portfolio)
1992
Color aquatint
27.75 x 14.5 inches (sheet)
Publisher, Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Edition of 45
Signed, dated and numbered in pencil
$6,000