Untitled, 1961
oil and collage on canvas
17 1/2" x 23 1/4"
Untitled, 1974
oil and collage on canvas
51" x 66"
Untitled, 1969
mixed media
69 1/2" x 57"
Conrad Marca-Relli (1913-2000) is best known for his dynamic large-scale collage paintings inspired by architecture and the urban landscape. His abstract forms and gestural brushstrokes earned him a place as part of the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists. As his career progressed, Marca-Relli began experimenting with collage and use of different materials and textures to capture his desired effects.
Born Corrado Marcarelli to Italian immigrants in Boston, Marca-Relli's family moved in 1926 to New York where he studied at a private art school and briefly at the Cooper Union. After his schooling he became active in the avant-garde Greenwich Village art scene, but as his career progressed, he increasingly distanced himself from the New York School. During the Depression, he worked for the Works Progress Administration, through which he met artists Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.
Marca-Relli's work is part of the permanent collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and numerous other museums around the world.
