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Untitled

Linocut on paper mounted on paper
Support size: 12 1/8 x 9 3/8 inches; Image size: 9 x 7 inches
1947

As exhibited in:
Our Own Work, Our Own Way: Ascendant Women in the Johnson Collection, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, 2023; The Columbus Museum, Georgia, 2024

Living in New York in the 1940s Nell Blaine was an avowed abstractionist and an avid fan of jazz. At age twenty-two she became the youngest member of American Abstract Artists. Thirty years later she admitted: “We were very dogmatic about our program [to promote abstract art]. Now as I look back on it, I’m a little ashamed. … When you’re young you are very sure of yourself.”

In these two untitled prints, Blaine cut her images into linoleum, a material that is softer to work with than wood. Her designs demonstrate a keen interest in positive and negative shapes. In both instances, the white areas recede while the more colorful shapes—all organic—appear to advance.  

Other works by this artist