Abstract Color Field Lithograph in Pale Blue and Brown by Will Peterson

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Abstract Color Field Lithograph in Pale Blue and Brown by American Beat artist Will Peterson (1928-1994.)

This lithograph blends the … Read more Abstract Color Field Lithograph in Pale Blue and Brown by American Beat artist Will Peterson (1928-1994.)

This lithograph blends the linework and movement of abstract impressionism with a color field-esque composition. A long copper-brown rectangle shines through from the bottom layer of the colors. It is then crossed in multiple places by black linework and hatching. Around this shape a pale cornflower blue acts as a frame and crosses the brown shape in the center. The addition of the cool black and blue tones creates a sense of warmth in the underlying shape.

Lithograph is printed on wove paper which is fixed to a larger piece of handmade paper containing the artists signature and a small embossing found on his other pieces from this time period. This paper is displayed on top of a linen covered board with sturdy wood edges and a plexiglass over over the entire piece.

Will Peterson was born in Chicago in 1928 to German immigrant parents. He contracted Polio when he was in High School and thus spent much of his early years ill. During this time he started working as a cartoonist for his high school’s paper. He started his official art studies at Wilber Wright College in Chicago and later earned a BA and a MA at Michigan State University. Here he studied print making and lithography under John S. deMartelly. He began enjoying artistic success while still in graduate school, exhibiting at the Detroit Art Institute, the Terry Art Institute, the National Print Exhibition, and the Boston Printmakers.

Peterson was drafted into the army in 1952 and thus spent time in Korea and Japan. His time as an educational specialist in Hokkaido was a formative experience for him and his interest in Japanese calligraphy and other arts influenced his later work. Upon returning to the United States, he moved to Oakland, California. He became involved with the beat movement and after founding the Bay Printmakers Society with fellow artist Mel Strawn, used his studio to publish the work of fellow beat artists. Peterson then enrolled in the California College of the Arts and worked under Diebenkorn while earning his MFA.

Following this period, he returned to Japan and set up a print making studio there, exhibiting with the Kyoto Printmakers and Kyoto Museum of Art. He then taught drawing, painting, and printmaking at Ohio State University from 1956-1969 and later at West Virginia University until 1977. Peterson then decided to quit teaching and founded Plucked Chicken Press with Cynthia Archer, his wife. He continued working in publishing until his death in 1994. His works are now held in museums and private collections across the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris. See less