Vintage Mixed Media Abstract Painting & Collage "Dressmaker" by David Ramage Prentice 1981

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Vintage Mixed Media Composition entitled "Dressmaker" by David Ramage Prentice. Signed and dated '81 upper left. Mixed media on wrapped … Read more Vintage Mixed Media Composition entitled "Dressmaker" by David Ramage Prentice. Signed and dated '81 upper left. Mixed media on wrapped canvas.

Measurements: 42"W x48"H

David Ramage Prentice was born in 1943 and was predominantly inspired creatively by the 1960s growing up. Historically established in the context of the Cold War, the 1960s represent an extremely powerful era which engendered a significant number of breaks and challenged the order of all things. In Europe, The Iron Curtain and the Berlin wall would eternally mark people and beliefs, while in the U.S, predicaments such as the Cuban missile crisis and Vietnam war would forever influence generations to come. From education to gender issues and ideologies, a re-definition of social standards in Western society ensued, with revolutionary values and movements emerging in a cradle of innovation. In the art sphere, a multitude of powerful changes were also taking place. Pop Art, adopting the culture of mass media through the artworks of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann, was gradually breaking down the foundations on which the creation and reception of art were built. Getting inspired from the imagery of popular culture and mass consumerism, the Pop Artists refuted the authority of highbrow art and created a cutting-edge movement, while Minimalism, simultaneously appearing, was rejecting any form of emotional manifestation and focused on art’s theoretical features – aspiring to pure visual responses. Simplicity and an emptiness of emotions were key concepts in the highly influential movement of Minimalism, embodied by artists like Frank Stella, Donald Judd and Agnes Martin. Bored of the gestural elements of Abstract Expressionism, Minimalist artists focused on delivering artworks mainly composed of polished, pure lines and geometrical elements. The very first flourishing of Conceptualism was significantly influenced by the purity of Minimalism but went further in rejecting all pre-defined conceptions inherent to art, similarly to what Pop Artists were trying to attain, by elevating popular culture to the status of high art. Exploring further into some of the ideas inherent to Abstract Expressionism, artists such as Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Helen Frankenthaler practiced Colour Field Painting – decidedly relating to Minimalism, with an essentially ruled-based approach, devoid of any emotional aspect. Several schools of philosophy profoundly influenced creatives, Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti were artists fundamentally persuaded by the ideas of Existentialism, who achieved worldwide fame through their depiction of the human form and the anguish often linked to the human condition. Internationally, a significant number of art movements resounded with the radical changes of the 1960s, often prone to their own regional distinctions. In Italy, Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni initiated Spatialism, while in Germany, the Zero group espoused similar ideas under the leadership of Günther Uecker. See less