Luis Camnitzer, Latin American Judaica Conceptual Chassidic Art Modern Woodcut Luis Camnitzer

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Description

Luis Camnitzer and Martin Buber (1878-1965),
New York: JMB Publishers Ltd, 1970.
Printed at The New York Graphic Workshop.
Hand … Read more Luis Camnitzer and Martin Buber (1878-1965),
New York: JMB Publishers Ltd, 1970.
Printed at The New York Graphic Workshop.
Hand signed on Arches paper. (Edition 24/100, numbered on Justification page)

Woodblock prints based on folktales from the Hasidic Jewish tradition in Eastern Europe, selected by Camnitzer from the early masters section of Buber’s Die chassidischen Bücher as translated by Olga Marx. German Expressionist style Jewish woodcuts by Camnitzer titled: The Tap at the Window; The Helpful Mountain; The Deaf Man; How We Should Learn; Failure; Blessing of the Moon; To Say Torah and To Be Torah; The Mountain; The Bird Nest; and The Strong Thief.

Luis Camnitzer (born November 6, 1937) is a German-born Uruguayan artist, curator, art critic, and academic who was at the forefront of 1960s Conceptual Art. Camnitzer works primarily in sculpture, printmaking, and installation, exploring topics such as repression, institutional critique, and social justice. For over five decades, his practice has explored the psychological and political dimensions of language.
Luis Camnitzer was born in Lübeck, Germany in 1937 and moved to Montevideo, Uruguay in 1939. In 1953, he studied at the University of Montevideo's Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, where he concentrated on sculpture and architecture. In 1957, Camnitzer received a grant from the German government to study at Akademie der Bildenden Künste München At the Akademie, Camnitzer was mentored by sculptor Heinrich Kirchner.
In 1960 Camnitzer held his first solo exhibition at the Centro de Artes y Letras Montevideo  and the following year began teaching at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. Camnitzer subsequently moved from Montevideo, Uruguay to New York City in 1964.   In New York, he and fellow artists Argentine Liliana Porter and Venezuelan Guillermo Castillo (1941–1999). founded the New York Graphic Workshop (1964–1970), a studio focused on redefining the medium of printmaking and dedicated to reviving its importance as a contemporary art form. Beginning in the late 1960s and evolving into the 1970s and 80s, his practice also expanded to examine socio-political issues, including the oppression and cruelty of military dictatorships in Latin America. Camnitzer produced one of his most important works, the Uruguayan Torture Series (1983–84). This series of photo-etchings emphasizes the artist's interest in combining socio-political critique with the psychological implications of text and images. Since the 1980s Camnitzer has produced installations and site-specific works, such as A Museum is a School (2009–present), in addition to his continuing practice in printmaking. He has exhibited at MoMA in many exhibitions and has been included in print shows with
Thomas Bayrle, Mel Bochner, Louise Bourgeois, Marcel Broodthaers, Alberto Burri, Vija Celmins, Jean Fautrier, Jasper Johns, Käthe Kollwitz, Glenn Ligon, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. In 2018 a retrospective exhibition, Luis Camnitzer: Hospicio Para Utopias Fallidas, opened at Museo Reina Sofia. Since the 1960s, Camnitzer has focused on political subjects including identity, language, freedom, ethics, and historical tragedy. Camnitzer is a Uruguayan citizen. He lives and works in Great Neck, New York and taught at SUNY Old Westbury, where he is currently professor emeritus. Camnitzer has written several books, including New Art of Cuba (1994) and Conceptualism in Latin American Art: Didactics of Liberation (2007). He is represented by Alexander Gray Associates.

Representation in public collections
ARCO Corporation, New York, NY
Biblioteca Communale, Milan, Italy
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Uffizzi, Florence, Italy
Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Centro Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Colección Patrica Phelps de Cisneros, Caracas, Venezuela/New York, NY
Daros-Latinamerica, Zürich, Switzerland
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Lorraine, France
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Library of Jerusalem, Israel
Malmö Stad, Sweden
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia
Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo de Arte Moderno, Cartagena, Colombia
Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica
Museo de Artes Plásticas, Montevideo, Uruguay
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de Gráfica y Dibujo Latinoamericano, Roldanillo, Colombia
El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY
Museo del Grabado, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo, Uruguay
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidad de São Paulo, Brazil
Museum Lodz, Łódź, Poland
Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Museum of Contemporary Graphic Art, Fredrikstad, Norway
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
The New York Public Library, New York, NY
Queens Museum, New York, NY
São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Snite Museum, Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yeshiva University, New York, NY

Awards and recognition
2014 Premio Anual de Literature 2014, Ensayo de Arte, Ministry of Education and Culture, Uruguay
2012 United States Artists Ford Fellow, Visual Arts John Jones Art on Paper Award, Art Dubai: Skowhegan Medal for Conceptual & Interdisciplinary Practices
2011 Frank Jewett Mather Award, College Art Association
2002 Konex Mercosur Award for Uruguay
1998 Latin American Art Critic of the Year Award, Argentine Association of Art Critics
1996 First Prize, ES96, Tijuana Salón Internacional de Estandartes
1991 Art Matters Foundation
1982 Guggenheim Fellowship for Visual Art
1978 Creative Arts Program Services for Sculpture
1974 Prize, British International Print Biennial
1970 Prize, Biennial de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1968 Purchase Prize, Museum of Trenton, New Jersey
1965 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture
1961 Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Printmaking See less