Summer Field
Item
Title
Summer Field
Creator
Richard Ziemann
American, b. 1932
American, b. 1932
Date
1966
Materials
Etching and engraving
Measurements
17-1/4 x 23-1/2 in. (43.8 x 59.7 cm)
Description
Richard Ziemann is fortunate to have belonged to the first generation of Yale University M. F. A. students who honed their printmaking craft while working with Gabor Peterdi, who was just beginning his association with Yale when Ziemann started his graduate work there in the late 1950s. “Peterdi not only taught us etching,” says Ziemann, “he taught everything.”
The most significant lesson Ziemann garnered from his teacher was an appreciation of nature as the ultimate source for imagery. But while Peterdi’s experiences with his surroundings were often internalized to the point of abstraction, Ziemann’s invariably result in exquisitely rendered landscapes that are idealized, to be sure, but nonetheless wholly accessible as some kind of realized space:
"I have a romantic attachment to nature and feel a sense of exhilaration when viewing the interiors of woods, fields of grass, the forest floor, flowers and foliage. I work directly on etching plates in the landscape experiencing the play of light and daily atmospheric changes along with the form and textural variety of the seasons. Nature with its combination of serenity and wilderness is an inexhaustible visual source for my work."
The most significant lesson Ziemann garnered from his teacher was an appreciation of nature as the ultimate source for imagery. But while Peterdi’s experiences with his surroundings were often internalized to the point of abstraction, Ziemann’s invariably result in exquisitely rendered landscapes that are idealized, to be sure, but nonetheless wholly accessible as some kind of realized space:
"I have a romantic attachment to nature and feel a sense of exhilaration when viewing the interiors of woods, fields of grass, the forest floor, flowers and foliage. I work directly on etching plates in the landscape experiencing the play of light and daily atmospheric changes along with the form and textural variety of the seasons. Nature with its combination of serenity and wilderness is an inexhaustible visual source for my work."
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University.
Identifier
73.67
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.