May 14 - December 12, 2021
First rotation: May 14 - August 15 | Second rotation: August 20 - December 12
Explore the rarely seen prints of Photorealist painter Richard Estes, who inventively used the printmaking process to construct detailed cityscapes as awe-inspiring as his renowned paintings.
Richard Estes (United States, born 1923) D Train, 1988, screenprint, 42 1/8 x 77 inches. Private Collection. Image courtesy of Luc Demers. © Richard Estes
The Portland Museum of Art is honored to present an exhibition series of two rotations dedicated to the stunning prints of American artist Richard Estes (born 1932), who is considered one of the founding Photorealists—a group of artists who used photo-based techniques to achieve hyperrealist effects.
After beginning his career as a graphic artist for publishers and advertising agencies, Estes shifted full-time to his painting practice in the 1960s, promoting a kind of hyper-realism that was visually descriptive of the increasingly high-tech, post-war age. He is renowned as the premier painter of American cityscapes, yet he also explored the possibilities of printmaking throughout his career. In 1971, he began to collaborate with Edition Domberger in Stuttgart, Germany, where he worked closely with master printers on a highly sophisticated screenprinting process. Over the course of 20 years, Estes and Domberger collaborated on dozens of complex screenprints, many of which will be on view.
Richard Estes (United States, born 1923) Venezia-Morano, 1979, screenprint, 27 1/2 x 19 5/8 inches. Private Collection. Image courtesy of Luc Demers. © Richard Estes
Estes’ prints portray his ongoing fascination with the architecture of a city, with strong geometric views of storefronts, shopping malls, restaurants, bridges, and trains, appearing absent of human figures. He found the gleaming, reflective surfaces of New York City (and others) irresistible. His manner of painting and later printing reflections on metal and glass surfaces displays astounding technical skill. Through screenprinting, he is able to achieve uniform and intense effects like no other printing process because of its ability to evenly print layers of inks and colors, such as translucent, opaque, glossy, matte, and transparent.
Decades later, the detailed views of New York City and other sites remain vibrant records of urban topography. Estes’ subjects hover between past and present—some signage and buildings remain, and some have been demolished or replaced. These prints retain their vitality despite the everchanging façades of urban landscapes.
Richard Estes: Urban Landscapes will be on view in Hamill Gallery over the course of two rotations, one opening on May 14 and the second on August 20. In 2014, the PMA hosted the major retrospective Richard Estes’ Realism, and is thrilled to welcome the artist back for a further exploration of the many facets of his artistic practice.
About the Curator
JAIME DeSIMONE is the Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic Curator of Contemporary Art at the PMA. Jaime joined the PMA in 2018 from the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, where she helped grow the permanent collection and curated exhibitions such as A Dark Place of Dreams: Louise Nevelson with Chakaia Booker, Lauren Fensterstock, and Kate Gilmore. At the PMA, she oversaw Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, Ragnar Kjartansson: Scenes from Western Culture, and Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe: Tabernacles for Trying Times.