Mask no.4 (Apache)

 

R.C. Gorman

  1933 - 2005 (biography)

1975  

color lithograph 

16 x 13 1/8" image & paper 

pencil, in image, lower right 

7 of 15  

pencil dated, lower right 

Gorman work number 75-38. Steen, page 137; illustrated, page 66, 'R.C. Gorman The Graphic Works'. Adams and Newlin 

Arches Buff 

published 

artist and Windmill Press, blindstamp 

8423 

$1,500.00 

A rare early work by R.C. Gorman, this is the fourth in a series of six masks that he did in 1975, before he moved on to the figurative images that he became known for. "Mask No. 4" was printed in San Francisco by Windmill Press Master Printer John Gruenwald, who Gorman cited as a supportive and inspirational collaborator who encouraged him to create the series.

Gorman's image comes from the Apache Mountain Spirits Legend: Representatives of the Mountain People, called Crown Dancers, appear among the Apache tribespeople people in masked form. Apaches tell many stories of the Mountain Spirits, usually attesting to their power to cure and protect, or to the ill consequences of showing disrespect toward the Spirits.

This print was done in a small editon of 15, plus 3 various proofs.