Divertissement by Dorothy McCray

Divertissement by Dorothy McCray

Divertissement

Dorothy McCray

Title

Divertissement

 
Artist

Dorothy McCray

  1915 - 2008 (biography)
Year
1959  
Technique
color lithograph 
Image Size
16 1/4 x 21 3/8" image 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
Ed 8 
Annotations
pencil inscribed "Imp" after the signature & dated in lower right; pencil titled and inscribed "Ed 8" in lower left 
Reference
IMA (Newfield's) accession no. 1992.183 
Paper
 
State
published 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
MASC189 
Price
SOLD
Description

Dorothy McCray was hired by the Western New Mexico College (now University) in Silver City to teach lithography and painting in 1948. However, feeling the need to hone her printmaking skills, she took a year off in 1954 to study lithography under Leon Goldin at the California School of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of Art). It was also a chance to familiarize herself with one of the country's hotbeds of Abstract Expressionism and the San Francisco School, whose students were primarily based at the Californa School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). The goal, she told inquirers, was to become more versed in the theory of Abstract Expressionism itself, in order to better support her students' pursuit of the genre.

In the process, McCray's own work became synonymous with that genre and era. Colorful, bold, experimental, and harmoniously constructed compositions make up the body of her lithographic work, and her influence on the art world of New Mexico continues to be felt.