Tree Burst (also called Waterfall)

Edmond Casarella

This composition was submitted by Casarella titled "Tree Burst" as his "diploma presentation" for admission to the National Academy of Design. The work had to be critiqued and approved by the governing council before the artist was accepted by the academy and received their certification, or "diploma".

Ed Casarella was an early practitioner of the Paper Relief print, such as this composition, starting in 1949. Using shapes cut from chipboard and illustration board he built up the surface of a plate, which was printed by hand as a relief. By peeling, sanding, scraping and carving the cardboard elements he is able to achieve a composition that looks both spontaneous and gestural.

A description of this technique can be found on page 154 of "The Stamp of Impulse - Abstract Expressionist Prints" by David Acton, Worcester Museum, 2001.

Casarella captures the explosive energy of one of nature’s most dramatic elements in this color paper relief from 1958. His use of earth tones places the viewer in the cool, dark, mossy reaches of the kinds of woodlands found in the northeastern United States where Casarella spent the majority of his life. The viewer can nearly place themselves beside the roar and crash of the tumbling river, and feel the draping shadows of a thick canopy of trees on their skin.

Nature was frequently the focus of the prints of Casarella, who remains one of the foremost modernist printmakers of the mid 20th century. Throughout his work, outwardly radiating, bold strokes of color overtake the matrices, often oversized to allow room for the forceful energy Casarella used to harness his vision of untamed power. This is evidenced in his depictions of everything from the ever-moving sea to the gravity-pulled weight of rock walls.