Acrylic on canvas, signed at lower center, stamped and dated 1984 on the stretcher bar, presented in a gilt frame.

SS 71.5 x 47.5 in.; DOA 78 x 53.5 in.

From the Collection of Esther B. Ferguson, Secessionville Manor, Charleston, SC

Gimbel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York, NY

Educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Natkin achieved his greatest success as a painter following his move to New York in 1959. Inspired greatly by the Post-Impressionists and Abstract Expressionists, Natkin synthesizes his own unique compositional arrangements and techniques through the layering of colors and forms on large scale canvases.

In the artist's introduction to Robert Natkin: Recent Paintings from the Hitchcock Series (Exhibition catalogue, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Ltd., New York, 1985), Natkin describes his relationship to the cinematic work of Alfred Hitchcock as:
"Hitchcock dealt with life’s inescapable and frightening contradictions in a manner much different from Rothko and Van Gogh. There is no self-mutilation; there need not be. He created myths to dramatize and celebrate love and horror. Hitchcock accepts and seeks to reveal what is known and intuited at all levels. Nothing gets denied. If there is a price to be paid for complete seeing, it is the dread of contradiction, uncertainty, duplicity; but there Hitchcock dresses in riddle and laughter. The contemplation of his work prepares me to admit and inspires me to accept my collusions with the demons within."

Robert Natkin's work may be found in numerous public and private collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC; and many others.

Some rubbing and re-touch to frame.

$8,000 - 12,000