Dick Wray (American, 1933-2011), Untitled, 1964 Color Lithograph

Dick Wray (American, 1933–2011) was a Houston painter and printmaker associated with Abstract Expressionism and the development of modern art in Texas. He initially studied architecture at the University of Houston before continuing his education at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where exposure to European modernism led him toward painting. Wray returned to Houston with an approach that favored blunt black marks, roughly blocked areas of color and surfaces that preserved the physical evidence of their making. His compositions rarely settle into orderly abstraction; shapes collide with stray lines and splashes that interrupt any stable reading of the image. He received the Ford Foundation Purchase Prize in 1962 and worked as a guest artist at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles in 1964. Wray later taught at the Glassell School of Art and was named the Art League Houston’s Texas Artist of the Year in 2000. His work is represented in the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art, while the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston holds examples from several periods of his career.

Untitled, 1964, color lithograph printed in orange and black on white Arches paper, printed by Thom O’Connor and published by the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. An irregular orange rectangle contains a loosely constructed framework crossed by heavy black passages. Ink droplets extend beyond the central form, while a segmented arc runs down its right side. Inscribed in pencil “Tam imp” at lower center and signed “dick wray” at lower right, with the Tamarind bell and O’Connor blindstamps in the lower margin. “Tam imp” identifies this as one of nine Tamarind impressions apart from the numbered edition of twenty. Sheet measures approximately 20.125 × 15.5 inches. The sheet shows light, even toning; image presents well. Provenance of Martin and Enid Gleich.

Condition
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Dimensions
20.125 x 15.5 in