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Lithograph #13

1961
Not on view
Dorazio praised abstraction as a universal language, one that could provide a purely optical experience. Central to his art was the role of color. Rather than assign it symbolic values, he believed that "color possesses a natural autonomy." His work, as such, reflected his goal to expand upon its expressive possibilities. During the period in which this print was made, Dorazio focused on the interaction of colored lines with each other and with the negative space of the pictorial surface—as seen here in the relationships both among the blue lines and between them and the white from the paper support. His art was more than a formal exercise, however, as the artist sought to explore color’s effect on visual perception as well as its ability to impact viewers’ "frames of mind, attitudes, and awareness."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Lithograph #13
  • Artist: Piero Dorazio (Italian, Rome 1927–2005 Perugia)
  • Date: 1961
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 27 3/8 × 20 7/8 in. (69.5 × 53 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Thomas M. Folds, 1966
  • Object Number: 66.752
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
Untitled, Piero Dorazio  Italian, Aquatint
Piero Dorazio
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ca. 1400–1450 and later
Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec  French, Lithograph printed in four colors; three sheets of wove paper
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Printer Affiches Américaines, Charles Lévy
1891
Untitled, Piero Dorazio  Italian, Aquatint
Piero Dorazio
1983
Composed Armor, Julian Arrechia  Spanish, Steel, copper alloy (latten), leather, Italian
Armorer Left tasset made by Julian Arrechia
Armorer Left pauldron made by Raymond Bartel
ca. 1450–60 and later, restored and composed in the 1920s

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