TitleThe Pillars of Hercules
Artist
Carol Summers
(1925 - 2016)
Date1990
MediumColor woodcut and monotype on white Japanese paper
DimensionsSheet size: 30 1/16 × 29 15/16 in.
Plate size: 30 1/16 × 29 15/16 in.
Other (Backing board): 33 × 32 in.
SignedSigned in graphite at lower right in image: "Carol Summers".
SubmissionANA diploma presentation, November 6, 1991
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1991.17
Label TextCarol Summers was born in Kingston, New York and studied painting and printmaking at Bard College with Stephan Hirsh and Louis Schanker. Summers served in the Marines during World War II and following the war he traveled to Italy, where in 1959 he set up his studio. He subsequently moved to India and Mexico before settling in Santa Cruz, California in 1972. Summers emerged in the late 1950s working in a signature style that incorporated interlocking broad areas of saturated and sometimes contrasting colors printed in large scale. Summers is known for his innovative printmaking techniques. During the course of printing, the artist often adds solvents to the ink to create a watercolor-like effect, smears ink onto the paper, or prints on both sides of the paper to create various effects. The artist's use of Japanese paper is important to the process and used for its tactile qualities and the way in which it absorbs ink. Summers' subjects include landscape and architecture and often, as the case with "The Pillars of Hercules," suggest the passage of human and geologic history. This print evokes some lost historical narrative, and as the artist has stated: "Humans are a tiny little family looked at from a geologic point of view. I look at all mankind as if we're one body."
