Artist: Steve Anderson
Title: Grace (Princess Grace of Monaco)
Year created: 2004
Medium: Digital Artist's Proof 1/1 on Paper; Signed, Numbered & Dated
Edition: 1/1 Digital Artist's Proof on Paper
Height (inches): 40 -3/8
Width (inches): 34
Signed by the artist
Signed Area: front
This piece is unframed
Description of piece:
This large-format original digital artist’s proof by artist and master printer Steven Andersen depicts silver-screen actress Grace Kelly, who famously became Princess Grace of Monaco, through one of the greatest love stories of the twentieth century.
Measuring 40-3/8” in height by x 34" width, this sublime image captures the magic of Grace Kelly with its pristine coloration and delicate detailing. It is the only Digital Artist’s Proof that Steve Andersen created of his work. Hand-signed and dated by the artist, lower right margin, in pencil. Bearing Andersen’s embossed blind-stamp, and with the edition number “1/1”, also applied by hand in pencil, lower left margin.
GRACE KELLY, PRINCESS GRACE OF MONACO (1929– 1982) was an American film actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III.
After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1949, Grace Kelly began appearing in New York City theatrical productions and over 40 live drama productions broadcast in early 1950s Golden Age of Television. Kelly gained stardom from her performance in John Ford's adventure-romance Mogambo (1953), starring Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the drama The Country Girl (1954) with Bing Crosby. Other notable works include the western High Noon (1952) with Gary Cooper, the romance-comedy High Society (1956) with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and three consecutive Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers: Dial M for Murder (1954) with Ray Milland, Rear Window (1954) with James Stewart, and To Catch a Thief (1955) with Cary Grant.
Kelly retired from acting at age 26 to marry Rainier, and she began her duties as Princess of Monaco. Hitchcock hoped that she would appear in more of his films which required an “icy blonde” lead actress, but he was unable to coax her out of retirement.
The Prince and Princess had three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert, and Princess Stéphanie. Princess Grace retained her link to America through her dual U.S. and Monégasque citizenship. Her charity work focused on young children and the arts, establishing the Princess Grace Foundation to support local artisans in 1964. Her organization for children's rights, AMADE Mondiale, gained consultive status within UNICEF and UNESCO. Grace Kelly is listed 13th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classical Hollywood Cinema. In honor of his mother, Prince Albert helped establish the Princess Grace Awards, which recognizes emerging performers in film, theatre, and dance.
Artist bio:
STEVEN ANDERSEN, internationally recognized master printer and founder of Vermillion Editions Limited, is an icon of contemporary American printmaking. In his fifteen years at the helm of Vermillion Editions, he printed & published the works of such renowned artists as Red Grooms, Robert Mapplethorpe, James Rosenquist, Malcolm Morley, Sam Gilliam and William Wegman.
“Artists from Arakawa to Warhol were eager for Andersen's expertise and his willingness to translate unconventional ideas into print. He relished both technical challenges and the audacity of artists rethinking what a print could be.”
Originally from Minnesota where he designed and built race cars, Andersen took his first lithography course by accident, thinking he was signing up for topography. His professor, master printer Zigmunds Priede, took Andersen to New York to work at Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), one of the best-known fine print publishers in the country.
From the start Andersen was a brilliant printer, never compromising quality, always ready for new technical and artistic challenges. Before he graduated, he was collaborating with Chuck Close, Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, Marisol and Larry Rivers. After graduation, he set up the Styria Studio and the print studio at Parsons School of Design and joined the faculty of Cooper Union. He printed James Rosenquist's massive four panel litho and screen print Horse Blinders and Andy Warhol's Chairman Mao series.
The impetus to start Vermillion came from Samuel Sachs, Director of the Minnesota Institute of Arts. Andersen sparked to the idea of work in a booming, but more intimate artistic community. Andersen moved back to Minneapolis. Friends from NYC including Rosenquist, Allan D'Arcangelo, Close and Arakawa soon made the journey west to work with him. He partnered extensively with Arakawa as well as Red Grooms and Sam Gilliam, and also took on work for Robert Cumming, Martha Diamond, Robert Moskowitz, John Newman, Hollis Sigler, as well as the aforementioned Nicolas Africano, Robert Mapplethorpe, James Rosenquist, Malcolm Morley and William Wegman.
Vermillion became the “enfant terrible” of the fine art printing and publishing industry on an international level. Andersen, an artist in his own right, also printed his own work, with the same mastery with which he printed the work of other contemporary artists. In 1982, Andersen was invited to show Vermillion’s newest publications at the American Center in Paris for the summer; in addition, Andersen was also given a Rockefeller Foundation Award to remain as an artist-in-residence and a guest of the city of Paris for the entire three month run of the show.
Grace is a fine, rare example of Andersen’s own artistry.