Davis & Langdale Company, Inc. - Robert Andrew Parker: Illustrated Books

ROBERT ANDREW PARKER: AN OVERVIEW FEBRUARY 18 - MARCH 24, 2012

ROBERT ANDREW PARKER: AN OVERVIEW will consist of about thirty watercolors, paintings, and etchings dating from the 1950s until 2012. Also featured in the exhibition will be two handmade model airplanes, as well as books by the artist, both bound and portfolio style, containing hand-watercolored drypoint etchings and watercolors.

The sources of inspiration for the books, portfolios and illustrations by Robert Andrew Parker (born 1927) are as varied as the interests of the man himself. A trained aeronautical engineer in the Air Force during World War II, Parker uses military and aeronautical history as the source for multiple works, including the model airplanes; AGO C.I German Fighter-Reconnaissance 1915 and Sopwith Dolphin - British. The exhibit highlights Parker’s interest in animals, particularly dogs, Dog in Red Grass (see right) and insects. Parker’s fascination with dreams led him to create Dreams of Gregor Samsa, a portfolio of etchings depicting Franz Kafka’s famous character from Metamorphosis as protagonist for Parker’s own imagined adventures. One etching from this portfolio is on view.

The twelve hand-colored etchings from the unbound portfolio Franz Kafka: Dreams, Diaries, Fragments are displayed in full.

Robert Andrew Parker illustrated the celebrated edition of Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma (Modern Library, New York, 1999, translated by Richard Howard) and his work appears frequently in The New Yorker magazine, among others. Widely exhibited since the 1950s, Parker’s work is in the collections of many major museums, including, in New York alone, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Morgan Library & Museum.

Dog in Red Grass

Watercolor, pencil and gouache on cardboard,

6 3/4 x 4 11/16 inches (sight) [irreg.]