Mel Ramos

Mel Ramos. The definitive catalogue raisonné of original prints is a complete documentation of all printed works on paper reproduced in color. Richly illustrated, the publication includes two essays by art historians and curators Claire Breukel and Jeanette Zwingenberger, who analyze Ramos' lifelong artistic engagement with the female nude. The catalog is an invaluable resource for researchers, collectors, and aficionados alike. From a very early stage in his artistic career, Ramos has incorporated printed editions into his oeuvre. While the earliest of these were still in an abstract expressionistic manner, the artist really started engaging with the medium when he began working in his characteristic Pop Art style in the mid 1960s. Against the background of the cultural revolution of the late 1950s and early 1960s, these artists reflected on the world around them and found inspiration in the everyday, in consumer goods, and the bourgeoning mass media. Especially the latter led to experiments with commercial printing methods such as silk-screening. Art was to be brought out of the confines of elite institutions and made easily available. Questions were raised about the attributes of an artwork: originality, uniqueness, and authenticity were contested.