Shape doesn’t have to “describe” anything in abstract work; it can have its own meaning.
Myron Kozman [b. 1916: Muncie, Indiana – d. 2002: Chicago, Illinois]
silkscreen on paper
4 prints, each 4 3/4 by 4 3/4 inches
Gift of Neva Krohn
Collection of the Illinois State Museum
A legacy of the New Bauhaus can be seen in these four small silkscreen prints. As a member of the first class to graduate from Lazlo Moholy-Nagy’s cutting-edge school of art and design, Kozman would have been familiar with the idea of describing space through the manipulation of flat shape and color alone.
In the first image, he overlays three shapes using transparent inks and creating a sense of depth while maintaining the integrity of the flat page surface. In the remaining three, the artist explores the effect of color choice on a composition; shifting the paper and primary color scheme while his shapes are pierced with holes.