Strata

Artist Clinton Adams 1918 Glendale, California - 2002 Albuquerque, New Mexico

PrinterPrinted by Harry Westlund

PrintshopPrinted at Tamarind Institute founded 1960

Date1970

Mediumlithograph on white Arches Cover, ed. 3/10

Dimensions30 × 22 1/4 in. (76.2 × 56.5 cm)

ClassificationsPrints & Printmaking

Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, gift of Nancy R. Briggs

Object numberPC1981.235.1

DescriptionA lithograph with a composition centered around a triangular shape. Within the triangle are more triangles that ascend to the top alternating between black-and-white patterns and solid black shapes.

On View

Not on view

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Exhibition: New Mexico Landscapes, on view September 3, 2022 - March 19, 2023

Strata depicts an abstracted scene that bears elements of realism that could be interpreted in different ways. Bolstered by the title, one might see a vertical diagram showing different layers of earth or a perspective view looking across the top of a canyon into the distance. Adams spent much of his free time in river canyons looking at layers of exposed rock that had been eroded over hundreds of thousands of years. The material evidence of time passing is clearly depicted in Strata.

Adams devoted much of his life to the art of lithography and was interested in using the unique tools of the art to make prints that couldn’t have been made any other way. The areas of Strata that resemble desert rocks and foliage were made using a material called tusche which, when mixed with alcohol on the lithographic stone, congeals in different ways and creates a distinctive look as seen in this print.

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