Grey Still Life
1948
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
monotype printed from woodblock on black paper
Dimensions
overall: 51.4 x 65.4 cm (20 1/4 x 25 3/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1951.10.228
Art Historical Context
Adja Yunkers created *Grey Still Life* in 1948 as a monotype printed from a woodblock onto black paper. This distinctive technique allows for a single, unique impression where the artist applies ink to the carved block and transfers it under pressure, resulting in rich textures and subtle tonal variations. The choice of black paper enhances the muted grey palette suggested by the title, evoking a quiet, contemplative atmosphere typical of still-life subjects. Measuring just over 20 by 25 inches, the print demonstrates Yunkers’ interest in exploring form and light through unconventional printi...
About the Artist
Adja Yunkers
Adja Yunkers (1900–1983), born Adolf Eduard Vilhelm Junker in Riga in what was then the Governorate of Livonia in the Russian Empire, was one of the most internationally peripatetic and stylistically adventurous printmakers and painters of the twentieth century. Restlessly mobile from an early age, Yunkers studied art successively in Leningrad, Berlin, Paris, and London, accumulating a breadth of ...