Robert Andrew Parker
17 x 14 5/8 inches (framed)
Provenance
Ex. Coll: Acquired directly from the artist in 2018.
Robert Andrew Parker
(American, b. 1927)
Chin Chin on the Delaware
Lithograph on paper
10 3/8 x 8 ¼ inches (sight size)
17 x 14 5/8 inches (framed)
Titled (in the print margin): Chin Chin on the Delaware
Numbered (at lower left): 2/20 and Signed (at lower right): Robert Andrew Parker
Acquired directly from the artist 2018.
Chin Chin, like all Shih Tzus, is endearing. Perched on a mossy rock in the Delaware this dog is irresistible. Playing off the Chinese origins of the breed, Parker uses a stylized Asian-inspired design to render the water and its’ currents. The reeds in lower left anchor the composition. Simultaneously charming and sophisticated, this lithograph is testament to why Parker is such a legend.
Even at 92, Robert Andrew Parker’s eyes twinkle. He is lively, engaged and filled with stories about his life and his art. Aristotle posited that “art imitates life”. Parker’s wonderful drawings and illustrations mirror his personality and passions. This coupled with the artist’s fine technique, exceptional color sense and feeling for composition are the reason his reputation as artist and illustrator are legendary. Parker was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1927 but he moved a great deal as a child; mainly in the mid-West. Diagnosed with TB at age ten, the entire Parker family moved to New Mexico so he could convalesce and recover. While bed-ridden Parker began to draw. He has never stopped.
From 1948-1952 Parker studied at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. 1952 marked the year the artist moved to New York City and was included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Exhibition of Watercolors, Drawings and Prints, a show that featured greats John Marin, Stuart Davis and Jackson Pollock. A one-man show at Roku Gallery in 1954 launched his career in a big way.
Over the course of his long career Parkerhas illustrated for Fortune Magazine, The New Yorker and Sports Illustrated. Parker has illustrated more than 50 books, many of the children’s books, including Grandfather Tang’s Story, Action Jacksonabout Jackson Pollock and Sleds on Boston. He illustrated the very successful Modern Library edition of Stendhal’s Charterhouse of Parma. Parker’s work has been exhibited and collected by The Art Institute of Chicago, MOMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Morgan Libraryand the Whitney Museum of Art.