Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by Charles Cajori. It dates from 1967 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1967, *Untitled* is one of nine prints in a mixed-media portfolio by Charles Cajori. It combines lithography with additional processes including collage, die-cutting, embossing, and etching. The work reflects Cajori’s engagement with the material possibilities of printmaking, extending his abstract expressionist approach beyond painting into the printed plane.
Subject & Meaning
The composition resists figurative reference, instead presenting a dense network of gestural marks that accumulate across the surface.
The composition resists figurative reference, instead presenting a dense network of gestural marks that accumulate across the surface. Overlapping lines and irregular shapes suggest movement and spontaneity, yet their arrangement reveals deliberate control. The absence of recognizable forms directs focus to the physicality of the mark-making itself, aligning with abstract expressionist concerns for process and presence.
Technique & Style
Cajori employed lithographic ink to produce bold, uneven strokes that vary in weight and texture. The black ink contrasts sharply with the unmarked paper, enhancing the urgency of the gesture. Additional interventions—collage elements, die-cut openings, and embossing—introduce tactile variation, disrupting the flatness of the print and deepening its spatial ambiguity.
History & Provenance
The portfolio was produced during a period when Cajori was actively involved in New York’s postwar art scene, teaching at institutions such as the Art Students League. While the specific provenance of this individual print is not widely documented, the portfolio as a whole reflects his commitment to experimental printmaking as a parallel practice to his painting.
Context
Emerging from the legacy of abstract expressionism, Cajori’s work in the 1960s engaged with the medium’s potential for physical intervention. His use of collage and embossing in printmaking echoed contemporaneous explorations by artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, who blurred boundaries between painting, drawing, and object-making.
Legacy
Cajori’s portfolio remains a quiet but significant contribution to the expansion of printmaking beyond reproductive techniques. His integration of diverse processes into a single body of work influenced later generations of printmakers seeking to expand the expressive range of the medium through material experimentation.
Artist & collection
Artist
Charles Florian Cajori (March 9, 1921 – December 1, 2013) was an abstract expressionist painter who, through his drawing, painting and teaching, made a significant contribution to the New York School of artists that emerged in the 1950s.
