American serigraph, 1979, 1st edition, pencil signed, dated, titled and numbered 199/300 in the bottom margin

SIZE IN INCHES: 23.5 x 30.5 inches

COMMENTS: Created at the height of Japanese economic influence, Michael Knigin's "Japanese Suite" paintings and prints juxtaposed classic ukiyo-e imagery with black-and-white photos of New York City in the 1970s. In retrospect Knigin's work evokes the fear that many Americans experienced at the time of being overtaken by Japan as the world's greatest economic engine. Knigin created over 200 print designs and 50 paintings for the "Japanese Suite." In this example we see the portrait work of the Osaka print artist Hirosada set against a citiscape that includes the World Trade Center's twin skyscrapers, which were destroyed nearly 20 years ago on 9-11-2001.

MICHAEL KNIGIN (1942-2011) was born in 1942 in Brooklyn, NY. He attended and graduated from the Tyler School of Art and Temple University (B.F.A.).

After graduating from college in 1966, Knigin started teaching at the Pratt Graphic Center in Manhattan, an extension of the Pratt Institute, devoted to fine arts and graphic prints. There he started a fine art lithography workshop. After a year and a half he opened his own publishing company, Chiron Press, and added a silkscreen printing facility. This was the first facility in the United States that combined lithography and screen-printing. The shop remained in existence for over seven years, printing and publishing editions for the most renowned contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Vaserelly, James Brooks, Jules Olitsky, Wayne Thiebold, Wolf Kahn, Paul Jenkins, Philip Pearlstein, Ilya Bolotowsky, Paul Cadmus, Brice Mardin, Walasse Ting, Francisco Zuniga and many other notable artists.

Knigin's work is included in over 60 museums and corporate collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Albright-Knox Museum, The National Collection of Fine Arts, The Smithsonian Institute, The Carnegie Mellon Institute, New York University, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Minnesota Museum of Art, The Library of Congress, The McNay Museum, The Mexico City Museum of Modern Art, The Delaware Museum, The Mint Museum, The North Miami Museum of Art, U.S. Air Force, The Indiana Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The Worcester Museum of Art, Smith College, The Cooper Hewitt Museum, The Portland Museum of Art, The Israel Museum, The Port Authority of NY, Citibank, NASA, U.S. Dept. of State, Playboy Enterprises, The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Bank of Tokyo, Security Pacific National Bank, Amoco Oil Corp., The New York Aquarium, The Bronx Botanical Gardens, Reader's Digest, The Walker Collection, and the Phillip Morris Collection.

Fine, no flaws