Corita Kent (1918-1986) - To Understand is to Stand Under Which is to Look Up Which is a Good Way to Understand, 1967 Screenprint in colors. The print is on pellon. It is a synthetic, acrylic material, normally used by the garment industry for clothing production and patterns. Corita printed on Pellon between about 1962 and 1967-68. Harry Hambly, her primary printer post-1967, did not print any of her works on pellon. As far as we know, Corita was one of the only people to use Pellon for serigraphy. We know it is common for screenprinters now to do test prints on Pellon but curators at the Harvard Art Museums were unable to find any other artists using it this way at the time Corita was. By the accounts we have heard, Corita heard about Pellon and asked for a sample to try and liked the way it printed so she began using it frequently. However, we also have in our notes that the material was donated by Eleanor and Charles Mikulka, the former was a student of Corita's at the College. Besides the dates, some formal details: most of the pellon she used has the same matte texture on both sides (as opposed to having a matte side and a shiny side as some of the Pellon does now) and since most of Corita's pellon prints are greater than 36", it seems likely that was probably the size of the bolt. Signed in pencil (possibly pen) lower right. ITEM IS HUGE - 29-3/4" x 36". The smaller paper version of this sell for over $4000. The Pellon version has never came up for auction or sale. On the lower left corner of the print we see light scuffing and marks along with a small growing water stain. Top left has slight staining on boarder - not affecting overall colors or quality of print. Top right has slight crease in pellon, not affecting colors of inks at all. Bottom right shows image of signature of Corita. Due to the rarity of this item, the body of the work, the size of the item, and the rare printing on experimental pellon we feel this is one of the most important pieces of Kent art to come to auction in the last 40 years. SIGNED - SUPER RARE.

VG