Conrad Marca-Relli

Conrad Marca-Relli was a member of the first generation of the New York School, known for his early involvement in the development of Abstract Expressionism. Influenced by his travels to Italy and metaphysical painters such as Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Morandi, and Mario Sironi, Marca-Relli's early paintings were surreal in character, exploring themes of landscape, geometry, and architecture. In his later work, for which he became widely known, the artist turned to large-scale collages, incorporating fabrics, metals, and synthetic plastics. In a 1967 catalogue essay, Whitney Museum curator William Agee wrote that Marca-Relli's "achievement has been to raise collage to a scale and complexity equal to that of monumental painting."

Marca-Relli's work is held in the permanent collections of museums such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art