Bill Ritchie's art in the
Lee Altman Collection
"My Father's Farm"
Print. Intaglio and relief from etched zinc plate printed in thalo green w/black, blue and yellow. Image 16 1/4 X 22 3/4 in on 20 3/4 X 29 3/4 in Arches Cover. Number 12 from edition of 20. Signed lower right.
My Father's Farm is named for the real thing, inthe Yakima Valley, where we used siphon hoses for irrigation. Those bright, early mornings were just a memory when I made this print, and when I made this print I was in a very different environment, indeed! I composed the image from a video photograph made in the first "video art" experiments, using film of a sunrise over the Cascades and a drawing of the same title. See this work in the Gloria Abbenhouse, Rick Asher, Dr. Charles McCann, Kay Pruvich, Lynda Ritchie and Kathy Sharp Collections, as well as the Everett Public Libary and the Seattle Juvenile Center.
"Bridges Heart 7"
1973 Print. Relief & lithograph. Black, green, yellow, blue, red on Van Gelder Zonen buff with Japanese etching chine colle. 18 X 24 image. A/P signed lower right.
Artist comment: "The Henry Gallery Association commissioned me to produce a print. I struggled with it for months, and as the deadline was coming, I abandoned the one I intended and decided to use another, more experimental one. It was a hit! I learned that commissions are dangerous in the sense I always imagined the "phantom audience" waiting and watching my every move. The bridge image and the lines crossing the imagery are from my video work that was going strong then." - Bill Ritchie
Other collections include: Spence Guerin, Spike Henderson, Carolyn Sheve, Anne Schwendiman, Donna Wilburn and the Ritchie Family Collections. Also Rainier National Bank, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Henry Gallery.
Works by Lee Altman in the Ritchie FamilyCollection
Print by Lee Altman. Intaglio. Sienna ink image of chicken, 14 3/4 x 12 in. on natural mould-made 21 1/2 x 16 1/2 inch Van Gelder Zonen paper. Signed, A/P.
Comment by Bill Ritchie: Among those ground-breaking students in my art classes in the 1970s was Lee Altman. He was a serious guy when he was a student at the UW Art school, plus he was a kind of partner/assistant in my own studio. I think he came to my Halladay place for some peace and quiet, as the printmaking studios at the UW were pretty busy places and Lee's work required quiet and attention. He went to Stanford after the UW, and stayed in California.
Untitled
1974 Print by Lee Altman. Lithograph. White-line manner, on black, lithograph of woman in profile image. 11 3/8 x 8 1/4 in. on natural colored 18 1/2 x 14 5/8 in. Signed, number A/P.
Comment by Bill Ritchie: I don't know who influenced who--as I greatly admired Lee's work with crayon manner lithographs and the way he made his plates. He became a studio mate for awhile, working in my basement studio on Halladay Street. Lee was my student at the UW Art school in the 1970s, but I think he wanted to find some peace and quiet, so he worked both at the school and in my studio.
Untitled
1973 print by Lee Altman. Lithograph. Crayon-manner, black-and-white lithograph image of skull and hand. 10 x 16 1/2 in. on natural buff colored 16 x 22 inch paper. Signed, number A/P.
Comment by Bill Ritchie: One time--it must have been in the early '80s, I called an Emergency Meeting and Lee Altman, was my student at the UW Art school in the 1970s, happened to be in town and he came to my house. It was a crazy meeting of a half-dozen former students plus Stephen Hazel and KR--something precipitated by a comment in the newspaper. Lee had gone to get his MFA degree at Stanford University, and stayed in California after that..
Untitled
1973 print by Lee Altman. Lithograph. 14 3/4 x 12 inch image of chicken (Rooster?) head on white 23 x 22 1/2 inch paper. Signed, number A/P.
Comment by Bill Ritchie: Maybe Lee Altman, who was my student at the UW Art school in the 1970s, was repaying me for having him as a studio assisant for awhile when he was a student. Anyway, he gave me a great portfolio of his artworks. We'd work together on new litho processes--techniques I'd got a hold of on mimeograph sheets from some kind of Tamarind Underground. That was before the famous lithography workshop published their book.
Untitled
1976 print by Lee Altman. Intaglio. Black-ink on white rag paper, image of rooster head, 7 7/8 x 9 3/4 in. on a 15 x 16 sheet. Unmatted, unframed. Signed, numbered 4/10.
Comment by Bill Ritchie: A few of my former students went to graduate school, and Lee Altman, who was my student at the UW Art school in the 1970s, went to Stanford University for his MFA. I think Lee found it hard to work at the UW on his prints. Maybe the atmosphere of my studio was more conducive to his work which, as you can see, is meticulously detailed and require long hours of undisturbed concentration.
)
Untitled
1975 print by Lee Altman. Lithograph. Black-and-white crayon-manner image of three chickens, 21 x 29 3/4 in. on Japanese Etching natural colored paper. 24 3/4 x 35 3/4 in. Signed, number A/P.
Comment by Bill Ritchie: In the 1970s Lee Altman was my student at the UW Art school. I don't remember whether I invited him or if he asked me, but he came to work in my studio as a kind of partner-assistant. We'd try difficult printmaking techniques such as a roll-up process that I wanted to use but which we couldn't do at the Art School because their materials weren't as good a mine at my studio.
Untitled
1976 Print by Lee Altman. Intaglio. Black-ink on white rag paper, image of rooster held aloft by a hand. 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. on a 16 1/4 x 15 sheet. Unmatted, unframed. Signed, number 3/5.
Comment by Bill Ritchie: Lee Altman was my student at the UW Art school in the 1970s. He was a most studious guy and he was one of the few that I allowed to work in my studio on Halladay Street--the daylight basement level of our home.