Symphony: a Lifetime in Print
Anderson Gallery
January 16 - March 28, 2026
The exhibition, Carmen Cicero: Symphony, A Life in Prints began with a generous gift to Bridgewater State University from Jules Sherman, a commercial lithographer. His donation is an entire suite of prints which he created in collaboration with Reginald Pollack. These prints, which date from 1960 to 1963, document the vibrant and diverse New York city art scene. Nested within this suite are five works created by Carmen Cicero. The four lithographs dating from 1960 show a spare abstract linearity, where Landscape with Airplane, completed in 1963, explores a more agitated and constructed composition that hints at the noise and motion of city life.
In the spring of 2025, I was contacted by Mary Abell regarding the Carmen Cicero prints, and if I would be interested in a donation to the Bridgewater State University collection. With over 70 years of Cicero’s artistic expression, my wish was to add a print from each decade. Thinking that my request was ridiculous, I was surprised the next day with a positive response. Over the summer of 2025, I met with Carmen and Mary at their Cape Cod home and studio. A broad and generous selection of prints had been pulled for my review. Hand-colored lithographs, silkscreens and linocuts made this a treasure trove of artwork, all completed by master printmakers. The Cicero gift, and the prints from Jules Sherman form a retrospective of an artist’s development, exploration and expression.
Starting in 1960, Cicero is represented by Baldwin’s Folly’s and Don Quixote, both lithographs that demonstrate a linear calligraphy that builds sparse geometric compositions. These works are further developed by Landscape with Plane, 1963, where the seeming interior space has been replaced by broad and sweeping exteriors. This comes to a culmination in 1967 with Higher Ground, a lithograph that demonstrates a surety in the swift linear pen strokes that describe an imaginary rubble filled landscape.
The imaginary landscape changes in the 1980’s with pure abstraction being entirely replaced by clearly recognizable imagery. Grand scale linocuts like Tex and Art Critic present comic profiles while The Saboteurs give a nod to the prior abstract landscapes but infuses the imagery with a film noir sensibility of spy versus spy.
Suspense has been an element throughout the works of Cicero; within Butterflies, 2016, time seems to pause and crystallize. The impossibly illuminated bird and two butterflies are captured mid-flight against a backdrop of night. These creatures seem to glow with color and suspended motion. The night is again explored in Riverside, 2016, with a silhouetted driver racing along a riverbank while a deluge of detritus is being swept downstream. Toothlike mountains and a crescent moon act as a backdrop to this frozen moment that Cicero strives to articulate in these works.
The constructed landscape returns in 2024-25, with The Poet’s Vision and A Darker World. Literally day and night, A Poet’s Vision is a rollercoaster sideshow, bright and optimistic with a peek show of profiles nested within the quick flowing and soaring lines. Where A Darker World embodies the sinister depths of a winter night. Lines are inky and loose across the surface, creating a spidery sense of uncertainty and dread.
Jules Sherman’s generous gift of prints opened a door to the art and technology of printmaking. This gift also introduced the artist and musician, Carmen Cicero. This Symphony: A Lifetime in Print explores the impressive body of prints made over Cicero's lifetime. Bridgewater State University has the privilege of exhibiting these works that define and illuminate the art and techniques of printmaking and the vibrant, creative and artistic work of this New York City artist and musician, reflecting the realms of abstraction and the musical genre of jazz.