[From the catalogue-in-progress for “Landscapes & Livestock”, a loan exhibition for Agincourt Homecoming in the Fall of 2015]

NELSON, Robert A. [born 1925]

“Canopic Jar”

1985

monoprint / 39 inches by 28 inches

One of two works by Robert Nelson in the collection, “Canopic Jar” is a monoprint, a unique work on paper. Nelson’s imagery has drawn from a weirdly wonderful palette of popular culture icons—from the Civil War to Buck Rogers; 40s horror films and “The Wizard of Oz”—for fifty years. “Canopic Jar” dates 1985, when America’s fascination with King Tut had not yet faded. The Egyptian embalming process involved removal of organs and their placement in four special jars, each protected by its own god.

This Nelson monoprint was acquired from an exhibit of his prints and paintings at Northwest Iowa Normal.