Ralph Peplow

(1907-1987)

Mid-Century California Modernist

Printmaker, Painter, Sculptor

From a Collection of Twenty Works

"Hexmeter"

12” x 8 1/2”

(Image Size)

16” x 13”

Sheet Size

Color Serigraph on Paper

Unframed

Signed lower right, “Ralph Peplow”

& Dated 1950

Noted: E/47

Good Condition, Please View Images, Various Small Defects

Shipped for $25 in Continental U.S.

Shipped Flat in Custom HD Cardboard Box

Ralph Peplow is one of those painters who have disappeared into the mists of time.  Somewhere, my family has a more extensive biography that was researched and written many years ago, later put into Microsoft Word format, but we haven’t been able to find it on one of our older hard drives to post it here.  Peplow exhibited quite regularly between the beginning of World War II and the early 1950s and then, “poof.”   His work reflects the influences of the era he came to maturity in.  We see a fascination with African “Primitive Art,” Cubism, Semi-Figurative Art and Pure Abstraction.  He adopted Serigraphy as his medium and it was a very popular medium among serious fine artists and printmakera for about fifteen years.  Peplow exhibited with regularity for a short time but apparently never sold well.  The fact that he was offered solo exhibitions is proof that his work was well considered. This collection of about twenty works were acquired in the 1980s from his widow.  They seem to represent about the only significant body of work in existence.  Perhaps there are more in the family or perhaps a cache of them exists somewhere else, but over the last forty years only a few of Peplow’s works have come to light.  One of his Serigraphs is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

One Man Exhibitions:
Los Angeles Art Association  1949
Santa Barbara Museum of Art  1949
Mid-Twentieth Century Galleries  1950
San Diego Museum of Art  1951
Santa Barbara Museum of Art  1951
 
Institutional Shows:
Artist West of the Mississippi (Denver) 1951
Carnegie Print Annual  1951
Rochester Memorial  1951
 
Traveling Exhibits:
American Federation of Artists 1950 - 1951 - 1952
 
Sculpture Awards:
SF Art Institute 1941
1942 Oakland Art Gallerie
1946 LA Art Week
1946 LA County Museum
1948 California Art Club
1949 National Orange Show
1950 LA Art Week
1950 National Orange Show
1951 National Orange Show
 
Prints Awards:
1948 LA County Museum
1949 LA County Fair
1951 Western Lithograph
1951 California State Fair
1951 LA County Fair
1952 California State Fair