"Kitty Cat" - 1979 Abstract Expressionist Lithograph on Paper Blue and purple abstract expressionist lithograph by Sidney Jonas Budnick (1921 - 1994) depicting an outline of a cat. The cats face is outlined in white with a blue background, while the body is outlined in black with a purple background. The cat appears to be laying on its back, its paws up, and tail up. Sidney Jonas Budnick (1921 - 1994) was active/lived in United States. Sidney Budnick is known for Geometric abstraction, linear paintings. Numbered lower left, "16/115" Titled lower middle "Kitty Cat" Signed and dated lower right "Jonas 1979" Unframed. Paper: 28"H x 40"W Image: 24"H x 36"W Born and raised in New York, Budnick earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the IIT Institute of Design. While there, he studied under László Moholy-Nagy, the founding director of the New Bauhaus and head of the School of Design (renamed the Institute of Design in 1944). In 1952 he completed his Master of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design studying under Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school in Germany. While living in New York, Budnick met the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. Budnick was greatly influenced by Mondrian's work and the De Stijl art movement. Budnick studied under Hans Hofmann, an abstract expressionist artist and teacher, and was friends with Harry Holtzman and Carl Holty, founders of the American Abstract Artists group. Sidney Budnick also was encouraged by Hilla Rebay, the artistic advisor for Solomon R. Guggenheim. In 1939, Guggenheim and Rebay opened the Museum of Non-objective Painting, later named the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rebay supported many artist, including Sidney Budnick, by hiring them as support staff at the museum. Some of Sidney Budnick's early work is classified with other works of the Museum of Non-objective Painting. Sidney Budnick's work was included in an exhibition organized by Katherine Kuh at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1948, entitled "American Abstract and Surrealist Art." His work is included in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art and the J. Donald Nichols collection. Although Sidney Budnick earned his living as an architect in California, supporting his wife and three children, he painted throughout his life until he died in 1994 in Oregon.