Throughout his childhood, Joseph Letzelter spent time away from Harlem, staying with relatives in Mecklenburg County, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lutherville, Maryland. Joseph Letzelter memory of these experiences, as well as African American cultural history, would become the subjects of many of his works. Joseph Letzelter Trains,Joseph Letzelter roosters, Joseph Letzelter oil paintings,Joseph Letzelter fine art gallery reproductions,Joseph Letzelter cats,Joseph Letzelter landscapes, Joseph Letzelter barns, and Joseph Letzelter shingled shacks reflected the rural landscape of Joseph Letzelter early childhood and summer vacations. Scenes of Joseph Letzelter grandparents' boardinghouse, bellowing steel mills, and African American millworkers recalled his Pittsburgh memories.
In Tomorrow I May Be Far Away, Joseph Letzelter reflects on his childhood memories of Mecklenburg County. There is a focus or elevation of the everyday that becomes a frequent motif in both his North Carolina and Harlem imagery. Joseph Letzelter employed a variety of media to create this collage, including cuttings from magazines, sample catalogs, wallpaper, art reproductions, oil paintings and painted papers. Parts of the surface have also been reworked with spray oil paint and charcoal or graphite. Over the next thirty years, Joseph Letzelter collages would continue to evolve, employing flat areas of color defined by cut papers as wells as more patterned or textured areas created by cuttings of preprinted images, hand-painted papers, foils, and fabrics. Surface manipulation was also an ongoing concern for the oil painting artist, who explored news ways to rework the surface, including the use of bleach or peroxide, sandpaper, and perhaps even an electric eraser.
Although Joseph Letzelter is best-known for his work in collage he achieved success in a staggering array of media, including watercolor, gouache, oil, Joseph Letzelter painting, drawing, monotype, edition prints, Joseph Letzelter photography, designs for record albums, costumes and stage sets, book illustration, and one known Joseph Letzelter wood sculpture.