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Roland Detre Roland Detre was born in 1903 in Budapest, Hungary, and studied painting at the Budapest Academy.
He moved to Berlin in 1926 where he painted and worked retouching photographs. He was married in 1928 to Rosji Szilard. They moved to Paris in 1930 where he continued to paint.
Detre contracted tuberculosis in 1936 and moved to Switzerland to stay in a sanatorium to regain his health. He returned to Paris at the end of World War II, then moved to New York in 1950. Detre moved to Denver shortly after New York, seeking treatment for his tuberculosis at National Jewish Hospital.
Detre’s first wife Rosji passed away in 1968 and in 1978 he married Katherine Cane, sister of Colorado painter Mary Cane Robinson. Detre spent the rest of his life promoting the modern art scene in Denver along with artists such as Vance Kirkland and Edgar Britton.
During his lifetime, Detre exhibited his works in Budapest, Paris, Lausanne, New York, Taos and Denver.
Biographical Credit: Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
He moved to Berlin in 1926 where he painted and worked retouching photographs. He was married in 1928 to Rosji Szilard. They moved to Paris in 1930 where he continued to paint.
Detre contracted tuberculosis in 1936 and moved to Switzerland to stay in a sanatorium to regain his health. He returned to Paris at the end of World War II, then moved to New York in 1950. Detre moved to Denver shortly after New York, seeking treatment for his tuberculosis at National Jewish Hospital.
Detre’s first wife Rosji passed away in 1968 and in 1978 he married Katherine Cane, sister of Colorado painter Mary Cane Robinson. Detre spent the rest of his life promoting the modern art scene in Denver along with artists such as Vance Kirkland and Edgar Britton.
During his lifetime, Detre exhibited his works in Budapest, Paris, Lausanne, New York, Taos and Denver.
Biographical Credit: Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advocating "pure" photography which favored sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph.
He and Fred Archer developed a system of image-making called the Zone System, a method of achieving a desired final print through a technical understanding of how the tonal range of an image is the result of choices made in exposure, negative development, and printing.
Adams was a life-long advocate for environmental conservation, and his photographic practice was deeply entwined with this advocacy. At age 12, he was given his first camera during his first visit to Yosemite National Park. He developed his early photographic work as a member of the Sierra Club. He was later contracted with the United States Department of the Interior to make photographs of national parks. For his work and his persistent advocacy, which helped expand the National Park system, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.
Adams was a key advisor in the founding and establishment of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, an important landmark in securing photography's institutional legitimacy. He helped to stage that department's first photography exhibition, helped found the photography magazine Aperture, and co-founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.
He and Fred Archer developed a system of image-making called the Zone System, a method of achieving a desired final print through a technical understanding of how the tonal range of an image is the result of choices made in exposure, negative development, and printing.
Adams was a life-long advocate for environmental conservation, and his photographic practice was deeply entwined with this advocacy. At age 12, he was given his first camera during his first visit to Yosemite National Park. He developed his early photographic work as a member of the Sierra Club. He was later contracted with the United States Department of the Interior to make photographs of national parks. For his work and his persistent advocacy, which helped expand the National Park system, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.
Adams was a key advisor in the founding and establishment of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, an important landmark in securing photography's institutional legitimacy. He helped to stage that department's first photography exhibition, helped found the photography magazine Aperture, and co-founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.
Clinton Adams Clinton Adams was born in Glendale, California, in 1918, and began his career as an artist and teacher at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his Bachelor of Education and Masters degrees there before going on to teach in the art department from 1946 to 1954. While at UCLA, Adams formed relationships with many of the pioneers of California Modernism, including Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Lorser Feitelson, John McLaughlin, and others. From there, he went on to head the art departments at the Universities of Kentucky and Florida, before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1961. He was the Dean of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico from 1961 to 1976. He continued to live in Albuquerque until his death in 2002.
Ralph Anderson Ralph Anderson was born in Los Angeles, CA on December 16, 1929. He currently lives in northern California.
Horace Armistead Horace Armistead was born in in London, England, where he served an apprenticeship at the Helmsley Scenic Studio before coming to work first in Boston as early as 1925 before then coming to New York City where he wroked for the Metropolitan Opera House. He is best known for his scenic and costume designs for a variety of plays, ballets, and operas in the 1930s through the 1950s. He won a a Tony Award in 1947 for his design for Gian-Carlo Menotti’s “The Medium.”
Elise Cavanna Armitage Married twice, once to the impresario and writer Merle Armitage, Elise Cavanna Armitage ultimately became known as simply, Elise. She was a true Renaissance woman. As a dancer, she studied under the great Isadora Duncan. As a comedienne and actress – her first movie was Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em in 1926, and later served as W. C. Fields’ comic partner as in The Dentist of 1932. But art collectors know her as a serious painter of easel works, murals, and as a printmaker.
Charles Arnoldi Charles Arnoldi is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker. He was born April 10, 1946 in Dayton, Ohio. While visiting a girlfriend’s grandmother in New York, he took the opportunity to view works by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Observing their work, he decided to attend art school. Arnoldi attended junior college in Ventura, California, where a professor convinced him to apply to the Art Center in Los Angeles. He was accepted with a scholarship, and enrolled in commercial illustration classes. After only two weeks, he left and transferred to the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1968, where he remained for eight months before deciding to abandon his formal education and complete his training through his art practice.
Jozef Gabriel Bakos Jozef Bakós was a significant contributor to the growth and spread of American Modernism in the Southwest. The son of Polish immigrants, Bakós was born in 1891 in Buffalo, New York. He began his study of art at the Art School of the Albright Art Gallery under the tutelage of the artist and cartoonist, John E. Thompson. In addition to painting and exhibiting, Bakós supported himself with carpentry and furniture-making. He also worked as an art instructor at the University of Denver from 1931-1933 and at Santa Fe High School in the 1940s. He continued to live and work in Santa Fe until his death in 1977.
Patrocino Barela An integral figure in twentieth-century Hispanic and New Mexican art history, Patrociño Barela rose to art world celebrity in the 1930s, an unlikely prospect for someone of his background.
Barela's date of birth is unclear, but is estimated to be between 1900 and 1904. Barela did not attend school for more than a few weeks and never learned to read or write.
He had left home at age eleven following the death of his mother and sister to travel around the Southwest in search of work. He worked as a steelworker, miner, on the railway, as a farmhand, and as a unionized carpenter. In 1930, he married a widow and eventually with her had three more children (giving them seven in total).
Asked to reconstruct a damaged wooden bulto (a devotional carving) of San Antonio, he later recounted that he knew that someone was going to make 20 dollars from repaired carving and that he was promised five. Although the five dollars never appeared, Barela realized that his work had value and he continued to make figures.
His prodigious output soon caught the eye of Russell Vernon Hunter, artist and New Mexico state director of the WPA, who signed Barela up for the Federal Art Project (FAP). By the summer of 1936 Barela’s sculptures were on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, and in September of that year they appeared in New Horizons in American Art at MoMA. In the wake of the exhibition, Time magazine named Barela its “Discovery of the Year.”
Barela’s bultos are motivated by his own metaphysical relationship to Christianity. In showing religious subjects through an abstracted style, he intended for his works to provoke the viewer’s imagination into entering a spiritually symbolic vision. Central to his vision is a tension between the recalcitrance of wood and the animated dynamism of his subjects.
Although some of his work is on religious themes, he rejected the label of Santero since he did not create art specifically for religious purposes; the majority of his output was secular. He examined all aspects of the human condition with an emphasis on relationships within the family. Stylistically his sculpture has affinities to both 11th Century Romanesque and 20th Century expressionism.
Barela died in an overnight fire at his home studio in Cañon, near Taos, New Mexico at the age of 62.
Biographical sources include National Gallery of Art (Nicholas Miller); Harwood Museum of Art; Smithsonian Archives of American Art
Barela's date of birth is unclear, but is estimated to be between 1900 and 1904. Barela did not attend school for more than a few weeks and never learned to read or write.
He had left home at age eleven following the death of his mother and sister to travel around the Southwest in search of work. He worked as a steelworker, miner, on the railway, as a farmhand, and as a unionized carpenter. In 1930, he married a widow and eventually with her had three more children (giving them seven in total).
Asked to reconstruct a damaged wooden bulto (a devotional carving) of San Antonio, he later recounted that he knew that someone was going to make 20 dollars from repaired carving and that he was promised five. Although the five dollars never appeared, Barela realized that his work had value and he continued to make figures.
His prodigious output soon caught the eye of Russell Vernon Hunter, artist and New Mexico state director of the WPA, who signed Barela up for the Federal Art Project (FAP). By the summer of 1936 Barela’s sculptures were on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, and in September of that year they appeared in New Horizons in American Art at MoMA. In the wake of the exhibition, Time magazine named Barela its “Discovery of the Year.”
Barela’s bultos are motivated by his own metaphysical relationship to Christianity. In showing religious subjects through an abstracted style, he intended for his works to provoke the viewer’s imagination into entering a spiritually symbolic vision. Central to his vision is a tension between the recalcitrance of wood and the animated dynamism of his subjects.
Although some of his work is on religious themes, he rejected the label of Santero since he did not create art specifically for religious purposes; the majority of his output was secular. He examined all aspects of the human condition with an emphasis on relationships within the family. Stylistically his sculpture has affinities to both 11th Century Romanesque and 20th Century expressionism.
Barela died in an overnight fire at his home studio in Cañon, near Taos, New Mexico at the age of 62.
Biographical sources include National Gallery of Art (Nicholas Miller); Harwood Museum of Art; Smithsonian Archives of American Art
Mary Bauermeister Mary Bauermeister is known for her lens boxes and other fantastic assemblages that grew out of her early association with philosophical thinkers, scientists, and musicians in postwar Germany. Born in Frankfurt, she grew up in a country devastated by war, and began to paint in 1954. In 1957, she opened a studio in Cologne that soon became a center for musical events, art exhibits, and happenings.
Among the participants was Karlheinz Stockhausen, the famous composer of electronic music, who was working at the nearby electronic music laboratory of the West German Rundfunk (radio station). He attracted composer John Cage, modern dancer Merce Cunningham, artist Nam Jun Paik, and other experimenters to Cologne. Bauermeister found herself amidst a postwar renaissance of writers, architects, and other cultural leaders. The assemblages of Neo-Dadaists such as Jean Tinguely and Arman, shown in nearby Dusseldorf, also influenced her work.
In 1961, at age twenty-seven, Bauermeister took a seminar with Stockhausen and began to apply musical theory concepts to the visual arts. Breaking down the elements of the visual world, she assigned a scale of five degrees to each: frequency of light, intensity, volume, time, and material, and designed her works with these in mind. For instance, following the example of music, in one exhibition she tried to introduce the element of time and continual change by having pieces and parts of one work distributed around the room among other works, as in Gruppenbilder (1962).
Her first one-woman show was as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1962. Bauermeister came to New York (and became an American citizen) when Pop Art was flourishing, but in her own work she exhibited assemblages of graduated pebbles and sand on various sizes of square boards (Progressions (1963)) and also covered a gallery floor with pebbles and sand.
Delighting in metaphysical and philosophical games concerning the nature of illusion versus reality, she began to created provocative lens-box assemblages, combining lenses with drawing, writing, painting, bones, shells, and other materials, all woven together with a fine, decorative pen-and-ink line. In these works the lenses create prismatic reflections and mysterious undulations of the objects and drawings underneath them ("Absolute Masterpiece"/peace (1969)). She may show a lens distorting something and next to it draw her view of that distorted object, then draw a hand that is in turn drawing the object. In "Poeme Optique" (1964), Bauermeister mounted lenses and drawing on movable panes of glass. As they are rotated, letter, words, and images rearrange themselves in unexpected phrases and visual paradoxes.
At the gala opening of her 1964 exhibition at New Yorks Bonino Gallery (attended by Jacqueline Kennedy and other distinguished patrons of the arts), Heinz Stockhausen gave a concert of electronic music to accompany slides of Bauermeisters assemblages. The Whitney, Hirschhorn, and Guggenheim Museums purchased her work.
In 1970, she cut up artists easels and combined them in spiral forms or sculptures that moved up staircases and around corners. Perhaps this was symbolic of the fact that art was entering a new phase, or that she and her art were going to move elsewhere.
Bauermeister married her mentor Heinz Stockhausen in the 1960s, and returned to Germany in 1972. She has five children and lived and worked outside of Cologne.
Her works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York, among others.
Bauermeister passed away March 2, 2023.
Among the participants was Karlheinz Stockhausen, the famous composer of electronic music, who was working at the nearby electronic music laboratory of the West German Rundfunk (radio station). He attracted composer John Cage, modern dancer Merce Cunningham, artist Nam Jun Paik, and other experimenters to Cologne. Bauermeister found herself amidst a postwar renaissance of writers, architects, and other cultural leaders. The assemblages of Neo-Dadaists such as Jean Tinguely and Arman, shown in nearby Dusseldorf, also influenced her work.
In 1961, at age twenty-seven, Bauermeister took a seminar with Stockhausen and began to apply musical theory concepts to the visual arts. Breaking down the elements of the visual world, she assigned a scale of five degrees to each: frequency of light, intensity, volume, time, and material, and designed her works with these in mind. For instance, following the example of music, in one exhibition she tried to introduce the element of time and continual change by having pieces and parts of one work distributed around the room among other works, as in Gruppenbilder (1962).
Her first one-woman show was as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1962. Bauermeister came to New York (and became an American citizen) when Pop Art was flourishing, but in her own work she exhibited assemblages of graduated pebbles and sand on various sizes of square boards (Progressions (1963)) and also covered a gallery floor with pebbles and sand.
Delighting in metaphysical and philosophical games concerning the nature of illusion versus reality, she began to created provocative lens-box assemblages, combining lenses with drawing, writing, painting, bones, shells, and other materials, all woven together with a fine, decorative pen-and-ink line. In these works the lenses create prismatic reflections and mysterious undulations of the objects and drawings underneath them ("Absolute Masterpiece"/peace (1969)). She may show a lens distorting something and next to it draw her view of that distorted object, then draw a hand that is in turn drawing the object. In "Poeme Optique" (1964), Bauermeister mounted lenses and drawing on movable panes of glass. As they are rotated, letter, words, and images rearrange themselves in unexpected phrases and visual paradoxes.
At the gala opening of her 1964 exhibition at New Yorks Bonino Gallery (attended by Jacqueline Kennedy and other distinguished patrons of the arts), Heinz Stockhausen gave a concert of electronic music to accompany slides of Bauermeisters assemblages. The Whitney, Hirschhorn, and Guggenheim Museums purchased her work.
In 1970, she cut up artists easels and combined them in spiral forms or sculptures that moved up staircases and around corners. Perhaps this was symbolic of the fact that art was entering a new phase, or that she and her art were going to move elsewhere.
Bauermeister married her mentor Heinz Stockhausen in the 1960s, and returned to Germany in 1972. She has five children and lived and worked outside of Cologne.
Her works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York, among others.
Bauermeister passed away March 2, 2023.
Herbert Bayer Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) was born in Austria, where he entered into an apprenticeship under the architect and designer, Georg Smidthammer, with whom Bayer learned drawing, painting, and architectural drafting, inspired by nature and without formal knowledge of art history. In 1920, Bayer discovered the theoretical writings of the artist Vassily Kandinsky, as well as Walter Gropius’ 1919 Bauhaus manifesto, in which Gropius declared the necessity for a return to crafts, in which were found true creativity and inspiration. Bayer traveled to Weimar to meet Gropius in October of 1921 and was immediately accepted into the Bauhaus. There, he was deeply influenced by the instruction of Kandinsky, Johannes Itten and Paul Klee.
In 1928 Bayer moved to Berlin together with several members of the Bauhaus staff including Gropius, Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer. He found work as a freelance graphic designer, particularly with German Vogue, under its art director Agha. When the latter returned to Paris, Bayer joined the staff full time, and also worked increasingly with Dorland, the magazine's principle advertising agency. It was in the period from 1928 to his emigration to America in 1938 that he developed his unique vision as an artist, combining a strongly modernist aesthetic sense with a rare ability to convey meaning clearly and directly. This seamless combination of art, craft and design mark Bayer as true prophet of Bauhaus theories.
Bayer followed Gropius to America in 1938, and set his breadth of skills to work later that year in designing the landmark Bauhaus 1918-1928 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Bayer flourished in New York as a designer and architect, but it was his meeting with the industrialist Walter Paepcke in 1946 that allowed him to harness his concepts of 'total design' to the postwar boom. Paepcke was developing Aspen as a cultural and intellectual destination, and found in Bayer the perfect collaborator. Bayer was designer, educator and indeed architect for Paepcke's Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies (later The Aspen Institute), which promulgated the very Bauhaus project to encourage cooperation between art and industry and the role of the arts in society. From 1965 he fulfilled a similar role in advising Robert O. Anderson, chairman of the Atlantic Richfield Company.
His work is represented in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin, Schubladen Museum, Bern, Switzerland, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City.
In August 2019 The Aspen Institute announced a major donation by Stewart and Lynda Resnick for the creation of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies. This will allow the Institute to showcase and exhibit its Bayer works, grow its collection, borrow from major cultural institutions, and create new exhibitions that will educate the public about Bayer’s remarkable legacy. It is scheduled to open in the spring of 2022.
In 1928 Bayer moved to Berlin together with several members of the Bauhaus staff including Gropius, Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer. He found work as a freelance graphic designer, particularly with German Vogue, under its art director Agha. When the latter returned to Paris, Bayer joined the staff full time, and also worked increasingly with Dorland, the magazine's principle advertising agency. It was in the period from 1928 to his emigration to America in 1938 that he developed his unique vision as an artist, combining a strongly modernist aesthetic sense with a rare ability to convey meaning clearly and directly. This seamless combination of art, craft and design mark Bayer as true prophet of Bauhaus theories.
Bayer followed Gropius to America in 1938, and set his breadth of skills to work later that year in designing the landmark Bauhaus 1918-1928 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Bayer flourished in New York as a designer and architect, but it was his meeting with the industrialist Walter Paepcke in 1946 that allowed him to harness his concepts of 'total design' to the postwar boom. Paepcke was developing Aspen as a cultural and intellectual destination, and found in Bayer the perfect collaborator. Bayer was designer, educator and indeed architect for Paepcke's Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies (later The Aspen Institute), which promulgated the very Bauhaus project to encourage cooperation between art and industry and the role of the arts in society. From 1965 he fulfilled a similar role in advising Robert O. Anderson, chairman of the Atlantic Richfield Company.
His work is represented in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin, Schubladen Museum, Bern, Switzerland, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City.
In August 2019 The Aspen Institute announced a major donation by Stewart and Lynda Resnick for the creation of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies. This will allow the Institute to showcase and exhibit its Bayer works, grow its collection, borrow from major cultural institutions, and create new exhibitions that will educate the public about Bayer’s remarkable legacy. It is scheduled to open in the spring of 2022.
Larry Bell Larry Bell is a painter and sculptor whose works blur the boundary between artwork, viewer, and environment through the use of reflective materials that warp the perceived space of the work. Raised in Chicago, IL, Bell attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, CA, from 1957 to 1959, where he began experimenting with geometric forms and unusual materials. His early paintings often employed mirrored glass to create a disorienting relationship between viewer and object, as viewers could identify their reflection within the work. Discouraged by the limitations of two-dimensional art, Bell began making fragmented mirror boxes, which created an early precedent for his mature sculptures consisting of pure glass cubes.
In 1966, Bell obtained a vacuum-coating machine that he used to produce cubes on an even larger scale, which he mounted on a Plexiglas base. These larger works foreshadowed his later interest in making site-specific art for outdoor spaces. In addition to his sculptures, Bell did eventually return to the two-dimensional format, using film deposition technology to create his famed mirage works and vapor drawings.
Bell has maintained a studio in Venice, CA, for many years, even after his move to Taos, NM. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., as well as by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Bell’s work is represented in major collections worldwide, including those of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York, NY; the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.; and the Tate Gallery in London, UK.
In 1966, Bell obtained a vacuum-coating machine that he used to produce cubes on an even larger scale, which he mounted on a Plexiglas base. These larger works foreshadowed his later interest in making site-specific art for outdoor spaces. In addition to his sculptures, Bell did eventually return to the two-dimensional format, using film deposition technology to create his famed mirage works and vapor drawings.
Bell has maintained a studio in Venice, CA, for many years, even after his move to Taos, NM. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., as well as by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Bell’s work is represented in major collections worldwide, including those of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York, NY; the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.; and the Tate Gallery in London, UK.
Thomas Benrimo Thomas Benrimo, a Southwest painter, was born in San Francisco but spent much of his creative career in New Mexico. Benrimo relocated to Taos, after having worked commercially in New York and California, because of bouts of Tuberculosis. He conducted a solitary practice among the mountains. The desert's natural forms can be seen even in Benrimo's more abstract canvases.
Fletcher Benton Fletcher Benton (American, b.1931), born in Jackson, OH, moved to San Francisco in the 1960s after receiving a BFA from Miami University, Oxford, OH, in 1956. In San Francisco, he taught at California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco Art Institute, and California State University. In his own work, he focused on geometric associations that are apparent in his later, large-scale sculptural works. Benton taught himself sign painting as a young man, and, through this process, became enthralled with the inherent geometric forms that comprise the letters he was painting. Benton initially experimented with abstract painting, but the limitations of the medium drove him toward kinetic sculpture.
Throughout his oeuvre, Benton plays with shapes, lines, balance, and movement to create gravity-defying sculptures of all sizes, as well as abstract geometric works on paper. Benton began his celebrated Alphabet series—comprised of 26 large-scale steel sculptures of the letters of the alphabet—in the 1970s, and the kinetic aspect of his sculptures became less important than its form and medium. In his manipulation of a two-dimensional sheet of metal into a three-dimensional painted steel sculpture, Benton brought a particular life to these letters, imbuing these stationary pieces with the kinetic energy found in his earlier work. In 2008, Benton received the International Sculpture Center Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.
His work has been widely exhibited since the 1950s, and can be found in the permanent collections of numerous museums and corporations, including Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Guggenheim, Las Vegas, Nevada; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Kröller-Müller Museum and Sculpture Garden, Otterlo, the Netherlands; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Throughout his oeuvre, Benton plays with shapes, lines, balance, and movement to create gravity-defying sculptures of all sizes, as well as abstract geometric works on paper. Benton began his celebrated Alphabet series—comprised of 26 large-scale steel sculptures of the letters of the alphabet—in the 1970s, and the kinetic aspect of his sculptures became less important than its form and medium. In his manipulation of a two-dimensional sheet of metal into a three-dimensional painted steel sculpture, Benton brought a particular life to these letters, imbuing these stationary pieces with the kinetic energy found in his earlier work. In 2008, Benton received the International Sculpture Center Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.
His work has been widely exhibited since the 1950s, and can be found in the permanent collections of numerous museums and corporations, including Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Guggenheim, Las Vegas, Nevada; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Kröller-Müller Museum and Sculpture Garden, Otterlo, the Netherlands; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Leon Berkowitz Leon Berkowitz (1911-1987)was born on 14 September 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to parents Yettie (née Pries) and Bernard Berkowitz, Hasidic immigrants from Hungary.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania, the Art Students League of New York, the Corcoran College of Art and Design (where he later taught), and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
During World War II between 1943 to 1945, Berkowitz served in the United States Army and was stationed in Virginia, where he served as an art therapist to psychiatric patients and became familiar with the psychological methodologies of Gestalt and Rorschach. In an interview with the Smithsonian Institute, Berkowitz recalled that “What I learned from the Rorschach was that it wasn’t the symbols that people saw, it was the abstract qualities that they saw, that were diagnostic, you know, a couple of colors, a concern with edges or the hole….all of these things supported the development of my own aesthetic.”
With his first wife, the poet Ida Fox Berkowitz, and artist Helmut Kern, Leon Berkowitz established the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts in 1945 (also known as the Workshop Art Center or Washington Workshop Center for the Arts). This Center became a cultural catalyst in the city, bringing together leaders in both the performing and visual arts, including painters such as Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Gene Davis, who would later become well-known founders of the Washington Color School group.
He was often associated with the Color School painters, though he adamantly denied this connection, publicly noting his commitment to the poetics of color and the influence of poetry, music, and physics in his work over the more formalistic concerns of the group.
The Workshop Center closed in 1956, and Berkowitz and his wife spent much of the next decade traveling and living abroad, using that time to further his artistic and spiritual explorations. He painted and exhibited in England, Spain, Greece, Wales, and Jerusalem.
Recalling his time in Spain, Berkowitz told the Smithsonian, "I think there is where I really found myself. ..There in Spain, I discovered my own isolation.... I’d absorbed a great deal. The great question in my mind was whether I had found my own voice. In Spain I came to realize that I had.”
Returning permanently to Washington in 1964, he joined the faculty of the Corcoran School of Art. He was promoted to head of the Painting Department in 1969.
By the end of 1966, he embarked on the Cathedrals series. As art critic Sarah E. Fensom writes,
"In these works he 'essentialized' the vertical, painting vertical bands of glowing color that seem to surge off the canvas.... In Cathedrals, the bands of color are painted on either side of a thin, cake-sliver-like white triangle. This slender wedge, wrote James F. Pilgrim,... acts as a symbolic light source. Pilgrim wrote, 'Light seems to move laterally from this core, creating changes in color intensity,' but he added parenthetically that 'the changes actually result from light reflecting through various densities of pigment.' Berkowitz’s real light source was the canvas itself."
“I try to explore it in all its possibilities, the vertical as a cause and result of the color, the shape of the canvas a cause and result of its ascent and inner verticality,” Berkowitz said.
Much of Berkowitz's work is a reaction to the work of the Abstract Expressionist School in New York. Berkowitz was never comfortable with the abstract expressionist painters' dependence on internal psychological states. Berkowitz felt he needed to take inspiration from some external authority, rather than an exclusively internal one. In Berkowitz's own words, "I wanted to work in direct response to nature".
Berkowitz's later paintings marry form and structure with color and light. As light penetrates through the layers of thinly applied paint, crystalline structures emerge. As
Fensom explains:
"In Berkowitz’s work, there is no spraying or seeping of pigment—and later, hardly any use of shape. Instead the artist developed a method in the late 1960s in which he used large brushes to sweep on a mixture of 10 percent oil paint and 90 percent turpentine. He allowed each layer to dry thoroughly—sometimes using rags or blow dryers—before applying another. He usually applied some 30 to 40 edgeless layers. In the 1970s Berkowitz said, 'I have continued to develop this method to a point where I can distribute the fragments of pigment both in extension and depth, resulting in an additive mixture of colored light. The color is therefore seen in space and changes with the solar spectrum as day moves into night.' This creates what he calls a “dynamic form”—something that doesn’t exist in Color School pictures."
Berkowitz restores to color a "depth of vision" in his best work, and in those depths the viewer discovers the natural forms in the universe - sea, sky, and earth.
In a statement for an exhibition of his work at The Phillips Collection in 1976 he said, “I am endeavoring to find that blush of light over light and the color within the light; the depths through which we see when we look into and not at color.”
Berkowitz's paintings are included in numerous private and public collections around the world, including the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; James Michener Collection, Houston, Texas; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Golda Meir Collection, Jerusalem.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania, the Art Students League of New York, the Corcoran College of Art and Design (where he later taught), and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
During World War II between 1943 to 1945, Berkowitz served in the United States Army and was stationed in Virginia, where he served as an art therapist to psychiatric patients and became familiar with the psychological methodologies of Gestalt and Rorschach. In an interview with the Smithsonian Institute, Berkowitz recalled that “What I learned from the Rorschach was that it wasn’t the symbols that people saw, it was the abstract qualities that they saw, that were diagnostic, you know, a couple of colors, a concern with edges or the hole….all of these things supported the development of my own aesthetic.”
With his first wife, the poet Ida Fox Berkowitz, and artist Helmut Kern, Leon Berkowitz established the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts in 1945 (also known as the Workshop Art Center or Washington Workshop Center for the Arts). This Center became a cultural catalyst in the city, bringing together leaders in both the performing and visual arts, including painters such as Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Gene Davis, who would later become well-known founders of the Washington Color School group.
He was often associated with the Color School painters, though he adamantly denied this connection, publicly noting his commitment to the poetics of color and the influence of poetry, music, and physics in his work over the more formalistic concerns of the group.
The Workshop Center closed in 1956, and Berkowitz and his wife spent much of the next decade traveling and living abroad, using that time to further his artistic and spiritual explorations. He painted and exhibited in England, Spain, Greece, Wales, and Jerusalem.
Recalling his time in Spain, Berkowitz told the Smithsonian, "I think there is where I really found myself. ..There in Spain, I discovered my own isolation.... I’d absorbed a great deal. The great question in my mind was whether I had found my own voice. In Spain I came to realize that I had.”
Returning permanently to Washington in 1964, he joined the faculty of the Corcoran School of Art. He was promoted to head of the Painting Department in 1969.
By the end of 1966, he embarked on the Cathedrals series. As art critic Sarah E. Fensom writes,
"In these works he 'essentialized' the vertical, painting vertical bands of glowing color that seem to surge off the canvas.... In Cathedrals, the bands of color are painted on either side of a thin, cake-sliver-like white triangle. This slender wedge, wrote James F. Pilgrim,... acts as a symbolic light source. Pilgrim wrote, 'Light seems to move laterally from this core, creating changes in color intensity,' but he added parenthetically that 'the changes actually result from light reflecting through various densities of pigment.' Berkowitz’s real light source was the canvas itself."
“I try to explore it in all its possibilities, the vertical as a cause and result of the color, the shape of the canvas a cause and result of its ascent and inner verticality,” Berkowitz said.
Much of Berkowitz's work is a reaction to the work of the Abstract Expressionist School in New York. Berkowitz was never comfortable with the abstract expressionist painters' dependence on internal psychological states. Berkowitz felt he needed to take inspiration from some external authority, rather than an exclusively internal one. In Berkowitz's own words, "I wanted to work in direct response to nature".
Berkowitz's later paintings marry form and structure with color and light. As light penetrates through the layers of thinly applied paint, crystalline structures emerge. As
Fensom explains:
"In Berkowitz’s work, there is no spraying or seeping of pigment—and later, hardly any use of shape. Instead the artist developed a method in the late 1960s in which he used large brushes to sweep on a mixture of 10 percent oil paint and 90 percent turpentine. He allowed each layer to dry thoroughly—sometimes using rags or blow dryers—before applying another. He usually applied some 30 to 40 edgeless layers. In the 1970s Berkowitz said, 'I have continued to develop this method to a point where I can distribute the fragments of pigment both in extension and depth, resulting in an additive mixture of colored light. The color is therefore seen in space and changes with the solar spectrum as day moves into night.' This creates what he calls a “dynamic form”—something that doesn’t exist in Color School pictures."
Berkowitz restores to color a "depth of vision" in his best work, and in those depths the viewer discovers the natural forms in the universe - sea, sky, and earth.
In a statement for an exhibition of his work at The Phillips Collection in 1976 he said, “I am endeavoring to find that blush of light over light and the color within the light; the depths through which we see when we look into and not at color.”
Berkowitz's paintings are included in numerous private and public collections around the world, including the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; James Michener Collection, Houston, Texas; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Golda Meir Collection, Jerusalem.
Emil James Bisttram Hungarian-born Emil James Bisttram achieved early success as an artist, studying and teaching at several prominent art schools, including the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, Parson’s, and the Master Institute of the Roerich Museum. In 1931, Bisttram was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship which allowed him to travel to Mexico to study mural painting with Diego Rivera. In 1934, he was commissioned to paint murals for the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.).
Bisttram founded the Taos School of Art as well as the first commercial gallery in Taos. Together with Raymond Johnson and others, Bisttram started the Transcendental Painting Group in Santa Fe in 1938. He was very active in fostering the growth of the arts in New Mexico up until his death at 81.
Bisttram founded the Taos School of Art as well as the first commercial gallery in Taos. Together with Raymond Johnson and others, Bisttram started the Transcendental Painting Group in Santa Fe in 1938. He was very active in fostering the growth of the arts in New Mexico up until his death at 81.
Art Brenner Art Brenner, a prolific painter, sculptor, and scholarly writer, was born in New York City in 1924. He lived and worked in Paris for several decades until his death in Australia in 2013.
Brenner exhibited in solo and group exhibition in numerous countries for over 36 years, and participated in more than 60 exhibitions throughout his career thus far. He also received the highest honor as a “Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”(“Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters”) in France bestowed upon individuals who have distinguished themselves by their creativity in the world of art, culture and literature and their contribution to the influence of arts in France and the throughout the world. Brenner’s first solo show was held at Galerie Lucien Durand, in Paris, in 1967, and from then on his acclaimed work became an international success. He had a long and prestigious career, and continued exhibiting into his nineties. In 1995 he was the subject of a CNN film titled “An American Sculptor in Paris.”
Brenner exhibited in solo and group exhibition in numerous countries for over 36 years, and participated in more than 60 exhibitions throughout his career thus far. He also received the highest honor as a “Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”(“Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters”) in France bestowed upon individuals who have distinguished themselves by their creativity in the world of art, culture and literature and their contribution to the influence of arts in France and the throughout the world. Brenner’s first solo show was held at Galerie Lucien Durand, in Paris, in 1967, and from then on his acclaimed work became an international success. He had a long and prestigious career, and continued exhibiting into his nineties. In 1995 he was the subject of a CNN film titled “An American Sculptor in Paris.”
Dorothy Eugenie Brett Though Brett had a formal artistic education, she abandoned academic and landscape painting upon her arrival in the Southwest of New Mexico and began to paint Indian subjects. Her works are romantic and symbolic in nature, emphasizing her impressions of the Indians’ mysticism and spirituality. In her works, she sought to “paint the…Indian’s attitude towards life and the world around him. The Indian as he thinks and feels about himself…the spirit of a race, the life behind the life of a people."
George W.W. Brewster Born in the Boston area, George W.W. Brewster graduated from Harvard’s School of Design. Shortly thereafter, he began a career in architecture, briefly working with others and then heading his own firm, which generated both regional and national acclaim, including a very public commendation by Frank Lloyd Wright. Having intended to study painting in college, he returned to this, closing his architectural firm in the 1960s. He studied under Barbara Swann in Boston and developed a distinctive semi-abstract style, predominantly portraying landscapes which combine elements of land, shore, water and sky. His paintings are in the Farnsworth Museum, Portland Museum, and Harvard University as well as in many private collections in the United States.
James Brooks A painter of both Social Realism and Abstract Expressionism and part of the so-called New York School, James Brooks did many large-scale paintings that expressed a sense of cosmic space as though a high-powered telescope were penetrating space so deeply that one feels the color, the form, and the surge of movement. Brooks taught at various colleges and universities including Pratt Institute, Columbia University, and Cooper Union in New York City, the Art Center in Miami, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1963, he was artists in residence at the American Academy in Rome and in 1967 had a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Jack Brusca Jack Brusca's ability to interpret the natural wonder of ordinary things and ideas is the major reason he is so highly regarded in today's contemporary art world. As an illusionist who manipulates letters, numbers and flowers among things, Brusca's keen sense of spacial dimension and color blend to give his work a theatrical-type light. As John Canady of The New York Times wrote:"... (Brusca's) geometrical forms are painted with adegree of illusionism that makes a metal band seem to arch away from the wall, turning the painting into sculpture".
Born in New York in 1939, Brusca studied at the University of New Hampshire and The School of Visual Arts, New York. His first one-man show was held at Galeria Bonino in New York in 1969. Since then his works have been displayed throughout the United States and South America. He has participated in numerous exhibitions including Expo '67, Montreal; Paintings and Sculptures Today, Indianapolis Museum of Art and Highlights of the Season at the Larry Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Conn.
Mr. Brusca won critical praise when he had his first one-man show, in 1969 at the Bonino Galleria on West 57th Street, for painting that came out of Leger and the mechanistic tradition but was not enslaved to those origins.
At a 1973 show in that gallery, he was lauded by one critic as being "just about as sharp as they come" in the illusionistic representation of sleek three-dimensional forms through a mixture of surrealism, pop and hard-edged neo-realism.
His last one-man show, in 1989, was at the Paraty Gallery in SoHo. His paintings were also shown at several museums and acquired by the Whitney Museum and others.
Mr. Brusca also designed sets and costumes for ballet. His costumes for Louis Falco's ballet "Escarpot," performed by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at City Center in 1991, won critical praise. He also designed jewelry.
Jack Brusca died in 1993.
Born in New York in 1939, Brusca studied at the University of New Hampshire and The School of Visual Arts, New York. His first one-man show was held at Galeria Bonino in New York in 1969. Since then his works have been displayed throughout the United States and South America. He has participated in numerous exhibitions including Expo '67, Montreal; Paintings and Sculptures Today, Indianapolis Museum of Art and Highlights of the Season at the Larry Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Conn.
Mr. Brusca won critical praise when he had his first one-man show, in 1969 at the Bonino Galleria on West 57th Street, for painting that came out of Leger and the mechanistic tradition but was not enslaved to those origins.
At a 1973 show in that gallery, he was lauded by one critic as being "just about as sharp as they come" in the illusionistic representation of sleek three-dimensional forms through a mixture of surrealism, pop and hard-edged neo-realism.
His last one-man show, in 1989, was at the Paraty Gallery in SoHo. His paintings were also shown at several museums and acquired by the Whitney Museum and others.
Mr. Brusca also designed sets and costumes for ballet. His costumes for Louis Falco's ballet "Escarpot," performed by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at City Center in 1991, won critical praise. He also designed jewelry.
Jack Brusca died in 1993.
Charles Ragland Bunnell Artist and teacher, Charles (“Charlie”) Bunnell worked in a variety of styles throughout his career because as an artist he believed, “I’ve got to paint a thousand different ways. I don’t paint any one way.” At different times he did representational landscapes while concurrently involved with semi- or completely abstract imagery. He was one of a relatively small number of artists in Colorado successfully incorporating into their work the new trends emanating from New York and Europe after World War II. During his lifetime he generally did not attract a great deal of critical attention from museums, critics and academia. However, he personally experienced a highpoint in his career when Katherine Kuh, curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, personally chose one of his paintings – Why? - for its large exhibition of several hundred examples of abstract and surrealist art held in 1947-48, subsequently including it among the fifty pieces selected for a traveling show to ten other American museums.
An only child, Bunnell developed his love of art at a young age through frequent drawing and political cartooning. In high school he was interested in baseball and golf and also was the tennis champion for Westport High School in Kansas City. Following graduation, his father moved the family to Denver, Colorado, in 1916 for a better-paying bookkeeping job, before relocating the following year to Colorado Springs to work for local businessman, Edmond C. van Diest, President of the Western Public Service Company and the Colorado Concrete Company. Bunnell would spend almost all of his adult life in Colorado Springs.
In 1918 he enlisted in the United States Army, serving in the 62nd Infantry Regiment through the end of World War I. Returning home with a 10% disability, he joined the Zebulon Pike Post No. 1 of the Disabled American Veterans Association and in 1921 used the benefits from his disability to attend a class in commercial art design conducted under a government program in Colorado Springs. The following year he transferred to the Broadmoor Art Academy (founded in 1919) where he studied with William Potter and in 1923 with Birger Sandzén. Sandzén’s influence is reflected in Bunnell’s untitled Colorado landscape (1925) with a bright blue-rose palette.
For several years thereafter Bunnell worked independently until returning to the Broadmoor Art Academy to study in 1927-28 with Ernest Lawson, who previously taught at the Kansas City Art Institute where Bunnell himself later taught in the summers of 1929-1930 and in 1940-41. Lawson, a landscapist and colorist, was known for his early twentieth-century connection with “The Eight” in New York, a group of forward-looking painters including Robert Henri and John Sloan whose subject matter combined a modernist style with urban-based realism. Bunnell, who won first-place awards in Lawson’s landscapes classes at the Academy, was promoted to his assistant instructor for the figure classes in the 1928-29 winter term. Lawson, who painted in what New York critic James Huneker termed a “crushed jewel” technique, enjoyed additional recognition as a member of the Committee on Foreign Exhibits that helped organize the landmark New York Armory Exhibition in 1913 in which Lawson showed and which introduced European avant-garde art to the American public.
As noted in his 1964 interview for the Archives of American Art in Washington, DC, Bunnell learned the most about his teacher’s use of color by talking with him about it over Scotch as his assistant instructor. “Believe me,” Bunnell later said, “[Ernie] knew color, one of the few Americans that did.” His association with Lawson resulted in local scenes of Pikes Peak, Eleven Mile Canyon, the Gold Cycle Mine near Colorado City and other similar sites, employing built up pigments that allowed the surfaces of his canvases to shimmer with color and light. (Eleven Mile Canyon was shown in the annual juried show at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh in 1928, an early recognition of his talent outside of Colorado.) At the same time, he animated his scenes of Colorado Springs locales by defining the image shapes with color and line as demonstrated in Contrasts (1929). Included in the Midwestern Artists’ Exhibition in Kansas City in 1929, it earned him the gold medal of the Kansas City Art Institute, auguring his career as a professional artist.
In the 1930s Bunnell used the oil, watercolor and lithography media to create a mini-genre of Colorado’s old mining towns and mills, subject matter spurned by many local artists at the time in favor of grand mountain scenery. In contrast to his earlier images, these newer ones – both daytime and nocturnal -- such as Blue Bird Mine essentially are form studies. The conical, square and rectangular shapes of the buildings and other structures are placed in the stark, undulating terrain of the mountains and valleys devoid of any vegetation or human presence. In the mid-1930s he also used the same approach in his monochromatic lithographs titled Evolution, Late Evening, K.C. (Kansas City) and The Mill, continuing it into the next decade with his oil painting, Pikes Peak (1942).
During the early 1930s he studied for a time with Boardman Robinson, director of the Broadmoor Art Academy and its successor institution, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center from 1930 to 1947. In 1934 Robinson gave him the mural commission under the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) for West Junior High School in Colorado Springs, his first involvement in one of several New Deal art projects employing artists during the Great Depression. He thereafter assisted Frank Mechau with his mural for the Colorado Springs Post Office and Mechau, in turn, helped get him transferred to the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) that commissioned work from artists to decorate existing and new federal buildings throughout the country. When it closed down due to lack of funds, Bunnell participated in the Federal Art Project (FAP) for which he did easel paintings in the proscribed American Scene painting style.
At the same time, he also began working on his own in a non-regionalist style that evolved into full-blown abstraction by the early 1950s. One indication of the new direction, a drawing - Evolution of Art (1937), shows three warheads breaking down various barriers in their path to make way for new developments in art. It may have been inspired by a traveling exhibition of abstract art which he saw at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in 1936. Another shift toward abstraction was his Black and Blue watercolor series of eighty-three ink and watercolors begun in 1936 and pursued through the 1940s.
As described by Dord Fitz, Bunnell’s friend, gallery owner and dealer based in Amarillo, Texas, the Black and Blue Series “presents a world of the spirit where all men are one… [Bunnell] carries the spectator into a spiritual realm which remains undisturbed by the colossal misunderstandings which plague a life dominated by material and physical things.” Fitz also noted that the series blends “the various feelings concerning theories of Existence – Buddha, Christ, Lao Tze, Confucius and Mohammed. All become One.” The series mirrors Bunnell’s personal spiritual journey extending into the late 1950s reflected in his art. The loss of his 10-year old son, Lee, in 1938, and the death and destruction caused by World War II also found expression in the series, as well as in his moody surrealist pieces from the mid-to-late 1940s, such as the Bird of Doom watercolors and a set of the seven deadly sins.
The geometric shapes of his earlier representational work reappeared in the 1950s in the form of roughly- rendered rectangles, squares and triangles in various sizes and colors in his pure abstractions, such as an untitled composition (1951) of small, massed geometric shapes in an impasto surface highlighted in bright red, blue and green. By mid-decade his palette became a little more subdued with larger shapes dominating the canvas, as in Artist and His Pictures (1955), and Progression (1956) with its superimposed clusters of smaller geometric shapes. These and other similar abstract paintings constitute the highlight of his career during which, in the words of Al Kochka -- curator of Bunnell’s posthumous retrospective (1987) at the Amarillo Art Center – “he never ceased to experiment and expand his visual language.”
In the artist’s statement for the catalog of his exhibition at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in 1956, Bunnell said of his work: “Art to me is a search: in other words, a way of living…I have painted for thirty-five years going through many phases from realism and portraiture to, I feel, advanced modern concepts, where the observer can, by looking at my paintings, become a creator as well as I. In other words each viewer can see what he feels in my work.”
Bunnell continued to teach throughout most of his career. Having briefly taught art classes toward the end of the Federal Art Project during the Depression era, he began conducting classes in his own Colorado Springs studio in 1949. He continued mentoring new artists until the last years of his life before succumbing to emphysema. In the 1950s he was one of the artists Dord Fitz attracted to teach and display his work in Amarillo, along with Louise Nevelson, James Brooks, Leon Polk Smith and Elaine de Kooning, among others. In 1960 de Kooning painted Bunnell’s portrait, now in a private collection.
Solo shows: Kansas City Art Institute (1930); New Mexico Museum of Art-Santa Fe (1947); University of Illinois-Urbana (1948); University of Kentucky, Lexington (1949); Taos Gallery-New Mexico (1951); Carl Barnett Galleries-Dallas (1952); The Antlers Gallery-Colorado Springs (1952); Bodley Gallery-New York (1955); Haigh Gallery-Denver (1955); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (1956); Dord Fitz Gallery-Amarillo, TX (1956, 1957, 1959. 1969-retrospective).
Group exhibitions: Colorado State Fair (1928, first prize); Carnegie International-Pittsburgh (1928); Denver Art Museum (1928, 1947,1956); Artists Midwestern Exhibition-Kansas City, MO (1929, gold medal-first prize); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center-show with Archie Musick sponsored by Randall Davey (1930); World’s Fair Art Exhibition-San Francisco (1939); Art Institute of Chicago-“Abstract and Surrealist Art” (1947-48); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center-“Artists West of the Mississippi” (1936, 1941, 1946, 1948, 1953, 1959); Mid-America Annual, Kansas City, MO (1958); First Provincetown Festival-MA (1958); Southwestern Annual-Santa Fe (1957-58).
bio courtesy Modernist West
An only child, Bunnell developed his love of art at a young age through frequent drawing and political cartooning. In high school he was interested in baseball and golf and also was the tennis champion for Westport High School in Kansas City. Following graduation, his father moved the family to Denver, Colorado, in 1916 for a better-paying bookkeeping job, before relocating the following year to Colorado Springs to work for local businessman, Edmond C. van Diest, President of the Western Public Service Company and the Colorado Concrete Company. Bunnell would spend almost all of his adult life in Colorado Springs.
In 1918 he enlisted in the United States Army, serving in the 62nd Infantry Regiment through the end of World War I. Returning home with a 10% disability, he joined the Zebulon Pike Post No. 1 of the Disabled American Veterans Association and in 1921 used the benefits from his disability to attend a class in commercial art design conducted under a government program in Colorado Springs. The following year he transferred to the Broadmoor Art Academy (founded in 1919) where he studied with William Potter and in 1923 with Birger Sandzén. Sandzén’s influence is reflected in Bunnell’s untitled Colorado landscape (1925) with a bright blue-rose palette.
For several years thereafter Bunnell worked independently until returning to the Broadmoor Art Academy to study in 1927-28 with Ernest Lawson, who previously taught at the Kansas City Art Institute where Bunnell himself later taught in the summers of 1929-1930 and in 1940-41. Lawson, a landscapist and colorist, was known for his early twentieth-century connection with “The Eight” in New York, a group of forward-looking painters including Robert Henri and John Sloan whose subject matter combined a modernist style with urban-based realism. Bunnell, who won first-place awards in Lawson’s landscapes classes at the Academy, was promoted to his assistant instructor for the figure classes in the 1928-29 winter term. Lawson, who painted in what New York critic James Huneker termed a “crushed jewel” technique, enjoyed additional recognition as a member of the Committee on Foreign Exhibits that helped organize the landmark New York Armory Exhibition in 1913 in which Lawson showed and which introduced European avant-garde art to the American public.
As noted in his 1964 interview for the Archives of American Art in Washington, DC, Bunnell learned the most about his teacher’s use of color by talking with him about it over Scotch as his assistant instructor. “Believe me,” Bunnell later said, “[Ernie] knew color, one of the few Americans that did.” His association with Lawson resulted in local scenes of Pikes Peak, Eleven Mile Canyon, the Gold Cycle Mine near Colorado City and other similar sites, employing built up pigments that allowed the surfaces of his canvases to shimmer with color and light. (Eleven Mile Canyon was shown in the annual juried show at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh in 1928, an early recognition of his talent outside of Colorado.) At the same time, he animated his scenes of Colorado Springs locales by defining the image shapes with color and line as demonstrated in Contrasts (1929). Included in the Midwestern Artists’ Exhibition in Kansas City in 1929, it earned him the gold medal of the Kansas City Art Institute, auguring his career as a professional artist.
In the 1930s Bunnell used the oil, watercolor and lithography media to create a mini-genre of Colorado’s old mining towns and mills, subject matter spurned by many local artists at the time in favor of grand mountain scenery. In contrast to his earlier images, these newer ones – both daytime and nocturnal -- such as Blue Bird Mine essentially are form studies. The conical, square and rectangular shapes of the buildings and other structures are placed in the stark, undulating terrain of the mountains and valleys devoid of any vegetation or human presence. In the mid-1930s he also used the same approach in his monochromatic lithographs titled Evolution, Late Evening, K.C. (Kansas City) and The Mill, continuing it into the next decade with his oil painting, Pikes Peak (1942).
During the early 1930s he studied for a time with Boardman Robinson, director of the Broadmoor Art Academy and its successor institution, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center from 1930 to 1947. In 1934 Robinson gave him the mural commission under the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) for West Junior High School in Colorado Springs, his first involvement in one of several New Deal art projects employing artists during the Great Depression. He thereafter assisted Frank Mechau with his mural for the Colorado Springs Post Office and Mechau, in turn, helped get him transferred to the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) that commissioned work from artists to decorate existing and new federal buildings throughout the country. When it closed down due to lack of funds, Bunnell participated in the Federal Art Project (FAP) for which he did easel paintings in the proscribed American Scene painting style.
At the same time, he also began working on his own in a non-regionalist style that evolved into full-blown abstraction by the early 1950s. One indication of the new direction, a drawing - Evolution of Art (1937), shows three warheads breaking down various barriers in their path to make way for new developments in art. It may have been inspired by a traveling exhibition of abstract art which he saw at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in 1936. Another shift toward abstraction was his Black and Blue watercolor series of eighty-three ink and watercolors begun in 1936 and pursued through the 1940s.
As described by Dord Fitz, Bunnell’s friend, gallery owner and dealer based in Amarillo, Texas, the Black and Blue Series “presents a world of the spirit where all men are one… [Bunnell] carries the spectator into a spiritual realm which remains undisturbed by the colossal misunderstandings which plague a life dominated by material and physical things.” Fitz also noted that the series blends “the various feelings concerning theories of Existence – Buddha, Christ, Lao Tze, Confucius and Mohammed. All become One.” The series mirrors Bunnell’s personal spiritual journey extending into the late 1950s reflected in his art. The loss of his 10-year old son, Lee, in 1938, and the death and destruction caused by World War II also found expression in the series, as well as in his moody surrealist pieces from the mid-to-late 1940s, such as the Bird of Doom watercolors and a set of the seven deadly sins.
The geometric shapes of his earlier representational work reappeared in the 1950s in the form of roughly- rendered rectangles, squares and triangles in various sizes and colors in his pure abstractions, such as an untitled composition (1951) of small, massed geometric shapes in an impasto surface highlighted in bright red, blue and green. By mid-decade his palette became a little more subdued with larger shapes dominating the canvas, as in Artist and His Pictures (1955), and Progression (1956) with its superimposed clusters of smaller geometric shapes. These and other similar abstract paintings constitute the highlight of his career during which, in the words of Al Kochka -- curator of Bunnell’s posthumous retrospective (1987) at the Amarillo Art Center – “he never ceased to experiment and expand his visual language.”
In the artist’s statement for the catalog of his exhibition at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in 1956, Bunnell said of his work: “Art to me is a search: in other words, a way of living…I have painted for thirty-five years going through many phases from realism and portraiture to, I feel, advanced modern concepts, where the observer can, by looking at my paintings, become a creator as well as I. In other words each viewer can see what he feels in my work.”
Bunnell continued to teach throughout most of his career. Having briefly taught art classes toward the end of the Federal Art Project during the Depression era, he began conducting classes in his own Colorado Springs studio in 1949. He continued mentoring new artists until the last years of his life before succumbing to emphysema. In the 1950s he was one of the artists Dord Fitz attracted to teach and display his work in Amarillo, along with Louise Nevelson, James Brooks, Leon Polk Smith and Elaine de Kooning, among others. In 1960 de Kooning painted Bunnell’s portrait, now in a private collection.
Solo shows: Kansas City Art Institute (1930); New Mexico Museum of Art-Santa Fe (1947); University of Illinois-Urbana (1948); University of Kentucky, Lexington (1949); Taos Gallery-New Mexico (1951); Carl Barnett Galleries-Dallas (1952); The Antlers Gallery-Colorado Springs (1952); Bodley Gallery-New York (1955); Haigh Gallery-Denver (1955); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (1956); Dord Fitz Gallery-Amarillo, TX (1956, 1957, 1959. 1969-retrospective).
Group exhibitions: Colorado State Fair (1928, first prize); Carnegie International-Pittsburgh (1928); Denver Art Museum (1928, 1947,1956); Artists Midwestern Exhibition-Kansas City, MO (1929, gold medal-first prize); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center-show with Archie Musick sponsored by Randall Davey (1930); World’s Fair Art Exhibition-San Francisco (1939); Art Institute of Chicago-“Abstract and Surrealist Art” (1947-48); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center-“Artists West of the Mississippi” (1936, 1941, 1946, 1948, 1953, 1959); Mid-America Annual, Kansas City, MO (1958); First Provincetown Festival-MA (1958); Southwestern Annual-Santa Fe (1957-58).
bio courtesy Modernist West
Paul Burlin Paul Burlin was born in New York in 1886. He received his early education in England before returning to New York at the age of twelve. He worked for a short time as an illustrator under Theodore Dreiser at Delineator magazine, where he was exposed to Progressivist philosophy and politics. He soon grew tired of commercial work and enrolled at the National Academy of Design. There, he received a formal education and refined his technical skills; though he later dropped out to pursue his artistic studies more informally with a group of fellow students. He was also a frequent visitor at Alfred Steiglitz’s ‘291’ gallery.
Burlin achieved a great deal of early artistic success. He visited the Southwest for the first time in 1910. Paintings from this visit were received warmly in New York and exhibited in a 1911 exhibition. As a result of his early success, he (and Randall Davey) were the youngest artists (at twenty-six years of age) to participate in the 1913 Armory Show – the revolutionary exhibition of avant-garde European work that can be credited with introducing modern art to the United States and stimulating the development of modernism in America. There, Burlin’s work was exhibited alongside works by such artists as Picasso, Monet, Cézanne, and Duchamp.
Burlin achieved a great deal of early artistic success. He visited the Southwest for the first time in 1910. Paintings from this visit were received warmly in New York and exhibited in a 1911 exhibition. As a result of his early success, he (and Randall Davey) were the youngest artists (at twenty-six years of age) to participate in the 1913 Armory Show – the revolutionary exhibition of avant-garde European work that can be credited with introducing modern art to the United States and stimulating the development of modernism in America. There, Burlin’s work was exhibited alongside works by such artists as Picasso, Monet, Cézanne, and Duchamp.
Lawrence Calcagno San Francisco-born artist Lawrence Calcagno spent the first part of his life on a ranch near Big Sur, California, teaching himself to paint from his own observations of the California landscape. Calcagno remained largely self-taught until after World War II, when he began to study painting under the G.I. Bill with the artist Clyfford Still, whose saturated palette and thick-textured linear style remained influences on Calcagno’s work throughout his career.
Alexander Calder Credited with the invention of the mobile, Alexander Calder revolutionized twentieth-century art with his innovative use of subtle air currents to animate sculpture. An accomplished painter of gouaches and sculptor in a variety of media, Calder is best known for poetic arrangements of boldly colored, irregularly shaped geometric forms that convey a sense of harmony and balance.
Calder was born in a suburb of Philadelphia to a family of artists. His grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder, and father, Alexander Stirling Calder, created sculptures and public monuments, and his mother was a painter. Accustomed to traveling in pursuit of public art commissions, the family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1906. The new environment—with its expansive night sky studded with brilliant planets and stars—fascinated the young Calder. These cosmic forms strongly influenced the structure and iconography of his future work.
At a young age, Calder began using tools and found materials to create various structures and inventions. This constructive impulse led him to attend the Stevens Institute of Technology, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering in 1919. Yet by 1922 he had abandoned his new career. After a stint as a seaman, Calder began formal art study at the Art Students League in New York in 1923. During this period, Calder worked as a freelance illustrator and often visited zoos and circuses to sketch.
Calder moved to Paris in 1926, and during his seven-year stay he delighted fellow artists including Man Ray, Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier and Piet Mondrian and attracted the attention of art patrons with his whimsical wire figures and portrait heads. Most notably, he created small sculptures of circus animals and performers with movable parts and developed and toured a performance/demonstration dubbed the "Cirque Calder." This series culminated in the completion of his most celebrated piece, Circus (1932, Whitney Museum of American Art).
Calder was born in a suburb of Philadelphia to a family of artists. His grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder, and father, Alexander Stirling Calder, created sculptures and public monuments, and his mother was a painter. Accustomed to traveling in pursuit of public art commissions, the family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1906. The new environment—with its expansive night sky studded with brilliant planets and stars—fascinated the young Calder. These cosmic forms strongly influenced the structure and iconography of his future work.
At a young age, Calder began using tools and found materials to create various structures and inventions. This constructive impulse led him to attend the Stevens Institute of Technology, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering in 1919. Yet by 1922 he had abandoned his new career. After a stint as a seaman, Calder began formal art study at the Art Students League in New York in 1923. During this period, Calder worked as a freelance illustrator and often visited zoos and circuses to sketch.
Calder moved to Paris in 1926, and during his seven-year stay he delighted fellow artists including Man Ray, Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier and Piet Mondrian and attracted the attention of art patrons with his whimsical wire figures and portrait heads. Most notably, he created small sculptures of circus animals and performers with movable parts and developed and toured a performance/demonstration dubbed the "Cirque Calder." This series culminated in the completion of his most celebrated piece, Circus (1932, Whitney Museum of American Art).
Kenneth Callahan Kenneth Callahan was born in Spokane, Washington, on October 30, 1905, the fifth of seven children of John and Martha Ann Cross Callahan. He spent his growing years in the small town of Glasgow, Montana. Encouraged by his mother, he began painting watercolors at age seven. In 1918 he moved with his family to Raymond, Washington, then two years later to Seattle, where he took art classes at Broadway High School. Both his parents died while he was still a teenager.
Callahan enrolled in the University of Washington, but left after two months. Moving to San Francisco, he did illustrations for a children's magazine, and, while living in low-rent apartments with other artists, had his first exposure to contemporary abstract art. At that time he was painting in a realist style inspired by Thomas Hart Benton and the artists of the Ashcan School, but he was deeply impressed by the originality of Klee, Kandinsky, and Feininger. He later told journalist Deloris Tarzan Ament, "It was the first time it occurred to me that there could be good art that I didn't like."
In 1926 Callahan had his first one-man show at San Francisco's Schwabacher-Frey Gallery; the following year he began his world travels as a ship's steward, winding up back in Seattle in 1930.
In 1930 Callahan married editor Margaret Bundy. The Callahans developed friendships with Dr. Richard Fuller (founder of the Seattle Art Museum), Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, and other progressive-minded artists. Their home became a meeting-place for Seattle's arts community, including prominent Japanese-American artists Kenjiro Nomura and Kamekichi Tokita, and many others.
In 1933 - at age 27 - he gained national recognition with the inclusion of some of his paintings in the First Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum, in New York. The same year he began his twenty-year tenure with SAM, when it opened its new building in Seattle's Volunteer Park. Over the next two decades he curated exhibitions at SAM, wrote a weekly arts column for The Seattle Times, and took trips to Europe and Latin America; his main focus, however, remained his painting. He had numerous exhibitions, was commissioned to do several murals (including post office murals for the Federal Art Project in Anacortes and Centralia, Washington and Rugby, North Dakota), and helped form the Group of Twelve, an "independent salon" of Northwest artists. In the late 1930s he and his wife began spending much of their time in the Robe Valley area of the North Cascades mountains; during the Second World War he spent summers as a U.S. Forest Service fire lookout in the Cascades.
Margaret gave birth to their son Brian Tobey Callahan in 1938.
Callahan was a somewhat controversial figure within the arts community, with some artists seeing conflict of interest in his positions as artist, curator, and critic. In 1953 he ceased working at SAM.
Callahan is identified as one of the Northwest Mystics- along with Guy Anderson (1906-1998), Morris Graves (1910-2001), and Mark Tobey (1890-1976)- who shared a muted palette and strong interest in Asian aesthetics. In 1953 Life magazine ran an article with large color photos extolling Callahan, Graves, Anderson, and Tobey as the "Mystic Painters of the Pacific Northwest".
However, Callahan never considered himself to be a "mystic" painter. In writings and interviews he explained that he wasn't interested in symbolism; rather, he saw his work as being firmly rooted in nature and art history - as it plainly was through the early part of his career. By the early 1960s, however, his style had become much more complex - and seemingly rife with symbolism. "He liked muscle-bound grandeur," wrote arts journalist Regina Hackett, "but released the figures who displayed it from the confines of gravity. Full of light, many hover on the edge of floating away."
Over time, figurative elements - men, horses, trees, insects - disappeared from his work, in favor of pure abstraction, but still, said Callahan, "It is nature, with its unlimited varied form, structure, and color that constitutes the vital living force from which art must basically stem." While Callahan enjoyed his status as a respected artist, the increasingly abstract style of his painting did not lend itself to ready sales. He supplemented his income with occasional teaching jobs at various colleges, and in 1954 applied for and received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
In 1961 Margaret died of cancer; two years later his summer home/studio near the Stillaguamish River burned down while he was in Europe, with the loss of many paintings by both himself and friends. He married Beth Inge Gotfredsen,the Danish-born practical nurse who had cared for Margaret and for Callahan's father-in-law in his last illness, in 1964. They moved to Long Beach, Washington, on the Pacific coast.Callahan continued painting in his studio near the shore in Long Beach, but at a more relaxed pace.
The Seventies saw two unusual commissioned works: In 1972 he designed costumes and sets for the Seattle Repertory Theatre's production of Macbeth, and in 1976, the owner of Longacres racetrack asked him to do a series of paintings of horses for an on-site restaurant. Callahan, a lifelong horse lover, enjoyed the assignment immensely.
In 1984 Callahan moved back to Seattle and turned his artistic attention to urban life, in contrast with the sea and light studies that dominated his work during two decades at Long Beach.
In May, 1986, following a brief illness, he died at his home in Seattle. He was 81.
Callahan's works are included in collections at the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Corcoran Gallery, the Phillips Collection, and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Chicago Art Institute, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Tacoma Art Museum. In 2014, several of his works were included in Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: the Mythic and the Mystical, a major exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum.
Biographical sources: HisotryLink.org,essay by Delores Tarzan Ament; Woodside Braseth Gallery
Callahan enrolled in the University of Washington, but left after two months. Moving to San Francisco, he did illustrations for a children's magazine, and, while living in low-rent apartments with other artists, had his first exposure to contemporary abstract art. At that time he was painting in a realist style inspired by Thomas Hart Benton and the artists of the Ashcan School, but he was deeply impressed by the originality of Klee, Kandinsky, and Feininger. He later told journalist Deloris Tarzan Ament, "It was the first time it occurred to me that there could be good art that I didn't like."
In 1926 Callahan had his first one-man show at San Francisco's Schwabacher-Frey Gallery; the following year he began his world travels as a ship's steward, winding up back in Seattle in 1930.
In 1930 Callahan married editor Margaret Bundy. The Callahans developed friendships with Dr. Richard Fuller (founder of the Seattle Art Museum), Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, and other progressive-minded artists. Their home became a meeting-place for Seattle's arts community, including prominent Japanese-American artists Kenjiro Nomura and Kamekichi Tokita, and many others.
In 1933 - at age 27 - he gained national recognition with the inclusion of some of his paintings in the First Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum, in New York. The same year he began his twenty-year tenure with SAM, when it opened its new building in Seattle's Volunteer Park. Over the next two decades he curated exhibitions at SAM, wrote a weekly arts column for The Seattle Times, and took trips to Europe and Latin America; his main focus, however, remained his painting. He had numerous exhibitions, was commissioned to do several murals (including post office murals for the Federal Art Project in Anacortes and Centralia, Washington and Rugby, North Dakota), and helped form the Group of Twelve, an "independent salon" of Northwest artists. In the late 1930s he and his wife began spending much of their time in the Robe Valley area of the North Cascades mountains; during the Second World War he spent summers as a U.S. Forest Service fire lookout in the Cascades.
Margaret gave birth to their son Brian Tobey Callahan in 1938.
Callahan was a somewhat controversial figure within the arts community, with some artists seeing conflict of interest in his positions as artist, curator, and critic. In 1953 he ceased working at SAM.
Callahan is identified as one of the Northwest Mystics- along with Guy Anderson (1906-1998), Morris Graves (1910-2001), and Mark Tobey (1890-1976)- who shared a muted palette and strong interest in Asian aesthetics. In 1953 Life magazine ran an article with large color photos extolling Callahan, Graves, Anderson, and Tobey as the "Mystic Painters of the Pacific Northwest".
However, Callahan never considered himself to be a "mystic" painter. In writings and interviews he explained that he wasn't interested in symbolism; rather, he saw his work as being firmly rooted in nature and art history - as it plainly was through the early part of his career. By the early 1960s, however, his style had become much more complex - and seemingly rife with symbolism. "He liked muscle-bound grandeur," wrote arts journalist Regina Hackett, "but released the figures who displayed it from the confines of gravity. Full of light, many hover on the edge of floating away."
Over time, figurative elements - men, horses, trees, insects - disappeared from his work, in favor of pure abstraction, but still, said Callahan, "It is nature, with its unlimited varied form, structure, and color that constitutes the vital living force from which art must basically stem." While Callahan enjoyed his status as a respected artist, the increasingly abstract style of his painting did not lend itself to ready sales. He supplemented his income with occasional teaching jobs at various colleges, and in 1954 applied for and received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
In 1961 Margaret died of cancer; two years later his summer home/studio near the Stillaguamish River burned down while he was in Europe, with the loss of many paintings by both himself and friends. He married Beth Inge Gotfredsen,the Danish-born practical nurse who had cared for Margaret and for Callahan's father-in-law in his last illness, in 1964. They moved to Long Beach, Washington, on the Pacific coast.Callahan continued painting in his studio near the shore in Long Beach, but at a more relaxed pace.
The Seventies saw two unusual commissioned works: In 1972 he designed costumes and sets for the Seattle Repertory Theatre's production of Macbeth, and in 1976, the owner of Longacres racetrack asked him to do a series of paintings of horses for an on-site restaurant. Callahan, a lifelong horse lover, enjoyed the assignment immensely.
In 1984 Callahan moved back to Seattle and turned his artistic attention to urban life, in contrast with the sea and light studies that dominated his work during two decades at Long Beach.
In May, 1986, following a brief illness, he died at his home in Seattle. He was 81.
Callahan's works are included in collections at the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Corcoran Gallery, the Phillips Collection, and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Chicago Art Institute, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Tacoma Art Museum. In 2014, several of his works were included in Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: the Mythic and the Mystical, a major exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum.
Biographical sources: HisotryLink.org,essay by Delores Tarzan Ament; Woodside Braseth Gallery
Christine Montano Carey Christine Montaño Carey hails from Las Vegas, N.M., and has had a varied career in the arts as a painter, art teacher, gallery owner, and Spanish Colonial artist. She has owned several galleries, including in Santa Fe, Laguna Beach, Calif., Carmel, Calif., Aspen, Colo., and Austin, Texas.
Her acrylic painting “ Autumn Sunset In The Land of Enchantment” was chosen as the official poster for the 2016 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
Her focus in the past 20 years has been in the Spanish Colonial art forms, including retablos and tin work.
Her acrylic painting “ Autumn Sunset In The Land of Enchantment” was chosen as the official poster for the 2016 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
Her focus in the past 20 years has been in the Spanish Colonial art forms, including retablos and tin work.
Marie Romero Cash Marie Romero Cash is a celebrated folk artist and writer in Santa Fe where she has lived most of her life. She has created art for a number churches in the United States and in Mexico, including Stations of the Cross for the Basilica of St. Francis in Santa Fe.
As a writer, her early works focused on research-based books about the culture and churches of Northern New Mexico, along with a memoir about growing up in Santa Fe in the 1950s. A number of years ago she began to write a mysteries series based around Santa Fe featuring Jemimah Hodge, a forensic psychologist. She is currently working on the fifth of the series. The romantic novel about the Pueblo Revolt began as a screenplay over ten years ago when she was a student at Lesley College in Boston. Since then she has developed it into a novel.
Her works of art are in the following collections: Museum of International Folk Art; The Albuquerque Museum; Museum of Spanish Colonial Art; the Smithsonian Institute; The Vatican; The Archdiocese of Santa Fe; The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and many private collections.
As a writer, her early works focused on research-based books about the culture and churches of Northern New Mexico, along with a memoir about growing up in Santa Fe in the 1950s. A number of years ago she began to write a mysteries series based around Santa Fe featuring Jemimah Hodge, a forensic psychologist. She is currently working on the fifth of the series. The romantic novel about the Pueblo Revolt began as a screenplay over ten years ago when she was a student at Lesley College in Boston. Since then she has developed it into a novel.
Her works of art are in the following collections: Museum of International Folk Art; The Albuquerque Museum; Museum of Spanish Colonial Art; the Smithsonian Institute; The Vatican; The Archdiocese of Santa Fe; The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and many private collections.
Carlo Ciussi Carlo Ciussi (1930-2012) was one of the leading figures of Italian abstract art in the second half of the twentieth-century.
After an apprenticeship with painter Fred Pittino, Ciussi attended art school in Venice from 1945 to 1949. Here he met the art critic and historian Giuseppe Marchiori and the leading Venetian painters of the time, Emilio Vedova and Giuseppe Santomaso. He also had the opportunity to visit the first post-war Venice Biennale in 1948, where he saw the works of Pablo Picasso and Gino Rossi.
Returning to Udine in 1949 to work with his father, he continued painting, creating works influenced by Expressionist and Neo-Cubist art.
In 1955 he exhibited at the 7th Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte in Rome, and in 1964 he was invited to exhibit at the 32nd Biennale d’Arte di Venezia. Shortly thereafter, he was invited to join the stable at the newly opened Stendhal Gallery in Milan, which allowed him to take a studio in that city and to finally paint full time. During this period, Ciussi also began his shift from figurative work to abstraction.
He exhibited again for the Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte in Rome in 1965. In 1967 he took part in the 9th São Paulo Biennale in Brazil and also held his first solo exhibition abroad, at the Galerie Paul Facchetti in Paris.
The first retrospective devoted to him was held in 1974 at the Palazzo Torriani in Gradisca d’Isonzo, near his home town of Udine, followed in 1977 by one at the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea in Ferrara. In 1980 he had solo shows at the Lorenzelli Arte gallery in Milan and at Studio la Cittа in Verona. In 1986 he exhibited at the 42nd Biennale d’Arte di Venezia.
In 1997, the Civico Museo Revoltella in Trieste held a retrospective exhibition of his paintings and sculpture and in 1998 a large solo exhibition was put on at the Esslinger Kunstverein in the Villa Merkel in Esslingen.
In the early 2000s, Ciussi took part in many exhibitions in Italy, and retrospectives were put on at the Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg and at the Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt. In 2011, the Civici Musei di Udine presented Carlo Ciussi 1964-2011.
In 2016, a solo room of his work was included in the Postwar Era: A Recent History exhibition at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Ciussi died in Udine in April 2012.
sources: Comune de Pordenone; Susanna J. Fichera Fine Art; photo, public domain
After an apprenticeship with painter Fred Pittino, Ciussi attended art school in Venice from 1945 to 1949. Here he met the art critic and historian Giuseppe Marchiori and the leading Venetian painters of the time, Emilio Vedova and Giuseppe Santomaso. He also had the opportunity to visit the first post-war Venice Biennale in 1948, where he saw the works of Pablo Picasso and Gino Rossi.
Returning to Udine in 1949 to work with his father, he continued painting, creating works influenced by Expressionist and Neo-Cubist art.
In 1955 he exhibited at the 7th Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte in Rome, and in 1964 he was invited to exhibit at the 32nd Biennale d’Arte di Venezia. Shortly thereafter, he was invited to join the stable at the newly opened Stendhal Gallery in Milan, which allowed him to take a studio in that city and to finally paint full time. During this period, Ciussi also began his shift from figurative work to abstraction.
He exhibited again for the Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte in Rome in 1965. In 1967 he took part in the 9th São Paulo Biennale in Brazil and also held his first solo exhibition abroad, at the Galerie Paul Facchetti in Paris.
The first retrospective devoted to him was held in 1974 at the Palazzo Torriani in Gradisca d’Isonzo, near his home town of Udine, followed in 1977 by one at the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea in Ferrara. In 1980 he had solo shows at the Lorenzelli Arte gallery in Milan and at Studio la Cittа in Verona. In 1986 he exhibited at the 42nd Biennale d’Arte di Venezia.
In 1997, the Civico Museo Revoltella in Trieste held a retrospective exhibition of his paintings and sculpture and in 1998 a large solo exhibition was put on at the Esslinger Kunstverein in the Villa Merkel in Esslingen.
In the early 2000s, Ciussi took part in many exhibitions in Italy, and retrospectives were put on at the Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg and at the Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt. In 2011, the Civici Musei di Udine presented Carlo Ciussi 1964-2011.
In 2016, a solo room of his work was included in the Postwar Era: A Recent History exhibition at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Ciussi died in Udine in April 2012.
sources: Comune de Pordenone; Susanna J. Fichera Fine Art; photo, public domain
Geneviève Claisse Geneviève Claisse was born in 1935, in Quievy, France. She studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her approach to painting was influenced by reading Art d’Aujourd’hui, Tribune of Geometrical Abstraction.
Claisse was the great niece of artist Auguste Herbin, a founder of the French group of artists known as Abstraction-Création. In the late 1950s, Genevieve worked as an assistant in Herbin's studio. In Herbin's mind, Claisse was "le successeur désigné par le destin et par l'hérédité" ("the successor appointed by destiny and heredity"). Like Herbin, Claisse's work shows a devotion to the ideals of formal purity and the perfection of execution. At this young age she worked tirelessly, often working at night after a day in the studio, carefully painting abstract forms on bold, colorful canvases.
Geneviève Claisse’s work is a rigorous exploration of geometric abstraction, which began in 1958 and went through various creative phases. Her early works were lyrical abstractions treated in vivid patches of solid color. She later expanded her vocabulary in her search for movement and multiple spaces that would animate the flatness of the painted surface. Circles and triangles, which the artist treats in turns and independently, are the two recurring themes in her serial compositions, in which the extreme simplicity of the shapes is transfigured by the variations in color ratios.
Claisse’s two-dimensional kinetic approach reached a new peak in the mid-1970s when she temporarily gave up shapes and colors in favor of the geometric play of black lines on a white background. Enhanced by what she learned, her work reverted to a comparative treatment of color, which the artist chose to use with the strictest economy of means. Claisse reduced her compositions to precisely executed and sensitively balanced compositions, alternating solid color blocks and lines. During this transitional period, the white background became a permanent feature in her work.
Selected Exhibitions
Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1961
Museum of Fine Art of La Chaus-de-Fonds, Biennale de Paris, 1967
"Art Optique," Museum of Fine Art of Oslo, 1968
Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1970
Galerie d'Eendt, Amsterdam, 1971
Modern art center of Alencon, 1972
"Concepts multilinéaires", Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1978
Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1981
Claisse was the great niece of artist Auguste Herbin, a founder of the French group of artists known as Abstraction-Création. In the late 1950s, Genevieve worked as an assistant in Herbin's studio. In Herbin's mind, Claisse was "le successeur désigné par le destin et par l'hérédité" ("the successor appointed by destiny and heredity"). Like Herbin, Claisse's work shows a devotion to the ideals of formal purity and the perfection of execution. At this young age she worked tirelessly, often working at night after a day in the studio, carefully painting abstract forms on bold, colorful canvases.
Geneviève Claisse’s work is a rigorous exploration of geometric abstraction, which began in 1958 and went through various creative phases. Her early works were lyrical abstractions treated in vivid patches of solid color. She later expanded her vocabulary in her search for movement and multiple spaces that would animate the flatness of the painted surface. Circles and triangles, which the artist treats in turns and independently, are the two recurring themes in her serial compositions, in which the extreme simplicity of the shapes is transfigured by the variations in color ratios.
Claisse’s two-dimensional kinetic approach reached a new peak in the mid-1970s when she temporarily gave up shapes and colors in favor of the geometric play of black lines on a white background. Enhanced by what she learned, her work reverted to a comparative treatment of color, which the artist chose to use with the strictest economy of means. Claisse reduced her compositions to precisely executed and sensitively balanced compositions, alternating solid color blocks and lines. During this transitional period, the white background became a permanent feature in her work.
Selected Exhibitions
Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1961
Museum of Fine Art of La Chaus-de-Fonds, Biennale de Paris, 1967
"Art Optique," Museum of Fine Art of Oslo, 1968
Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1970
Galerie d'Eendt, Amsterdam, 1971
Modern art center of Alencon, 1972
"Concepts multilinéaires", Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1978
Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1981
Allan Hugh Clarke Allan Hugh Clarke was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 2, 1919, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Steadman Clarke, Sr. (Nellie E.) and was raised in New Kensington / Brackenridge, Pennsylvania. He was a student at Carnegie Institute of Technology before entering the army in August 1942. During World War II, Clarke was a member of the 453rd unit as a tail gunner on the B-24 liberator, "Jughead". For participation in six bombing missions over enemy Europe, Staff Sgt. Allan Clarke was awarded the Air Medal. He used his off-duty hours to draw and paint the people and activities of the unit.
Resuming his studies at the end of World War II, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Tech in 1947.
Upon graduation, Clarke served as instructor on the arts faculty of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Among the work he exhibited at that time was a watercolor titled "The Cut Glass Bowl" (1948), which Director Carlton V. Earle described as "vibrant with intense mystic quality". Some of his paintings were entered in the Terry National Art Exhibit at Miami, Florida.
Clarke taught at the University of New Hampshire on the fine arts faculty when George Thomas was the head of the art department there. Clarke and Thomas were friends as well as academic colleagues. As a reminder of his time there, the University of New Hampshire has a work by Clarke in its collection, titled "Mid-Summer Still Life" (1949).
Thereafter, he resided in Manhattan and taught at Pratt Institute. Clarke had a one-man show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan shortly after it opened, in the early 1950s. He also had a one man show at the Feigl Gallery, Manhattan, of his oils and gouaches in September 1950. Artists such as Kokoschka, Rouault, Soutine, Utrillo, Vuillard, and Marc Chagall were also being exhibited at the Feigl Gallery around that time.
In May of 1954, paintings by Andy Warhol and Clarke were displayed at the Loft Gallery, in Manhattan (the two were friends and fellow classmates at Carnegie Tech).
In September of 1956, Clarke's work was part of a group exhibit at the Zabriskie Gallery that also included Pat Adams, Robert Conover, Edmund Casarella, and Lester Johnson. His success in that group show led to a solo show at Zabriskie a few months later. The solo exhibition drew the notice of the "The New York Times" with an article on November 6, 1956, entitled: "Allan Clarke's Abstractions Reflect the City". In a statement accompanying his exhibition at the Zabriskie Gallery, Clarke explained that in his latest abstractions he was trying to find some painterly counterpart to the aesthetic excitement he found in the man-made forms of the city.
Clarke's mid-century modern art might be described as cubistic, or dynamic abstraction, or abstract expressionism. He worked in both oils and watercolors and made all of his own frames for his paintings. He is known to have produced linocuts as well. He is noted for a series of paintings of horses, a series based on the forms of record players, and abstract landscapes.
Clarke died in New York in October of 1979.
biographical material courtesy Modernist West
Resuming his studies at the end of World War II, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Tech in 1947.
Upon graduation, Clarke served as instructor on the arts faculty of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Among the work he exhibited at that time was a watercolor titled "The Cut Glass Bowl" (1948), which Director Carlton V. Earle described as "vibrant with intense mystic quality". Some of his paintings were entered in the Terry National Art Exhibit at Miami, Florida.
Clarke taught at the University of New Hampshire on the fine arts faculty when George Thomas was the head of the art department there. Clarke and Thomas were friends as well as academic colleagues. As a reminder of his time there, the University of New Hampshire has a work by Clarke in its collection, titled "Mid-Summer Still Life" (1949).
Thereafter, he resided in Manhattan and taught at Pratt Institute. Clarke had a one-man show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan shortly after it opened, in the early 1950s. He also had a one man show at the Feigl Gallery, Manhattan, of his oils and gouaches in September 1950. Artists such as Kokoschka, Rouault, Soutine, Utrillo, Vuillard, and Marc Chagall were also being exhibited at the Feigl Gallery around that time.
In May of 1954, paintings by Andy Warhol and Clarke were displayed at the Loft Gallery, in Manhattan (the two were friends and fellow classmates at Carnegie Tech).
In September of 1956, Clarke's work was part of a group exhibit at the Zabriskie Gallery that also included Pat Adams, Robert Conover, Edmund Casarella, and Lester Johnson. His success in that group show led to a solo show at Zabriskie a few months later. The solo exhibition drew the notice of the "The New York Times" with an article on November 6, 1956, entitled: "Allan Clarke's Abstractions Reflect the City". In a statement accompanying his exhibition at the Zabriskie Gallery, Clarke explained that in his latest abstractions he was trying to find some painterly counterpart to the aesthetic excitement he found in the man-made forms of the city.
Clarke's mid-century modern art might be described as cubistic, or dynamic abstraction, or abstract expressionism. He worked in both oils and watercolors and made all of his own frames for his paintings. He is known to have produced linocuts as well. He is noted for a series of paintings of horses, a series based on the forms of record players, and abstract landscapes.
Clarke died in New York in October of 1979.
biographical material courtesy Modernist West
Henri Clément-Serveau Henri Clément-Serveau, also known simply as Clément-Serveau, was born in Paris in 1886. He experienced all the revolutions in art in the 20th Century. His early work was realistic in the tradition of the Postimpressionists but always with elements of cubist forms.
He was a student at l'Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He began exhibiting in 1905 at the Salon des Indépendants, and later at the Salon des Artistes Français where he won a bronze medal in 1921, silver medal in 1926, and a gold medal in 1929. He exhibited in Greece in 1934 and 1935, and participated in collective exhibitions of French artists in London, United States, Canada and Sweden.
He was a friend of Louis Marcoussis, an early Cubist, and Clément-Serveau's style evolved into neo-Cubism. His style of abstraction and use of color and planes made his paintings unique, with a mosaic-like quality. At first, he paints large decorative compositions full of symbolism. The he much improves thanks to illustration, from a close representation of nature to a world of distorted forms. He paints numerous women’s and children’s portraits. His trip in Greece leads him to landscapes and to a sort of classicism in new subjects taken from everyday life where antiquity and humanity are both present. Back in Villeneuve, he paints many nudes and interior scenes in which he reduces everyday life to an essence, his landscapes become more intimate. In 1945, when he returns to Paris, a move towards abstraction can be noticed: perspective are contracted, there are big flat tints and no forms n his paintings. Around the 1930s-1940s, his art can be qualified as neo-cubism but without its rigor, using on the contrary delicate colors that bring an unequaled charm to his paintings. In his landscapes, masses are outlined with large line. He paints many still lifes with vertical plans and makes clever connections with guitars, violins and cellos.
Clément-Serveau continued to exhibit his paintings, and in 1937 designed murals for the French Pavilion of Tourism at the l'Exhibition Internationellle in Paris. He was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Clément-Serveau also designed frescos, mosaics, stained glass, and bank notes for the Banque de France and several other countries. He also illustrated several books, including novels by Colette, Duhamel and Manriac.
His work is well represented in various French museums, at the Musee du Luxembourg, Musee d’Art Moderne, the Musee du Petit-Palais. His work is also in collections in museums in Le Havre, Lille, and in the United States, in Canada and in Greece.
He was a student at l'Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He began exhibiting in 1905 at the Salon des Indépendants, and later at the Salon des Artistes Français where he won a bronze medal in 1921, silver medal in 1926, and a gold medal in 1929. He exhibited in Greece in 1934 and 1935, and participated in collective exhibitions of French artists in London, United States, Canada and Sweden.
He was a friend of Louis Marcoussis, an early Cubist, and Clément-Serveau's style evolved into neo-Cubism. His style of abstraction and use of color and planes made his paintings unique, with a mosaic-like quality. At first, he paints large decorative compositions full of symbolism. The he much improves thanks to illustration, from a close representation of nature to a world of distorted forms. He paints numerous women’s and children’s portraits. His trip in Greece leads him to landscapes and to a sort of classicism in new subjects taken from everyday life where antiquity and humanity are both present. Back in Villeneuve, he paints many nudes and interior scenes in which he reduces everyday life to an essence, his landscapes become more intimate. In 1945, when he returns to Paris, a move towards abstraction can be noticed: perspective are contracted, there are big flat tints and no forms n his paintings. Around the 1930s-1940s, his art can be qualified as neo-cubism but without its rigor, using on the contrary delicate colors that bring an unequaled charm to his paintings. In his landscapes, masses are outlined with large line. He paints many still lifes with vertical plans and makes clever connections with guitars, violins and cellos.
Clément-Serveau continued to exhibit his paintings, and in 1937 designed murals for the French Pavilion of Tourism at the l'Exhibition Internationellle in Paris. He was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Clément-Serveau also designed frescos, mosaics, stained glass, and bank notes for the Banque de France and several other countries. He also illustrated several books, including novels by Colette, Duhamel and Manriac.
His work is well represented in various French museums, at the Musee du Luxembourg, Musee d’Art Moderne, the Musee du Petit-Palais. His work is also in collections in museums in Le Havre, Lille, and in the United States, in Canada and in Greece.
Dan Cohen Bio pending
Howard Cook Howard Cook, one of America’s best-known print-makers, began his career with a scholarship that sent him from his home in Springfield, Massachusetts to the Art Students League in New York City, where he studied under Joseph Pennell and George Bridgman, and made connections with fellow students, such as Max Weber and Andrew Dasburg. In the 1920s, Cook worked as an illustrator for several well-known magazines, including Harper’s, Scribner’s, Survey, Atlantic Monthly, Forum, and Century, work that allowed him to travel all over the world.
Gardner Cox Gardner Cox was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts on January 22, 1905. He studied at Harvard College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School. He held the position of head of the Department of Painting at the Boston Museum School and lived in Cambridge.
He started his art career comparatively late in 1936 at the age of thirty, after working as an architect in his father's firm. Painting had long been a passion; Gardner’s mother was a gifted artist who had studied in Paris, and Cox had already honed his skills as a painter. People liked his work, he could make a living. “In those days I did landscapes,” Gardner remembered, “And after World War II, I painted oils of cobwebs in the dewy morning grass.” On a painting trip with friends, an annual Columbus Day event, he usually painted a single leaf, the papery veinings meticulously rendered, just as every spring it was a ritual for him to paint a single crocus.
Though he was primarily known as a painter of portraits, he also produced highly accomplished still-lifes and landscapes, such as the one seen here. Titled "Wind," it depicts a copy of the New York Times forcefully blown eover the horizon by the wind, suggesting the unfolding of tumultuous world events. The painting hung on display at the Carnegie Institute on December 7, 1941, eerily prefiguring the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the United State's entry into World War II.
Cox painted portraits for over fifty years - long enough to have been working when portraiture was the most prestigious field a painter could choose. His sitters included Robert Frost, Henry Kissinger, Robert Kennedy, Michael Dukakis and seven Supreme Court Justices.
His work is found in many private and public collections, including at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; National Portrait Gallery, London; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
He started his art career comparatively late in 1936 at the age of thirty, after working as an architect in his father's firm. Painting had long been a passion; Gardner’s mother was a gifted artist who had studied in Paris, and Cox had already honed his skills as a painter. People liked his work, he could make a living. “In those days I did landscapes,” Gardner remembered, “And after World War II, I painted oils of cobwebs in the dewy morning grass.” On a painting trip with friends, an annual Columbus Day event, he usually painted a single leaf, the papery veinings meticulously rendered, just as every spring it was a ritual for him to paint a single crocus.
Though he was primarily known as a painter of portraits, he also produced highly accomplished still-lifes and landscapes, such as the one seen here. Titled "Wind," it depicts a copy of the New York Times forcefully blown eover the horizon by the wind, suggesting the unfolding of tumultuous world events. The painting hung on display at the Carnegie Institute on December 7, 1941, eerily prefiguring the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the United State's entry into World War II.
Cox painted portraits for over fifty years - long enough to have been working when portraiture was the most prestigious field a painter could choose. His sitters included Robert Frost, Henry Kissinger, Robert Kennedy, Michael Dukakis and seven Supreme Court Justices.
His work is found in many private and public collections, including at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; National Portrait Gallery, London; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Doris Cross Doris Cross spent much of her life in New York, where she studied art under the Abstract Expressionist painter, Hans Hofmann, throughout the1920's and 1930's. In 1972, she settled in Santa Fe, where she became a well-known figure in the avant-garde artistic community. Her work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Keith Crown Raised in Indiana, Keith Crown first drove through Taos in the late 1940s, on a cross-country trip from Chicago. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and took a teaching position at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. While driving west, he was struck by the Taos landscapes.
Before he moved to Columbia in 1983, Crown retired from teaching and spent his summers in Taos studying Navajo weaving and pre-Columbian and Pueblo pottery, which rely on abstract representations of nature. His work famously combines abstract art with natural landscapes.
Before he moved to Columbia in 1983, Crown retired from teaching and spent his summers in Taos studying Navajo weaving and pre-Columbian and Pueblo pottery, which rely on abstract representations of nature. His work famously combines abstract art with natural landscapes.
Edward S. Curtis From 1904 to 1930, Edward Sheriff Curtis sought out the vanishing tribes of Native Americans with an unwavering passion and dedication. His life's work was to record the faces and lifestyles of the Indians before they vanished forever beneath the settling of the continent by the white man.
Edward S. Curtis photographed his subjects from the deserts of the Southwest to the ice floes of the Arctic, recording with his camera and pen the look and the culture of more than eighty tribes. It was an achievement both poignant and monumental.
Edward S. Curtis photographed his subjects from the deserts of the Southwest to the ice floes of the Arctic, recording with his camera and pen the look and the culture of more than eighty tribes. It was an achievement both poignant and monumental.
Andrew Michael Dasburg Andrew Michael Dasburg was an American modernist painter and an early exponents of cubism. Born in Paris, Dasburg joined the Art Students League of New York on a scholarship in 1902.
In 1909 Dasburg revisited Paris and joined the modernist circle of artists living there, including Morgan Russell, Jo Davidson, and Arthur Lee. During a trip to London that same year he married sculptor Grace Mott Johnson. Johnson returned to the United States early the next year, but Dasburg stayed in Paris where he met Henri Matisse, Gertrude Stein and Leo Stein, and became influenced by the paintings of Cézanne and Cubism.
Dasburg returned to New York, and he and Johnson became active members of the artist community. Dasburg exhibited three oils and a sculpture at the "International Exhibition of Modern Art," better known the Armory Show, which opened in New York City's 69th Regiment Armory in 1913 and introduced New Yorkers to Modern art.
In 1918 he was invited to Taos, New Mexico, by Mabel Dodge, and returning in 1919, Johnson joined him there. After moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1921, Dasburg integrated the boxy traditional construction styles in New Mexico into his Cubist art.
In both New York and Taos, he was part of the social milieu that included Georgia O'Keeffe and Gertrude Stein, and a close friend of Mabel Dodge Luhan. A painting named The Absence of Mabel Dodge was allegedly painted to inflame the jealousy of her then-lover, mutual friend John Reed (it was a pointed reminder of a peyote celebration in which the two had shared), and for four years Dasburg and Reed's other lover Louise Bryant carried on an affair. The elderly Dasburg appeared posthumously as himself in the movie about Reed and Bryant, Reds, although he "curiously ... does not speak of his intimacy with either". He was also involved for some time with Ida Rauh, a co-founder of the Provincetown Players, and the two of them were friends with D. H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda von Richthofen, and helped Lawrence recover from a bout of tuberculosis that nearly got him refused entry to the U.S. at the border with Mexico.
Dasburg died in his home in Taos, New Mexico, on August 13, 1979, at age 92. Following his death, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe held a 96-work retrospective exhibition funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts which traveled to four other Western states. His works are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Mexico Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum, among others.
In 1909 Dasburg revisited Paris and joined the modernist circle of artists living there, including Morgan Russell, Jo Davidson, and Arthur Lee. During a trip to London that same year he married sculptor Grace Mott Johnson. Johnson returned to the United States early the next year, but Dasburg stayed in Paris where he met Henri Matisse, Gertrude Stein and Leo Stein, and became influenced by the paintings of Cézanne and Cubism.
Dasburg returned to New York, and he and Johnson became active members of the artist community. Dasburg exhibited three oils and a sculpture at the "International Exhibition of Modern Art," better known the Armory Show, which opened in New York City's 69th Regiment Armory in 1913 and introduced New Yorkers to Modern art.
In 1918 he was invited to Taos, New Mexico, by Mabel Dodge, and returning in 1919, Johnson joined him there. After moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1921, Dasburg integrated the boxy traditional construction styles in New Mexico into his Cubist art.
In both New York and Taos, he was part of the social milieu that included Georgia O'Keeffe and Gertrude Stein, and a close friend of Mabel Dodge Luhan. A painting named The Absence of Mabel Dodge was allegedly painted to inflame the jealousy of her then-lover, mutual friend John Reed (it was a pointed reminder of a peyote celebration in which the two had shared), and for four years Dasburg and Reed's other lover Louise Bryant carried on an affair. The elderly Dasburg appeared posthumously as himself in the movie about Reed and Bryant, Reds, although he "curiously ... does not speak of his intimacy with either". He was also involved for some time with Ida Rauh, a co-founder of the Provincetown Players, and the two of them were friends with D. H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda von Richthofen, and helped Lawrence recover from a bout of tuberculosis that nearly got him refused entry to the U.S. at the border with Mexico.
Dasburg died in his home in Taos, New Mexico, on August 13, 1979, at age 92. Following his death, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe held a 96-work retrospective exhibition funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts which traveled to four other Western states. His works are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Mexico Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum, among others.
Julio de Diego Julio de Diego was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1900. In 1922, when his family objected to his artistic ambitions, de Diego left home and moved to Paris. Over the next several years, de Diego designed sets for the opera, danced in the ballet, and fought in Africa with the Spanish Army. In 1926, he moved to the United States. There, he settled in Chicago and worked as a designer and illustrator for magazines and catalogues. The first major show of his work took place in Chicago in 1932. De Diego spent some time painting for the WPA. He lived in NY for many years and married the actress and entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee. He died in Florida in 1979.
De Diego’s work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and is included in the collections of the Milwaukee Art Institute, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Montclair Art Museum, among other public and private collections.
De Diego’s work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and is included in the collections of the Milwaukee Art Institute, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Montclair Art Museum, among other public and private collections.
Sonia Delaunay Sonia Delaunay, originally born Sofia Ilinitchna Terk in the Ukraine, was a Russian painter, illustrator, and textile designer who pioneered early abstract art in the years before World War I.
Delaunay grew up in St. Petersburg. She studied drawing in Karlsruhe, Germany, and in 1905 moved to Paris, where she was influenced by the Post-Impressionists and the Fauvists. Delaunay was regarded as the the center of the Paris art world in the early 1900s. She married the artist Robert Delaunay in 1910, by which time she was painting in the style known as Orphism, which involved the harmonious juxtaposition of areas of pure color. She extended Orphist principles to the design of fabrics, pottery decoration, stage sets, and other applied arts.
Among her most important works were her Orphist illustrations for a poem by Blaise Cendrars entitled "La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France" in 1913. The resulting volume was a landmark in modern book production.
During the 1920s Delaunay designed textiles and dresses. Her use of abstract color harmonies had a strong influence on international fashion. She returned to painting in the 1930s, joining the Abstraction-Création association in 1931. She and Robert Delaunay became involved in public art projects, and they collaborated on vast murals for the Paris Exposition of 1937. After her husband’s death in 1941, Delaunay continued to work as a painter and designer, and she lived to see the mounting of retrospectives of her work by major museums from the 1950s onward. In 1964 she became the only woman to have had an exhibition at the Louvre Museum in her own lifetime.
Delaunay grew up in St. Petersburg. She studied drawing in Karlsruhe, Germany, and in 1905 moved to Paris, where she was influenced by the Post-Impressionists and the Fauvists. Delaunay was regarded as the the center of the Paris art world in the early 1900s. She married the artist Robert Delaunay in 1910, by which time she was painting in the style known as Orphism, which involved the harmonious juxtaposition of areas of pure color. She extended Orphist principles to the design of fabrics, pottery decoration, stage sets, and other applied arts.
Among her most important works were her Orphist illustrations for a poem by Blaise Cendrars entitled "La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France" in 1913. The resulting volume was a landmark in modern book production.
During the 1920s Delaunay designed textiles and dresses. Her use of abstract color harmonies had a strong influence on international fashion. She returned to painting in the 1930s, joining the Abstraction-Création association in 1931. She and Robert Delaunay became involved in public art projects, and they collaborated on vast murals for the Paris Exposition of 1937. After her husband’s death in 1941, Delaunay continued to work as a painter and designer, and she lived to see the mounting of retrospectives of her work by major museums from the 1950s onward. In 1964 she became the only woman to have had an exhibition at the Louvre Museum in her own lifetime.
Richard W. Dempsey Richard W. Dempsey was born in Ogden, Utah, September 14, 1909. His youth was spent in Oakland, California where he attended Sacramento Junior College (1929-31) as an art major and then studied at the following institutions: The California School of Arts and Crafts (1932-34) in Oakland, California; the Students Art Center (1935-40). He held his first one-man exhibition in Oakland, 1935, then headed for San Francisco where he held three exhibitions. In 1941, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work as an engineering draftsman with the Federal Power Commission.
Dempsey also studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He studied sculpture with Sargent Johnson, painting with Maurice Logan, Raymond Strong, Katherine Gans, Edward Leslie, Sidney Lemos and lithography with James Wells. He also worked as an engineering draftsman for the US government. In 1946, along with Elizabeth Catlett, he was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship for a series of paintings of outstanding American Negroes. In 1951, he was awarded a Purchase Award in the Corcoran Gallery's Tenth Annual Exhibition.
Dempsey was a prolific painter and worked on as many as six canvases at one time, switching as his moods changed. His paintings were highly influenced by colors in his Caribbean environment, using them to express feelings of emotions and dimension. His sensitivity to colors was heightened by frequent trips to Jamaica and Haiti. With Dempsey, color, texture, and form unite in his later abstract paintings to compose symphonic poems for the eye of the beholder.
Dempsey also studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He studied sculpture with Sargent Johnson, painting with Maurice Logan, Raymond Strong, Katherine Gans, Edward Leslie, Sidney Lemos and lithography with James Wells. He also worked as an engineering draftsman for the US government. In 1946, along with Elizabeth Catlett, he was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship for a series of paintings of outstanding American Negroes. In 1951, he was awarded a Purchase Award in the Corcoran Gallery's Tenth Annual Exhibition.
Dempsey was a prolific painter and worked on as many as six canvases at one time, switching as his moods changed. His paintings were highly influenced by colors in his Caribbean environment, using them to express feelings of emotions and dimension. His sensitivity to colors was heightened by frequent trips to Jamaica and Haiti. With Dempsey, color, texture, and form unite in his later abstract paintings to compose symphonic poems for the eye of the beholder.
Douglas Denniston (Bio Pending)
Angelo di Benedetto The son of Italian immigrants from the Salerno province in southern Italy, as a teenager Angelo Di Benedetto worked as a truck driver in the mornings and a bartender in the afternoons to study at the Cooper Union Art School in New York City (1930-34) from which he graduated with a certificate in freehand drawing. He won a scholarship to the Boston Museum Art School where he studied for three years, beginning in 1934, with Russian émigré painter, Alexandre Jacovleff, a member of Mir Isskustva (World of Art) in St. Petersburg before the Russian Revolution. In 1936 he painted a religious mural for St. Michael's Grove in Paterson, New Jersey. The following year he entered his first juried exhibition at the Montclair Museum in New Jersey, winning first prize and first honorable mention.
In December 1938 the Royal Netherlands Steamship Line sent him on a two-month ethnological study trip to Haiti, his first exposure to a different environment outside the United States. During what turned out to be an extended six-month stay, he studied and painted the life and religious customs of the island, resulting in a series of colorful, stylized paintings inspired by his immersion in the local culture. He also did scenes of Port-au-Prince and executed commissions received from prominent people in Haiti, including government officials. In 1940 his Haitian paintings were exhibited at the Montross Gallery in New York (his first solo show) and also reproduced in the January 1940 issue of Life Magazine. One of his Haitian paintings, Morning in Port-au-Prince, was owned by an American author, politician and U.S. ambassador, Clare Boothe Luce, while another image, Haiti Post Office, was acquired for the Encyclopedia Britannica Collection and later donated to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Before World War II Di Benedetto traveled extensively around the United States in his car and trailer doing regional paintings. In 1941 he did what is considered the first authentic version of George Washington Crossing the Delaware, a contrast to the well-known painting on the same subject (1851) by German-born painter, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. During the war Di Benedetto volunteered for a secret mission to Africa in 1941 before the Allied invasion, serving as director of camouflage, foreman of native laborers and an interpreter while based in Eritrea. The following year he received a direct commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the First Photo Mapping Squadron, leading groups as a guide and interpreter and doing ground control. During his free time in Africa, he sketched and painted the local population and his fellow servicemen.
In December 1938 the Royal Netherlands Steamship Line sent him on a two-month ethnological study trip to Haiti, his first exposure to a different environment outside the United States. During what turned out to be an extended six-month stay, he studied and painted the life and religious customs of the island, resulting in a series of colorful, stylized paintings inspired by his immersion in the local culture. He also did scenes of Port-au-Prince and executed commissions received from prominent people in Haiti, including government officials. In 1940 his Haitian paintings were exhibited at the Montross Gallery in New York (his first solo show) and also reproduced in the January 1940 issue of Life Magazine. One of his Haitian paintings, Morning in Port-au-Prince, was owned by an American author, politician and U.S. ambassador, Clare Boothe Luce, while another image, Haiti Post Office, was acquired for the Encyclopedia Britannica Collection and later donated to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Before World War II Di Benedetto traveled extensively around the United States in his car and trailer doing regional paintings. In 1941 he did what is considered the first authentic version of George Washington Crossing the Delaware, a contrast to the well-known painting on the same subject (1851) by German-born painter, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. During the war Di Benedetto volunteered for a secret mission to Africa in 1941 before the Allied invasion, serving as director of camouflage, foreman of native laborers and an interpreter while based in Eritrea. The following year he received a direct commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the First Photo Mapping Squadron, leading groups as a guide and interpreter and doing ground control. During his free time in Africa, he sketched and painted the local population and his fellow servicemen.
Attributed to Katherine Sophie Dreier Katherine Sophie Dreier was an American artist, lecturer, patron of the arts and social reformer. Dreier developed in interest in art at a young age and was afforded the opportunity of studying art in the United States and in Europe due to her parents' wealth and progressive attitudes. Her sister Dorothea, a Post-Impressionist painter traveled and studied with her in Europe. She was most influenced by modern art, particularly by her friend Marcel Duchamp. She was co-founder of the Society of Independent Artists and the Société Anonyme, which had the first permanent collection of modern art, representing 175 artists and more than 800 works of art. The collection was donated to Yale University. Her works were exhibited in Europe and the United States, including the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art.
Friedel Dzubas Celebrated for his monumental color abstractions, German-American artist Friedel Dzubas’s (1915–1994) unique approach to painting straddles high modernist color field abstraction and traditional easel painting. Working on canvases tacked to the floor, Dzubas nonetheless retained both the conventional gesso ground and centered dramatic interest of the portable easel picture. By 1965, Dzubas had adopted Magna mineral spirit acrylics as his medium, yet continued to abjure the pouring, sponging, and spraying strategies thoroughly worked in water-based acrylics by his contemporaries Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Helen Frankenthaler. Developed in the 1940s and used by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Morris Louis, Magna mineral spirit acrylics required the artist to work rapidly. First worked out as small sketches in magna on canvas, Dzubas then scaled these sketches up to monumental size. Many of these sketches survive and are now prized as independent works of art.
The dynamic interrelationships of Dzubas’s signature color lozenges—horizontal, vertical, diagonal phalanxes—are given directional propulsion by dry-brushed feathering at one end, while loosely brushed or pounced surrounds stabilize their innate motility. Dzubas aligns his colors either as complementary pairs or in analogous relationships, inserting a sudden staccato of hue that interrupts the otherwise overriding consonance of his color schemes. Apprenticed as a teenager to a wall decorations firm in Berlin, his sole formal artistic training —despite early claims to have studied briefly with Paul Klee—consisted in the art of fresco and other forms of wall decoration. The matte finish of his surfaces, a feature of Magna mineral spirit acrylics, emulates the matte plaster surfaces of the frescoes he admired by artists ranging from Giotto to Giambattista Tiepolo.
Patricia L Lewy, PhD
Director, Friedel Dzubas Estate Archives
The dynamic interrelationships of Dzubas’s signature color lozenges—horizontal, vertical, diagonal phalanxes—are given directional propulsion by dry-brushed feathering at one end, while loosely brushed or pounced surrounds stabilize their innate motility. Dzubas aligns his colors either as complementary pairs or in analogous relationships, inserting a sudden staccato of hue that interrupts the otherwise overriding consonance of his color schemes. Apprenticed as a teenager to a wall decorations firm in Berlin, his sole formal artistic training —despite early claims to have studied briefly with Paul Klee—consisted in the art of fresco and other forms of wall decoration. The matte finish of his surfaces, a feature of Magna mineral spirit acrylics, emulates the matte plaster surfaces of the frescoes he admired by artists ranging from Giotto to Giambattista Tiepolo.
Patricia L Lewy, PhD
Director, Friedel Dzubas Estate Archives
Leonard Edmundson Leonard Edmondson was born in Sacramento, California and studied at the University of California, Berkeley where he earned a Master's Degree in 1942. During World War II, he served in the United States Army and then settled in Pasadena. By 1947, he was on the faculty at Pasadena City College and began exhibiting his abstract expressionist paintings, which by the 1950s, were attracting national attention. Major museums including the Metropolitan, Brooklyn and Museum of Modern Art purchased his work. His talent brought him two Tiffany Fellowship awards as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship.
An abstract expressionist painter, printmaker of colored etchings and art educator, Leonard Edmondson spent his career in California where he served as President of the California Watercolor Society and of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. At the Watercolor Society's annual exhibits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Edmondson was one of the first "radically modern" painters to have his work accepted. He was also a member of the San Francisco Art Association and the Los Angeles Art Association.
Edmondson was an influential teacher, especially of printmaking, which he taught at Otis Art Institute and the California State University in Los Angeles as well as at Pasadena City College.
Edmondson’s work is represented in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Brooklyn Museum, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Detroit Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery, New York Public Library, Oakland Museum of California Art, Pasadena Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Worcester Art Museum.
Leonard Edmondson died in Pasadena, California on July 22, 2002.
Sources: Gordon T. McClelland and Jay T. Last, "California Watercolors, 1850-1970", via AskArt; Annex Galleries
An abstract expressionist painter, printmaker of colored etchings and art educator, Leonard Edmondson spent his career in California where he served as President of the California Watercolor Society and of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. At the Watercolor Society's annual exhibits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Edmondson was one of the first "radically modern" painters to have his work accepted. He was also a member of the San Francisco Art Association and the Los Angeles Art Association.
Edmondson was an influential teacher, especially of printmaking, which he taught at Otis Art Institute and the California State University in Los Angeles as well as at Pasadena City College.
Edmondson’s work is represented in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Brooklyn Museum, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Detroit Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery, New York Public Library, Oakland Museum of California Art, Pasadena Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Worcester Art Museum.
Leonard Edmondson died in Pasadena, California on July 22, 2002.
Sources: Gordon T. McClelland and Jay T. Last, "California Watercolors, 1850-1970", via AskArt; Annex Galleries
John Edwards Abstract painter and sculptor John Edwards was central to the British art scene in the 1960s and 70s. Edwards is one of Britain's leading abstract artists though he also enjoyed acclaim in the United States. He was a talented teacher and served as head of painting and sculpture at St Martin's School of Art, London, in the 1980s. After retiring from teaching, he maintained a prodigious output of paintings and sculptures over the next 20 years, and showed work regularly in exhibitions in London and abroad.
His forms were influenced by the jazzy, improvisational techniques of the abstract expressionist painters who came into favor in New York after WWII. But his paintings had an architecture that resembled sculptural forms and, conversely, his sculptures had a painterly touch, often light and airy. The curator and critic Jill Lloyd observed: "The power and vitality of the work has much to do with an interplay of opposing forces. Edwards's art is reductive; abstract language of forms is counterbalanced by the artist's emotive and lyrical sense of color."
His forms were influenced by the jazzy, improvisational techniques of the abstract expressionist painters who came into favor in New York after WWII. But his paintings had an architecture that resembled sculptural forms and, conversely, his sculptures had a painterly touch, often light and airy. The curator and critic Jill Lloyd observed: "The power and vitality of the work has much to do with an interplay of opposing forces. Edwards's art is reductive; abstract language of forms is counterbalanced by the artist's emotive and lyrical sense of color."
Norris Embry Norris Embry was an American artist born in Louisville, Kentucky. He grew up in East Orange, New Jersey outside New York City and Evanston, Illinois in the Chicago area, attending public schools through high school. Later, he studied at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland and the Art Institute in Chicago. In the late 1940s, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy; his teacher, the expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka,[citation needed] was to have a lasting influence on Embry's work.
During his adolescent years in the Chicago area, Embry developed a keen interest in avant-garde literature, music and art. In 1947 Embry decided to devote his life to painting and, for the next 15 years until the early 1960s, embarked on a nomadic artistic career which would take him from San Francisco to New York, to post-war Europe, as well as Turkey and North Africa.
Amongst the countries in Europe where he took up temporary residence were Italy, France, Germany, Spain, England and Sweden. It was the Mediterranean culture and climate that struck a chord with his heart and his artistic imagination, and in particular, Greece where he returned frequently.
Throughout much of his life, Embry suffered from severe bouts of mental illness. In the mid-1960s, after having sought medical treatment at the Shepphard Pratt Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, he made that city his permanent residence. He continued to live and paint in Baltimore until the last weeks of his life.
After a series of strokes, he died February 17, 1981 and was buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
During his adolescent years in the Chicago area, Embry developed a keen interest in avant-garde literature, music and art. In 1947 Embry decided to devote his life to painting and, for the next 15 years until the early 1960s, embarked on a nomadic artistic career which would take him from San Francisco to New York, to post-war Europe, as well as Turkey and North Africa.
Amongst the countries in Europe where he took up temporary residence were Italy, France, Germany, Spain, England and Sweden. It was the Mediterranean culture and climate that struck a chord with his heart and his artistic imagination, and in particular, Greece where he returned frequently.
Throughout much of his life, Embry suffered from severe bouts of mental illness. In the mid-1960s, after having sought medical treatment at the Shepphard Pratt Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, he made that city his permanent residence. He continued to live and paint in Baltimore until the last weeks of his life.
After a series of strokes, he died February 17, 1981 and was buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
Martha Epp Martha Epp was born in Kansas on March 31, 1907. She moved to Colorado for college at the University of Northern Colorado and went on to further study at the University of Denver, University of Colorado, Kirkland School of Art and California College of Arts and Crafts. She was a student of Vance Kirkland’s.
Epp taught in the art department at North High School in Denver for over 20 years and influenced later local artists including Dale Chisman and John De Andrea.
Epp’s work was exhibited at the Denver Art Museum and many other venues.
bio courtesy Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Epp taught in the art department at North High School in Denver for over 20 years and influenced later local artists including Dale Chisman and John De Andrea.
Epp’s work was exhibited at the Denver Art Museum and many other venues.
bio courtesy Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Lyonel Feininger An abstract modernist, Lyonel Charles Adrian Feininger was part of the German avant-garde of the early twentieth century and one of the early teachers at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany in 1919, founded by architect Walter Gropius. In 1921, he had a joint exhibition with Paul Klee at the Weimar Museum.
Feininger was born in New York City to German Jewish parents, son of violinist Karl Feininger and singer Elizabeth Cecilia (Lutz) Feininger. He moved to Germany in 1887 intending to study music but taking drawing lessons in Hamburg instead. He moved to Berlin in 1888, enrolling at the Royal Academy of Art. At the request of his father, he moved to Belgium in 1890, attending the Collège Saint Servais in Lüttich, but returned to Berlin the following year, continuing his studies at the academy. Besides painting, Feininger did become an accomplished pianist and composed fugues, which reflected his art that explored interrelationships, synchronization, overlapping in the building of an overall sense of order.
He remained in Germany until 1936, where he had begun working as an illustrator of children's books and as a political cartoonist for several periodicals in 1889. From 1906 to 1908, he lived in Paris, and focused on his painting, studying at the Academie Colarossi. Upon his return to Berlin, Feininger joined the "Berliner Secession" group. In 1911 he exhibited eleven works at the "Salon des Indépendants" in Paris, and through his friendships with Jules Pascin and Robert Delaunay he became interested in Cubism and Orphism. Upon his return to Germany, the architecture of German towns with their Gothic cathedrals became subject of his painting, and in 1913, he left the "Berliner Secession". While Feininger had already befriended Kandinsky and Klee of the "Blaue Reiter" in 1912, he did not become a member of the group.
In 1919, he was invited to join the faculty of the Bauhaus in Weimar, where he served as the first artistic director of the printing shop. His woodcut titled The Cathedral of Socialism served as a cover design for the Bauhaus manifesto by Gropius. Feininger remained at the school, which moved to Dessau in 1926. Hitler closed the school in 1933, and in 1936 Feininger followed an invitation to teach at Mills College in Oakland, California. Returning by the end of the year, he permanently moved his family to New York in 1937, teaching again at Mills College during the summer.
Under the Nazi regime Feininger, whose work had been widely exhibited and collected, became one of the many modern German artists whose work was banned and removed from public view. After he permanently left Germany in 1937, several of his paintings that had been confiscated were shown in the Nazi government exhibition of "Degenerate Art" held in Munich in 1937.
In 1939 Feininger was invited to create murals for the New York World's Fair, and he found his new subject matter in the urban landscape of New York. His work is found in major museum collections around the world, including, the Musem of Modern Art, New York; the Guggenhiem Museum; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Palisades, CA; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Philips Collection, Washington D.C.; and Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
Feininger was born in New York City to German Jewish parents, son of violinist Karl Feininger and singer Elizabeth Cecilia (Lutz) Feininger. He moved to Germany in 1887 intending to study music but taking drawing lessons in Hamburg instead. He moved to Berlin in 1888, enrolling at the Royal Academy of Art. At the request of his father, he moved to Belgium in 1890, attending the Collège Saint Servais in Lüttich, but returned to Berlin the following year, continuing his studies at the academy. Besides painting, Feininger did become an accomplished pianist and composed fugues, which reflected his art that explored interrelationships, synchronization, overlapping in the building of an overall sense of order.
He remained in Germany until 1936, where he had begun working as an illustrator of children's books and as a political cartoonist for several periodicals in 1889. From 1906 to 1908, he lived in Paris, and focused on his painting, studying at the Academie Colarossi. Upon his return to Berlin, Feininger joined the "Berliner Secession" group. In 1911 he exhibited eleven works at the "Salon des Indépendants" in Paris, and through his friendships with Jules Pascin and Robert Delaunay he became interested in Cubism and Orphism. Upon his return to Germany, the architecture of German towns with their Gothic cathedrals became subject of his painting, and in 1913, he left the "Berliner Secession". While Feininger had already befriended Kandinsky and Klee of the "Blaue Reiter" in 1912, he did not become a member of the group.
In 1919, he was invited to join the faculty of the Bauhaus in Weimar, where he served as the first artistic director of the printing shop. His woodcut titled The Cathedral of Socialism served as a cover design for the Bauhaus manifesto by Gropius. Feininger remained at the school, which moved to Dessau in 1926. Hitler closed the school in 1933, and in 1936 Feininger followed an invitation to teach at Mills College in Oakland, California. Returning by the end of the year, he permanently moved his family to New York in 1937, teaching again at Mills College during the summer.
Under the Nazi regime Feininger, whose work had been widely exhibited and collected, became one of the many modern German artists whose work was banned and removed from public view. After he permanently left Germany in 1937, several of his paintings that had been confiscated were shown in the Nazi government exhibition of "Degenerate Art" held in Munich in 1937.
In 1939 Feininger was invited to create murals for the New York World's Fair, and he found his new subject matter in the urban landscape of New York. His work is found in major museum collections around the world, including, the Musem of Modern Art, New York; the Guggenhiem Museum; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Palisades, CA; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Philips Collection, Washington D.C.; and Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
John Ferren John Ferren was one of the few members of the American abstract artists to come to artistic maturity in Paris. A native of California, in 1924 Ferren went to work for a company that produced plaster sculpture.
He briefly attended art school in San Francisco. Later he served as an apprentice to a stonecutter. By 1929, Ferren had saved enough money to go to Europe, stopping first in New York where he saw the Gallatin Collection. He went to France and to Italy. In Saint-Tropez, he met Hans Hofmann, Vaclav Vytlacil, and other Hofmann students.
When Ferren stopped to visit them in Munich, he saw a Matisse exhibition, an experience that was instrumental in shifting his work from sculpture to painting. In Europe, Ferren did not pursue formal art studies, although he sat in on classes at the Sorbonne and attended informal drawing sessions at the Academie Ranson and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.
He briefly attended art school in San Francisco. Later he served as an apprentice to a stonecutter. By 1929, Ferren had saved enough money to go to Europe, stopping first in New York where he saw the Gallatin Collection. He went to France and to Italy. In Saint-Tropez, he met Hans Hofmann, Vaclav Vytlacil, and other Hofmann students.
When Ferren stopped to visit them in Munich, he saw a Matisse exhibition, an experience that was instrumental in shifting his work from sculpture to painting. In Europe, Ferren did not pursue formal art studies, although he sat in on classes at the Sorbonne and attended informal drawing sessions at the Academie Ranson and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.
Oskar Fischinger To Oskar Fischinger, the potential of abstraction was infinite. As a visionary of abstract expression, Fischinger left an indelible mark in filmmaking history, and is considered one of the pioneers of non-objective animation and visual music.
Born on June 22, 1900, in Gelnhausen, Germany, Fischinger planned to pursue a career in engineering. In the early 1920s, he came into contact with Frankfurt’s avant-garde and soon discovered film’s potential to create a more spiritual, wholly abstract art built on models already established by such artists as Vasily Kandinsky. Fischinger’s early films, like his "Study (Studie)" series (1929–33), present amorphous forms choreographed to popular music. He supported his experimental film career with commercial work, most notably, by designing the special effects for German director Fritz Lang’s 1929 feature "Woman in the Moon (Frau im Mond)."
His natural aptitude took him far in the filmmaking industry, bringing him and his family to Los Angeles, and earning him jobs at major studios including Paramount, M.G.M., and Disney. Fischinger also earned support from The Guggenheim Foundation and was awarded at film festivals internationally.
In the United States, he also applied his brilliant technical skill and proclivity for abstraction within a new medium: oil painting. The resulting body of work, spanning thirty years and totaling some eight hundred paintings, emerged as a prolific and strikingly diverse compendium of visual gestures.
Fischinger's explorations into the seemingly endless possibilities inherent in abstraction demonstrated his playfulness and evident pleasure in delving into one style after another. In these works, Fischinger ranged from mind-bending juxtapositions of layered lines and grids forming visual puzzles, to collections of finely detailed contours forming larger organically emotive works, followed by stark graphic compositions functioning as simplistic analyses of shape, to name a few.
Fischinger's paintings have received considerable acclaim in exhibitions throughout the world, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Long Beach Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philips Collection, Washington D.C., and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. His films and paintings are well represented in public and private collections internationally.
Born on June 22, 1900, in Gelnhausen, Germany, Fischinger planned to pursue a career in engineering. In the early 1920s, he came into contact with Frankfurt’s avant-garde and soon discovered film’s potential to create a more spiritual, wholly abstract art built on models already established by such artists as Vasily Kandinsky. Fischinger’s early films, like his "Study (Studie)" series (1929–33), present amorphous forms choreographed to popular music. He supported his experimental film career with commercial work, most notably, by designing the special effects for German director Fritz Lang’s 1929 feature "Woman in the Moon (Frau im Mond)."
His natural aptitude took him far in the filmmaking industry, bringing him and his family to Los Angeles, and earning him jobs at major studios including Paramount, M.G.M., and Disney. Fischinger also earned support from The Guggenheim Foundation and was awarded at film festivals internationally.
In the United States, he also applied his brilliant technical skill and proclivity for abstraction within a new medium: oil painting. The resulting body of work, spanning thirty years and totaling some eight hundred paintings, emerged as a prolific and strikingly diverse compendium of visual gestures.
Fischinger's explorations into the seemingly endless possibilities inherent in abstraction demonstrated his playfulness and evident pleasure in delving into one style after another. In these works, Fischinger ranged from mind-bending juxtapositions of layered lines and grids forming visual puzzles, to collections of finely detailed contours forming larger organically emotive works, followed by stark graphic compositions functioning as simplistic analyses of shape, to name a few.
Fischinger's paintings have received considerable acclaim in exhibitions throughout the world, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Long Beach Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philips Collection, Washington D.C., and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. His films and paintings are well represented in public and private collections internationally.
Gordon Onslow Ford Gordon Onslow Ford (1912-2003) had a long career that incorporated an early interest in Surrealism into decades of exploring pattern and color that were informed by philosophical exploration of Jungian psychology, Zen Buddhism, and his own aesthetic theories.
Born in London, Ford served as an officer in the Royal Navy until 1937, when at age 25 he left his position to pursue an art career. After moving to Paris, he studied with André L'Hote and Fernand Léger. He developed friendships with artists including Roberto Matta, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, and Kay Sage—all of whom, with Ford, became central to Surrealism. In 1938, André Breton formally invited Ford to join the Surrealist group.
Three years later, Ford moved to New York to join the Surrealists in exile during the war. As one of the few members of the group who spoke English, he was hired by the New School for Social Research to present a series of influential lectures, and he organized four related Surrealist exhibitions. He moved again to live in rural Mexico for six years, and then in 1947 moved to the San Francisco area where he would spend the rest of his life. There he and his friend the painter Jean Varda purchased a ferry, the Vallejo, which they docked in Sausalito and turned into studios; the boat became a hub for progressive artists, writers, and others active in the beatnik and then hippie scenes.
Onslow Ford, along with his wife, writer Jacqueline Johnson, and Wolfgang Paalen, developed an exhibition for the San Francisico Museum of Modern Art that they called "Dynaton." The philosophical themes explored in the show became the basis of the artist's complex philosophies. With a spirituality drawn from diverse pyschological and spiritual sources, he developed a style of painting characterized by patterns of lines, dots, and bursts.
Onslow Ford and his wife turned their property in Inverness, California, into an artist's colony; they later deeded the land, known as the Bishop Pine Preserve, to the Nature Conservancy. In addition to a 1948 retrospective at SFMOMA, he had a solo show at the Oakland Museum in 1978. Onslow Ford's work is held in public collections including the Whitney Musuem of Americna Art, New York; the Guggeheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Tate Gallery, London.
Born in London, Ford served as an officer in the Royal Navy until 1937, when at age 25 he left his position to pursue an art career. After moving to Paris, he studied with André L'Hote and Fernand Léger. He developed friendships with artists including Roberto Matta, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, and Kay Sage—all of whom, with Ford, became central to Surrealism. In 1938, André Breton formally invited Ford to join the Surrealist group.
Three years later, Ford moved to New York to join the Surrealists in exile during the war. As one of the few members of the group who spoke English, he was hired by the New School for Social Research to present a series of influential lectures, and he organized four related Surrealist exhibitions. He moved again to live in rural Mexico for six years, and then in 1947 moved to the San Francisco area where he would spend the rest of his life. There he and his friend the painter Jean Varda purchased a ferry, the Vallejo, which they docked in Sausalito and turned into studios; the boat became a hub for progressive artists, writers, and others active in the beatnik and then hippie scenes.
Onslow Ford, along with his wife, writer Jacqueline Johnson, and Wolfgang Paalen, developed an exhibition for the San Francisico Museum of Modern Art that they called "Dynaton." The philosophical themes explored in the show became the basis of the artist's complex philosophies. With a spirituality drawn from diverse pyschological and spiritual sources, he developed a style of painting characterized by patterns of lines, dots, and bursts.
Onslow Ford and his wife turned their property in Inverness, California, into an artist's colony; they later deeded the land, known as the Bishop Pine Preserve, to the Nature Conservancy. In addition to a 1948 retrospective at SFMOMA, he had a solo show at the Oakland Museum in 1978. Onslow Ford's work is held in public collections including the Whitney Musuem of Americna Art, New York; the Guggeheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Tate Gallery, London.
Günther Förg Born in 1952 in Füssen, Germany (in the Allgäu region), Günther Förg was a prolific painter, sculptor, graphic designer, and photographer whose daring conceptual works incorporate and critique tropes of the sprawling movement known as Modernism. His multidisciplinary oeuvre comprises a series of ambitious, sustained investigations into new materials and philosophies. Förg tirelessly engaged the intellectual context of 20th-century art-making, creating deft and witty reactions to the Minimalism of Kazimir Malevich, the figuration of Paul Klee, the formal abstraction of Blinky Palermo, and the Expressionism of Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko. In so doing, he left behind an oeuvre that defies easy categorization.
His career began in the early 1970s as a student at The Academy of Fine Art Munich. During his studies, Förg developed a practice grounded almost exclusively in grey and black monochrome. These early investigations into gray – also called ‘Gitter’ paintings – demonstrate the beginning of a lifelong commitment to conceptualism. As he stated, ‘Grey is nothing: not white, not black. Something in between. Not concerned with the figure. Something free.’ While the artist later incorporated color into his monochrome series, his use of gray represents a neutral foundation from which he conceived his oeuvre.
In the 1980s, Förg began utilizing photography, printing large-format images of culturally – and politically – significant architectural structures, from Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv to Fascist constructions in Italy. This diversification of material and form led Förg to abandon painting altogether, and for some years he pursued a purely photographic practice as a reaction against painting itself. He would later reflect that his use of photography was a method of ‘working closer to reality,’ stating, ‘what one paints is not reality.’
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, his photographic works achieved critical acclaim and were exhibited at major museums internationally, including the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York NY. During this time, Förg also began experimenting upon the exhibition space itself, painting over the gallery walls, and positioning photographs against his own paintings.
Förg entered a new phase of experimentation in the late 1980s, which brought him back to painting, but also included the embrace of new materials for him, such wood, copper, bronze, and lead. In the early 1980s, Förg made his so-called Alubilder – assemblages of aluminium sheeting onto which the artist had painted linear patterns or portrait photographs. Förg’s renowned lead series dating from the 1980s and 1990s – acrylic painted on sheets of lead and supported by wooden frames – blurs the line between painting and sculpture in an evolution towards object-making.
Also initiated during the 1980s, his bronze sculptural practice indicates a painterly quality, with indentations and marks that are reminiscent of a brushstroke, as he attempted to replicate a moment frozen in time.
From 1992 until 1999, he taught at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe. From 1999 on he was a professor in Munich. He had a home in Areuse, Switzerland, as well as in Freiburg. In 1993 he married artist Ika Huber.
In pursuit of further artistic experimentation Förg began producing fragmented body-part sculptures in the early 1990s, describing this arrival at figuration as inevitable. These new works embraced the materiality of their making; the heavy, weathered, and scratched surfaces of the sheets of metal, lead, and wood hint at something that is simultaneously formal and expressionist, geometric and free.
By the beginning of the 21st century, Förg’s paintings had left the formality of Minimalism behind. In a new direction, he incorporated a brighter palette and more expressive hand with a series of grid-like marks and intersecting colors. These paintings – called ‘Gitterbilder’ (grid paintings) – command a similar freedom of form and sensuality that has led to critical comparisons to Cy Twombly. Other works from this era portray vast canvases of negative space interrupted by colorful, gestural hatching and mark-making. Förg’s ultimate return to expressive painting indicates a completion of sorts – a full-circle arrival at painting as a synthesis of experimentation, rooted in art history.
In the artist’s own words, ‘I think painting is a resilient practice; if you look through the history of painting it doesn’t change so much and we always see it in the present. It is still now.’
Förg died on his 61st birthday on December 5, 2013 in Freiburg, Germany. Today, his works can be seen in collections of the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.
One-person exhibitions:
1982: Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
1983: Galerie Max Hetzler, Stuttgart
1991: Kunsthalle Tübingen: Günther Förg, 10. August - 15. September 1991
2003: Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2005: Max Dudler, Günther Förg, Architektur Galerie, Berlin
2006: Günther Förg – Raum und Fläche – Fotografien, Kunsthalle Bremen
2007: Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel
2007: Museum der Stadt Füssen, Füssen
2007: Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2008: Günther Förg – BACK AND FORTH, Essl Museum – Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg/Wien, Katalog Essl Museum
2009: Fondation Beyeler, Riehen
2010: Günther Förg – Wandmalerei und Fotografie, Galerie Vera Munro, Hamburg
2010: Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2011: Günther Förg – Bilder, Wandmalereien und Fotografie 1987–2011, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2014: Günther Förg., Museum Brandhorst, München
2016: FÖRG - Günther Förg aus der Sammlung Kopp München, MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen
Important public collections:
Germany:
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Lenbachhaus, Munich
Daimler Contemporary, Berlin
Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
Sammlung Haubrok, Berlin
Sammlung Hoffmann, Berlin
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Chemnitz
MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg
Kunstpalais Erlangen, Erlangen
Kunstsammlung Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main
Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt am Main
Städel, Frankfurt/Main
Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe
Museum Kurhaus Kleve
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst GfZK, Leipzig
Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
Kunstraum Grässlin, St. Georgen
Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
Austria:
Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg/Vienna
Canada:
AGO, Toronto
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
The Netherlands:
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Switzerland:
Swiss Re, Zurich
United Kingdom:
Tate Modern, London
United States:
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
Scandinavia:
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
Biographical sources: Hauser and Wirth, Artnet
His career began in the early 1970s as a student at The Academy of Fine Art Munich. During his studies, Förg developed a practice grounded almost exclusively in grey and black monochrome. These early investigations into gray – also called ‘Gitter’ paintings – demonstrate the beginning of a lifelong commitment to conceptualism. As he stated, ‘Grey is nothing: not white, not black. Something in between. Not concerned with the figure. Something free.’ While the artist later incorporated color into his monochrome series, his use of gray represents a neutral foundation from which he conceived his oeuvre.
In the 1980s, Förg began utilizing photography, printing large-format images of culturally – and politically – significant architectural structures, from Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv to Fascist constructions in Italy. This diversification of material and form led Förg to abandon painting altogether, and for some years he pursued a purely photographic practice as a reaction against painting itself. He would later reflect that his use of photography was a method of ‘working closer to reality,’ stating, ‘what one paints is not reality.’
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, his photographic works achieved critical acclaim and were exhibited at major museums internationally, including the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York NY. During this time, Förg also began experimenting upon the exhibition space itself, painting over the gallery walls, and positioning photographs against his own paintings.
Förg entered a new phase of experimentation in the late 1980s, which brought him back to painting, but also included the embrace of new materials for him, such wood, copper, bronze, and lead. In the early 1980s, Förg made his so-called Alubilder – assemblages of aluminium sheeting onto which the artist had painted linear patterns or portrait photographs. Förg’s renowned lead series dating from the 1980s and 1990s – acrylic painted on sheets of lead and supported by wooden frames – blurs the line between painting and sculpture in an evolution towards object-making.
Also initiated during the 1980s, his bronze sculptural practice indicates a painterly quality, with indentations and marks that are reminiscent of a brushstroke, as he attempted to replicate a moment frozen in time.
From 1992 until 1999, he taught at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe. From 1999 on he was a professor in Munich. He had a home in Areuse, Switzerland, as well as in Freiburg. In 1993 he married artist Ika Huber.
In pursuit of further artistic experimentation Förg began producing fragmented body-part sculptures in the early 1990s, describing this arrival at figuration as inevitable. These new works embraced the materiality of their making; the heavy, weathered, and scratched surfaces of the sheets of metal, lead, and wood hint at something that is simultaneously formal and expressionist, geometric and free.
By the beginning of the 21st century, Förg’s paintings had left the formality of Minimalism behind. In a new direction, he incorporated a brighter palette and more expressive hand with a series of grid-like marks and intersecting colors. These paintings – called ‘Gitterbilder’ (grid paintings) – command a similar freedom of form and sensuality that has led to critical comparisons to Cy Twombly. Other works from this era portray vast canvases of negative space interrupted by colorful, gestural hatching and mark-making. Förg’s ultimate return to expressive painting indicates a completion of sorts – a full-circle arrival at painting as a synthesis of experimentation, rooted in art history.
In the artist’s own words, ‘I think painting is a resilient practice; if you look through the history of painting it doesn’t change so much and we always see it in the present. It is still now.’
Förg died on his 61st birthday on December 5, 2013 in Freiburg, Germany. Today, his works can be seen in collections of the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.
One-person exhibitions:
1982: Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
1983: Galerie Max Hetzler, Stuttgart
1991: Kunsthalle Tübingen: Günther Förg, 10. August - 15. September 1991
2003: Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2005: Max Dudler, Günther Förg, Architektur Galerie, Berlin
2006: Günther Förg – Raum und Fläche – Fotografien, Kunsthalle Bremen
2007: Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel
2007: Museum der Stadt Füssen, Füssen
2007: Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2008: Günther Förg – BACK AND FORTH, Essl Museum – Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg/Wien, Katalog Essl Museum
2009: Fondation Beyeler, Riehen
2010: Günther Förg – Wandmalerei und Fotografie, Galerie Vera Munro, Hamburg
2010: Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2011: Günther Förg – Bilder, Wandmalereien und Fotografie 1987–2011, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2014: Günther Förg., Museum Brandhorst, München
2016: FÖRG - Günther Förg aus der Sammlung Kopp München, MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen
Important public collections:
Germany:
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Lenbachhaus, Munich
Daimler Contemporary, Berlin
Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
Sammlung Haubrok, Berlin
Sammlung Hoffmann, Berlin
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Chemnitz
MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg
Kunstpalais Erlangen, Erlangen
Kunstsammlung Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main
Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt am Main
Städel, Frankfurt/Main
Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe
Museum Kurhaus Kleve
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst GfZK, Leipzig
Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
Kunstraum Grässlin, St. Georgen
Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
Austria:
Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg/Vienna
Canada:
AGO, Toronto
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
The Netherlands:
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Switzerland:
Swiss Re, Zurich
United Kingdom:
Tate Modern, London
United States:
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
Scandinavia:
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
Biographical sources: Hauser and Wirth, Artnet
Maurice Freedman Maurice Freedman was born in Massachusetts, lived in New York, and painted in Maine. His desire to become an artist developed early and in high school he took classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston until 1921. Freedman then enrolled at the Massachusetts Normal School of Art (Massachusetts College of Art) in 1922 where he also earned a scholarship to continue his studies. In 1926 he was enrolled at the Art Students League in There only a year, he believed diving into the art scene overseas would be a better use of his time and talent and he moved to France where he took classes at Calarossi’s and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, studying with Andre L’hote and Fernand Leger. Another year later and he was discovered and purchased for the Lambert Collection and upon return to the U.S. he would secure life-long gallery representation at Midtown Galleries in New York.
In his review of Freedman's 1982 retrospective at Midtown Galleries, John Russell of the New York Times wrote, "he learned from Andre L’hote and others in Paris how to handle rich and strong color without letting it get out of hand and how to give individuality to the objects of everyday. He has never lost that initial vigor of the hand or the driving curiosity as to what may come of it. There are paintings in this show that deserve to go straight into the history of American painting of this century."
Freedman's work is also in the collections of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Denver Art Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and the Monhegan Museum, among others.
In his review of Freedman's 1982 retrospective at Midtown Galleries, John Russell of the New York Times wrote, "he learned from Andre L’hote and others in Paris how to handle rich and strong color without letting it get out of hand and how to give individuality to the objects of everyday. He has never lost that initial vigor of the hand or the driving curiosity as to what may come of it. There are paintings in this show that deserve to go straight into the history of American painting of this century."
Freedman's work is also in the collections of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Denver Art Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and the Monhegan Museum, among others.
William Frej: Seasons of Ceremonies William Frej began his career as an architect and later served as an international development specialist, living in Nepal, India, Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan over a period of 27 years. Always with his camera at his side, he has been photographing indigenous people and their environments for over 40 years, documenting the changing lifestyles and architecture of many of the world’s unique and ancient cultures.
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
William and Anne Frej: Travels Across the Roof of the World William Frej began his career as an architect and later served as an international development specialist, living in Nepal, India, Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan over a period of 27 years. Always with his camera at his side, he has been photographing indigenous people and their environments for over 40 years, documenting the changing lifestyles and architecture of many of the world’s unique and ancient cultures.
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
William Frej: Maya Ruins Revisited William Frej began his career as an architect and later served as an international development specialist, living in Nepal, India, Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan over a period of 27 years. Always with his camera at his side, he has been photographing indigenous people and their environments for over 40 years, documenting the changing lifestyles and architecture of many of the world’s unique and ancient cultures.
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
William Frej: Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms William Frej began his career as an architect and later served as an international development specialist, living in Nepal, India, Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan over a period of 27 years. Always with his camera at his side, he has been photographing indigenous people and their environments for over 40 years, documenting the changing lifestyles and architecture of many of the world’s unique and ancient cultures.
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
The photography captures both the stunning high peaks and remote mountain ranges of Asia, as well as the living cultures and religious ceremonies in the faraway regions of the Great Himalayan Range, the Ghats of Varanasi, India, rituals in Guatemala and Mexico, and the stone monuments of Cambodia’s Khmer. Frej’s transcendent photography will transport the viewer to these places of mountain grandeur and still vibrant religious practice.
Frej and his wife Anne first visited Nepal in 1981 on a month-long trek around Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world. Inspired by the practice of Tibetan Buddhism they encountered in remote mountain villages, this trek led to a lifelong quest, documenting both the world’s highest peaks, as well as the resilient people living throughout the roof of the world.
They returned to Nepal in 1982, and in 1985, they took a two-year sabbatical walking to the base camps of the world’s highest peaks. Starting in the mountains of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, the Frej’s walked over 3,000 miles on their personal pilgrimage through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. Throughout this sojourn, Asia’s highest peaks and their outposts of remote civilizations and religions provided a wealth of subject matter for photography, documenting peaks, people and ceremonies seen by only a few.
Their quest continued over next three decades, until the present, returning to the Himalayas many times, living in Central Asia and Afghanistan, and documenting not only mountains, but ancient religious ceremonies that still define a way of life for Asia’s Hindu, Bon and Buddhist peoples. Frej’s June of 2018 visit to the Indian Himalaya retraced the steps of India’s devout holy men, the Sadhus, to Gaumukh glacier, the source of the holy Ganges, and continued through Ladakh, visiting 24 remote monasteries and participating in ceremonies at Lamayuru and Hemis Monasteries.
Frej has also spent considerable time the past five years documenting both the religious rites of Mexico’s indigenous communities and the contemporary Maya, and the ancient cities their fore-bearers so skillfully created over a millennium ago. His images of Semana Santa, Dia de los Muertos and the Feast Day of San Ildefonso transport us to a place that imbues strong transformational power.
In 2014, his one-person photographic exhibition Enduring Cultures was featured at Galeria La Eskalera in Merida, Mexico. It included black and white and color photography from Afghanistan, Upper Mustang, Nepal, and San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. His photography was featured in a major exhibition which opened June 2015 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, titled Tradicion, Devocion Y Vida: 80 years of Black and White Photography in New Mexico and Mexico. His photography on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico was exhibited October-December 2015 in a one-person show at Peters Projects Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A number of his photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in their exhibitions Chimayo: A Pilgrimage through Two Centuries and Mirror Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs, in 2017. He was selected to participate in an exhibition titled Faith in New Mexico at Editions One Gallery in Santa Fe.
Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has mounted several major exhibitions, including: The Maya, Photography by William Frej, 2016, of 32 large-scale, black and white photographs of Mexico’s remote, off-the-grid Mayan ruins; Ancient Kingdoms, Hidden Realms,2017, an exhibition highlighting the Mayan and Khmer kingdoms; Ritual of the Cora, 2019, documenting the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora people in the Sierra del Nayarit, Mexico; Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler, 2020, a unique pairing of archival material with Frej’s current imagery of the same locations; Seasons of Ceremonies, 2021, chronicling religious rituals in Yucatán, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Mexico and Rabinal, Guatemala; and Travels Across the Roof of the World, 2022, with his wife Anne Frej, chronicling a sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary people of the Himalaya.
Frej’s photographs were also featured in one-person exhibitions, Nomads of Kyrgyzstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008 and Himalayan Pilgrimage at the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw, Poland in 1998. His photographic work Taninbar to Tibet was featured in a one-person show at the Duta Fine Arts Museum and Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1991. Mr. Frej’s other exhibitions include the Tucson Art Center in 1972, The Eye Gallery in San Francisco in 1977, and the San Francisco Arts Festival in 1976 and 1977. His photographs of Peru received purchase awards from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Arts Festival in the 1970s.
His photographs of the Himalaya, India and Africa were featured in the Edwin Bernbaum book, Sacred Mountains of the World and his photographs of India’s Tilwara camel fair were highlighted in Adventure Travel Magazine. Mr. Frej’s photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021), has won thirteen awards including four “photography book of the year” awards and the Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.
www.williamfrejphotography.com
View the current catalog
Johnny Friedlaender Born and educated in what is now Poland, Johnny Friedlaender was a young student of Otto Mueller and Carlo Mense at the Breslau Art Academy. From an early age Friedlaender worked primarily in lithography and etching.
Johnny Friedlaender spent most of his adult life in Paris, where he published multiple series of etchings, mentored younger artists, and became a member of the Salon de Mai. During his lifetime, Friedlaender exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Bremen Art Museum, and the Far Gallery in New York City. He is famously credited with pioneering aquatint etching.
Johnny Friedlaender spent most of his adult life in Paris, where he published multiple series of etchings, mentored younger artists, and became a member of the Salon de Mai. During his lifetime, Friedlaender exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Bremen Art Museum, and the Far Gallery in New York City. He is famously credited with pioneering aquatint etching.
Oronzo Vito Gasparo Oronzo Gasparo was born in Rutigliao, Italy in 1903 and died in New York in 1969. He was an avid dancer and claimed to have brought the Rhumba to New York. Oronzo Gasparo studied art at the National Academy of Design in New York City where he was profoundly influenced by his work under the American painter Preston Dickinson. In this early work Gasparo created a composition that interweaves the human body and machine elements. He filled in some areas with opaque gouache while allowing the white paper to remain exposed in other sections.
He spent some time working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Depression and exhibited widely throughout his lifetime, including exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Art Gallery, and the 1939 New York World’s Fair. His work has also been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Institute, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among other museums and collections.
Sources:
Butler Institute of American Art
Crocker Art Museum Store
Exhibitions:
Art Institute of Chicago
Carnegie Institute
Corcoran Gallery
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Pennsylvania Academy
Salons of America
Society of Independent Artists
Whitney Museum of American Art
He spent some time working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Depression and exhibited widely throughout his lifetime, including exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Art Gallery, and the 1939 New York World’s Fair. His work has also been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Institute, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among other museums and collections.
Sources:
Butler Institute of American Art
Crocker Art Museum Store
Exhibitions:
Art Institute of Chicago
Carnegie Institute
Corcoran Gallery
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Pennsylvania Academy
Salons of America
Society of Independent Artists
Whitney Museum of American Art
Laura Gilpin Laura Gilpin was an American photographer noted for her images of the landscape and native peoples of the American Southwest.
Born in Austin Bluffs, Colorado (now within Colorado Springs), Gilpin grew up on her father’s ranch.
In 1903, for her twelfth birthday, Gilpin received a Kodak Brownie Camera and immediately began chronicling all her experiences with it (she later received a developing tank for Christmas). The following year she attended the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri as a guide for her mother’s friend Laura Perry, who could not see. It was Gilpin's task to describe every exhibit to her in detail. Gilpin carefully explained all the exhibits to Perry, but also took copious pictures. They visited the fair every other day for a month, and she later said "The experience taught me the kind of observation I would have never learned otherwise.”
The replication of a Philippine Igorot village fascinated Gilpin the most. She snapped photos of the Igorot villagers attempting to carry on their traditional practices amongst the tourists at the fair. Gilpin often told interviewers later in life that this early experience in St. Louis sparked her interest in native peoples.
On her first trip to the East Coast in 1905, her mother took her to New York to have her portrait taken by well-known photographer Gertrude Käsebier. Meeting Käsebier left a lasting impression on Gilpin, and they would develop a lasting friendship.
Gilpin’s mother insisted on a formal education for her daughter. From 1905 to 1910, Laura attended various private schools in the east. When family finances declined, Gilpin left school and returned to Colorado. In an attempt to support her growing interest in photography, Gilpin started a business raising turkeys at her family's ranch. She was able to use the proceeds from raising turkeys to fund trips to the East Coast to further her skills in photography.
On Käsebier’s advice, Gilpin went to New York City in 1916 to study at the Clarence H. White School of Photography (1916–18). Her studies there led her to embrace a pictorialist style that emphasized beauty and artistic creation over photography’s documentary qualities, though over time she developed a more straightforward photographic approach.
Gilpin loved the school and threw herself into her work with a passion. Gilpin learned how to make hand-coated platinum paper. Later, she bought it from a special London company. Platinum paper allowed for a rich velvety black and a wide tonal range. The process of hand-coating platinum paper, which Gilpin continued to do well into the 1970s, was considered a dying art.
"I have always loved the platinum printing process,” she said. “It's the most beautiful image one can get. It has the longest scale and one can get the greatest degree of contrast. It's not a difficult process; it just takes time."
In 1918, a serious bout of influenza ended her formal training. Her mother hired a nurse, Elizabeth Warham Forster "Betsy", to care for her. Gilpin and Forster became friends and, later, companions. They remained together, with occasional separations necessitated by available jobs, until Forster's death in 1972.
While earning her living doing portraits and advertising work, Gilpin began exploring the Southwest and making pictures of the Pueblo Indians and the ruins of their Anasazi ancestors.
Gilpin's long-term involvement with the Navajo began in 1930 when she and Forster ran out of gas twenty miles north of Chinle in a remote part of the Navajo reservation on a camping trip. They were befriended and helped by several Navajo families. This led to Forster’s invitation to return the following year to work as a visiting nurse for the New Mexico Association for Indian Affairs on the New Mexico portion of the Navajo Reservation.
Gilpin visited Forster frequently and accompanied her on her rounds. Because of her status as the nurse’s friend, she was able to photograph the inside of traditional hogans and attend Navajo ceremonials. Her pictures of families, trading posts, hogans, and ceremonies form a compassionate record of traditional Navajo life.
The Depression pinched the New Mexico Association for Indian Affairs’ ability to fund a visiting nurse and Forster lost her position.
In 1941 Gilpin published her first major book, The Pueblos: A Camera Chronicle, based on a series of lantern slides she had made of archaeological sites. During World War II (1942-1944) she worked as a public relations photographer for the Boeing Company in Wichita, Kansas, and then moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she resumed making photographic books. Temples in Yucatan: A Camera Chronicle of Chichen Itza appeared in 1948 and The Rio Grande: River of Destiny, her study of the Rio Grande and the people along its banks, came out the following year.
With the moderate success of Gilpin’s Rio Grande book, she secured another contract for a book on the Navajo. Both Gilpin and Forster had wanted to publish a book on the Navajo since their work in the 1930s. Twenty years later, in 1950, the two women began work again on the Navajo Reservation. However, the project took so long that the original publisher dropped it and Gilpin proceeded anyway when time and money permitted. The University of Texas Press finally published The Enduring Navaho in 1968. The book received favorable reviews from anthropologists, historians, and photographers. It covered a period of thirty years and included the topics of farming, sheepherding, weaving, sand painting, tribal politics, ceremonial dancing, county fairs, and Navaho creation myths.
She was at work on a photographic book about the Canyon de Chelly and its Navajo inhabitants when she died in Santa Fe on November 30, 1979.
Gilpin received an honorary doctorate from the University of New Mexico in 1970 and continued to work as a photographer even though crippled by arthritis. She began work in the 1970s on an ambitious project to document Canyon del Chelly. Gilpin died on 30 November 1979 at the age of 88.
Gilpin's photographic and literary archives are now housed at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.
biographical sources include askart, new mexico history.org, biography.com
Born in Austin Bluffs, Colorado (now within Colorado Springs), Gilpin grew up on her father’s ranch.
In 1903, for her twelfth birthday, Gilpin received a Kodak Brownie Camera and immediately began chronicling all her experiences with it (she later received a developing tank for Christmas). The following year she attended the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri as a guide for her mother’s friend Laura Perry, who could not see. It was Gilpin's task to describe every exhibit to her in detail. Gilpin carefully explained all the exhibits to Perry, but also took copious pictures. They visited the fair every other day for a month, and she later said "The experience taught me the kind of observation I would have never learned otherwise.”
The replication of a Philippine Igorot village fascinated Gilpin the most. She snapped photos of the Igorot villagers attempting to carry on their traditional practices amongst the tourists at the fair. Gilpin often told interviewers later in life that this early experience in St. Louis sparked her interest in native peoples.
On her first trip to the East Coast in 1905, her mother took her to New York to have her portrait taken by well-known photographer Gertrude Käsebier. Meeting Käsebier left a lasting impression on Gilpin, and they would develop a lasting friendship.
Gilpin’s mother insisted on a formal education for her daughter. From 1905 to 1910, Laura attended various private schools in the east. When family finances declined, Gilpin left school and returned to Colorado. In an attempt to support her growing interest in photography, Gilpin started a business raising turkeys at her family's ranch. She was able to use the proceeds from raising turkeys to fund trips to the East Coast to further her skills in photography.
On Käsebier’s advice, Gilpin went to New York City in 1916 to study at the Clarence H. White School of Photography (1916–18). Her studies there led her to embrace a pictorialist style that emphasized beauty and artistic creation over photography’s documentary qualities, though over time she developed a more straightforward photographic approach.
Gilpin loved the school and threw herself into her work with a passion. Gilpin learned how to make hand-coated platinum paper. Later, she bought it from a special London company. Platinum paper allowed for a rich velvety black and a wide tonal range. The process of hand-coating platinum paper, which Gilpin continued to do well into the 1970s, was considered a dying art.
"I have always loved the platinum printing process,” she said. “It's the most beautiful image one can get. It has the longest scale and one can get the greatest degree of contrast. It's not a difficult process; it just takes time."
In 1918, a serious bout of influenza ended her formal training. Her mother hired a nurse, Elizabeth Warham Forster "Betsy", to care for her. Gilpin and Forster became friends and, later, companions. They remained together, with occasional separations necessitated by available jobs, until Forster's death in 1972.
While earning her living doing portraits and advertising work, Gilpin began exploring the Southwest and making pictures of the Pueblo Indians and the ruins of their Anasazi ancestors.
Gilpin's long-term involvement with the Navajo began in 1930 when she and Forster ran out of gas twenty miles north of Chinle in a remote part of the Navajo reservation on a camping trip. They were befriended and helped by several Navajo families. This led to Forster’s invitation to return the following year to work as a visiting nurse for the New Mexico Association for Indian Affairs on the New Mexico portion of the Navajo Reservation.
Gilpin visited Forster frequently and accompanied her on her rounds. Because of her status as the nurse’s friend, she was able to photograph the inside of traditional hogans and attend Navajo ceremonials. Her pictures of families, trading posts, hogans, and ceremonies form a compassionate record of traditional Navajo life.
The Depression pinched the New Mexico Association for Indian Affairs’ ability to fund a visiting nurse and Forster lost her position.
In 1941 Gilpin published her first major book, The Pueblos: A Camera Chronicle, based on a series of lantern slides she had made of archaeological sites. During World War II (1942-1944) she worked as a public relations photographer for the Boeing Company in Wichita, Kansas, and then moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she resumed making photographic books. Temples in Yucatan: A Camera Chronicle of Chichen Itza appeared in 1948 and The Rio Grande: River of Destiny, her study of the Rio Grande and the people along its banks, came out the following year.
With the moderate success of Gilpin’s Rio Grande book, she secured another contract for a book on the Navajo. Both Gilpin and Forster had wanted to publish a book on the Navajo since their work in the 1930s. Twenty years later, in 1950, the two women began work again on the Navajo Reservation. However, the project took so long that the original publisher dropped it and Gilpin proceeded anyway when time and money permitted. The University of Texas Press finally published The Enduring Navaho in 1968. The book received favorable reviews from anthropologists, historians, and photographers. It covered a period of thirty years and included the topics of farming, sheepherding, weaving, sand painting, tribal politics, ceremonial dancing, county fairs, and Navaho creation myths.
She was at work on a photographic book about the Canyon de Chelly and its Navajo inhabitants when she died in Santa Fe on November 30, 1979.
Gilpin received an honorary doctorate from the University of New Mexico in 1970 and continued to work as a photographer even though crippled by arthritis. She began work in the 1970s on an ambitious project to document Canyon del Chelly. Gilpin died on 30 November 1979 at the age of 88.
Gilpin's photographic and literary archives are now housed at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.
biographical sources include askart, new mexico history.org, biography.com
Lloyd Lozes Goff Lloyd Lozes Goff was born in Texas, but spilt his artistic career between New Mexico and New York. A member of the Art Students League and an WPA artist, he was a muralist as well as a Modernist painter. His works were exhibited at the Carnegie Institute, the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Academy of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the 1939 World's Fair in New York, San Francisco Art Association, the Museum of New Mexico, and the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts.
Betty Gold Artist Statement
“My inspiration comes from many directions, experiences and channels, but my work always begins with the simple act of folding paper. I create a flat, rectangular structure, deconstruct the parts and reassemble them into the whole, then create a set of drawings and geometric models based on the linear geometry of rotating movement.”
"From a basic set of shapes, I design several different models - or maquettes – then build them in steel and choose which piece integrates best into the commissioned landscape. The maquette also provides the visual and architectural reference needed to scale the work to its monumental dimensions. I still continue to personally oversee construction and site preparation for each of my installations to ensure the rigid-quality standards I’ve upheld throughout my 45-year career as a professional artist.”
“My continuing goal is to create art that brings a sense of joy and imaginative flight to those who engage with it, and that will endure long into the future. I also hope to motivate, represent, and inspire more women sculptors to assert themselves into the competitive art market, where they’ve yet to become dominant members.”
- Betty Gold
Betty Gold, who opened her Santa Fe studio in 2010, is an established, internationally known professional artist who has shown in over one hundred thirty solo and group exhibitions in her career and who currently has work in more than seventy-five permanent collections around the world.
A Year with Betty Gold, is an independent, full length feature film directed and produced by Professor J. McMerty of Elon University.
Along with several Artist in Residencies and dozens of lectures both here and abroad, in 2014 Betty received the degree of Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, presented to her by the President of Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia.
Also in 2014, she was the second woman ever to be awarded XAM’s Artist of the Year in Mallorca, Spain, where in 2005 she was honored with a Retrospective hosted by the City of Palma.
In 2002, the United States Embassy to Slovakia gifted her monumental sculpture, “Tiron IV”, to the City of Bratislava’s Presidential Garden.
Betty was born 1935 in Austin, Texas, and has lived in Mexico City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Aspen, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Venice, CA, and now has a home in Santa Fe.
She’s experienced in bronze casting, aluminum casting, painting, wood carving, silk screening, photography, welding, arc welding, marble and stone carving, terracotta, and mosaic tiling, but she’s predominantly a sculptor and most of her work ranges from 2’ indoor bronzes and enameled steel to monumental outdoor Corten steel pieces measuring up to 28’ high.
Her art has maintained a consistent style and design throughout the years and remains easily recognizable even as her aesthetic continues to evolve.
Betty has traveled to over eighty countries and has placed work in museums, universities, public parks, hotels, outdoor malls, government offices, recreational complexes, community and civic centers, public buildings, research facilities, private collections, and along public highways and roundabouts, both domestic and internationally.
She has lived in and worked out of her Venice, CA, studio for more than thirty years, and kept a second studio in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, for ten of those years. She’s recently moved back from Spain and divides her time between California and New Mexico.
“My inspiration comes from many directions, experiences and channels, but my work always begins with the simple act of folding paper. I create a flat, rectangular structure, deconstruct the parts and reassemble them into the whole, then create a set of drawings and geometric models based on the linear geometry of rotating movement.”
"From a basic set of shapes, I design several different models - or maquettes – then build them in steel and choose which piece integrates best into the commissioned landscape. The maquette also provides the visual and architectural reference needed to scale the work to its monumental dimensions. I still continue to personally oversee construction and site preparation for each of my installations to ensure the rigid-quality standards I’ve upheld throughout my 45-year career as a professional artist.”
“My continuing goal is to create art that brings a sense of joy and imaginative flight to those who engage with it, and that will endure long into the future. I also hope to motivate, represent, and inspire more women sculptors to assert themselves into the competitive art market, where they’ve yet to become dominant members.”
- Betty Gold
Betty Gold, who opened her Santa Fe studio in 2010, is an established, internationally known professional artist who has shown in over one hundred thirty solo and group exhibitions in her career and who currently has work in more than seventy-five permanent collections around the world.
A Year with Betty Gold, is an independent, full length feature film directed and produced by Professor J. McMerty of Elon University.
Along with several Artist in Residencies and dozens of lectures both here and abroad, in 2014 Betty received the degree of Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, presented to her by the President of Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia.
Also in 2014, she was the second woman ever to be awarded XAM’s Artist of the Year in Mallorca, Spain, where in 2005 she was honored with a Retrospective hosted by the City of Palma.
In 2002, the United States Embassy to Slovakia gifted her monumental sculpture, “Tiron IV”, to the City of Bratislava’s Presidential Garden.
Betty was born 1935 in Austin, Texas, and has lived in Mexico City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Aspen, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Venice, CA, and now has a home in Santa Fe.
She’s experienced in bronze casting, aluminum casting, painting, wood carving, silk screening, photography, welding, arc welding, marble and stone carving, terracotta, and mosaic tiling, but she’s predominantly a sculptor and most of her work ranges from 2’ indoor bronzes and enameled steel to monumental outdoor Corten steel pieces measuring up to 28’ high.
Her art has maintained a consistent style and design throughout the years and remains easily recognizable even as her aesthetic continues to evolve.
Betty has traveled to over eighty countries and has placed work in museums, universities, public parks, hotels, outdoor malls, government offices, recreational complexes, community and civic centers, public buildings, research facilities, private collections, and along public highways and roundabouts, both domestic and internationally.
She has lived in and worked out of her Venice, CA, studio for more than thirty years, and kept a second studio in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, for ten of those years. She’s recently moved back from Spain and divides her time between California and New Mexico.
Michael Goldberg Michael Goldberg, a second generation Abstract Expressionist painter known for his action-packed, gestural canvases, went through several phases that included monochromatic works of red and then black, bands of white on black, caligraphic images and bright bands of color hinting of architectural forms. Ever aligned with Abstract Expressionism which he described in 2001 as "still the primary visual challenge of our time", he later shrugged off the designation saying "labels come and go". (Glueck)
He was also an art educator who taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1961 to 1962; Yale University in 1967; and the University of Minnesota in 1968. He and his artist wife, Lynn Umlauf, both taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York city.
Goldberg was born in 1924 in the Bronx of New York City. His studies at the Art Students League, 1938-1942, were interrupted by World War II where he served as a paratrooper in North Africa and Burma, making eighty jumps behind Japanese lines.
Returning to New York, he studied with Jose de Creeft and Hans Hofmann, and Hoffman remained a strong influence. He was also influenced by Roberto Matta and Arshile Gorky, but it was Willem de Kooning, and his use of fiery brush-work and explosive color, who would prove to be Goldberg's greatest influence. Beginning 1980, he spent five months of each year in Tuscany, Italy on an estate near Siena. In his studio there, he created many of his signature paintings done with oil sticks pressed directly onto canvas. He described these as quasi grids, "patchy squares of color intersected at random by strong diagonals." (Glueck)
Goldberg participated in the dealer Leo Castelli’s ground- breaking Ninth Street Show in 1951, which included works by Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Motherwell; “he seemed to embody the attitudes shared by the artists of that group,” said Richard Kalina of Goldberg (“Michael Goldberg 1924–2007.” Art in America, March 2008). Two years later Goldberg received his first solo show at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery. In 1955, Goldberg befriended fellow Abstract Expressionist painter Norman Bluhm, which proved to be a fateful meeting. In 1956, Bluhm brought art collector Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to Goldberg’s studio, and Chrysler purchased 17 of his paintings. With new interest in his work, Goldberg caught the eye of art dealer Martha Jackson and was soon represented by her gallery.
He was also an art educator who taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1961 to 1962; Yale University in 1967; and the University of Minnesota in 1968. He and his artist wife, Lynn Umlauf, both taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York city.
Goldberg was born in 1924 in the Bronx of New York City. His studies at the Art Students League, 1938-1942, were interrupted by World War II where he served as a paratrooper in North Africa and Burma, making eighty jumps behind Japanese lines.
Returning to New York, he studied with Jose de Creeft and Hans Hofmann, and Hoffman remained a strong influence. He was also influenced by Roberto Matta and Arshile Gorky, but it was Willem de Kooning, and his use of fiery brush-work and explosive color, who would prove to be Goldberg's greatest influence. Beginning 1980, he spent five months of each year in Tuscany, Italy on an estate near Siena. In his studio there, he created many of his signature paintings done with oil sticks pressed directly onto canvas. He described these as quasi grids, "patchy squares of color intersected at random by strong diagonals." (Glueck)
Goldberg participated in the dealer Leo Castelli’s ground- breaking Ninth Street Show in 1951, which included works by Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Motherwell; “he seemed to embody the attitudes shared by the artists of that group,” said Richard Kalina of Goldberg (“Michael Goldberg 1924–2007.” Art in America, March 2008). Two years later Goldberg received his first solo show at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery. In 1955, Goldberg befriended fellow Abstract Expressionist painter Norman Bluhm, which proved to be a fateful meeting. In 1956, Bluhm brought art collector Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to Goldberg’s studio, and Chrysler purchased 17 of his paintings. With new interest in his work, Goldberg caught the eye of art dealer Martha Jackson and was soon represented by her gallery.
Julia Gomez Julia Gomez began learning colcha (the Spanish Colonial style of embroidery) about 40 years ago. She later immersed herself in the entire process - from shearing the sheep to dyeing the wool— when she began volunteering at El Rancho de las Golondrinas (a living history museum dedicated to 18th- and 19th-century culture) in 2000.
She weaves her own backing, and spins and dyes her own wool.
Julia has participated in Spanish Market for over eighteen years, winning Best of Show in 2010. Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts. She has showcased her colcha embroidery as far away as China, where in 2015 she received an Honorary Credential and Master Artist Recognition. Gomez has showcased her colcha embroidery on multiple occasions in China at the Belt and Road International Forum for Cultural Heritage Cooperation and Exchange and Handcrafts Fair, where in 2015 she received an Honorary Credential and Master Artist Recognition.
Sources: New Mexico Fiber Arts Directory; New Mexico.org; Santa Fe New Mexican
She weaves her own backing, and spins and dyes her own wool.
Julia has participated in Spanish Market for over eighteen years, winning Best of Show in 2010. Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts. She has showcased her colcha embroidery as far away as China, where in 2015 she received an Honorary Credential and Master Artist Recognition. Gomez has showcased her colcha embroidery on multiple occasions in China at the Belt and Road International Forum for Cultural Heritage Cooperation and Exchange and Handcrafts Fair, where in 2015 she received an Honorary Credential and Master Artist Recognition.
Sources: New Mexico Fiber Arts Directory; New Mexico.org; Santa Fe New Mexican
Robert Goodnough Robert Goodnough was an American painter known for his calligraphy like mark making. Though he was associated with the Abstract Expressionists, Goodnough’s work varied in style and often eluded categorization. “I like to work freely, to slash with the brush and let loose, I also like to work carefully and with discipline,” he once explained.
Born on October 23, 1917 in Cortland, NY, Goodnough graduated from Syracuse University, and painted in a representational style early on in his career. After serving in the military during World War II, he attended the painting classes of both Amédée Ozenfant and Hans Hofmann. The artist went on to receive his MA from New York University, and soon after fell into a milieu of artists and writers that included Willem de Kooning and Helen Frankethaler. He taught at Cornell University, New York University and the Fieldston School in New York City. He was a contributing writer for Art News from 1950-1957. He exhibited his work both in the United States and abroad. Goodnough died on October 2, 2010 in White Plains, NY at the age of 92.
His works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Baltimore Museum of Art; Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama; Newark Museum, New Jersey; and the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence.
Born on October 23, 1917 in Cortland, NY, Goodnough graduated from Syracuse University, and painted in a representational style early on in his career. After serving in the military during World War II, he attended the painting classes of both Amédée Ozenfant and Hans Hofmann. The artist went on to receive his MA from New York University, and soon after fell into a milieu of artists and writers that included Willem de Kooning and Helen Frankethaler. He taught at Cornell University, New York University and the Fieldston School in New York City. He was a contributing writer for Art News from 1950-1957. He exhibited his work both in the United States and abroad. Goodnough died on October 2, 2010 in White Plains, NY at the age of 92.
His works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Baltimore Museum of Art; Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama; Newark Museum, New Jersey; and the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence.
Adolph Gottlieb Adolph Gottlieb was born in New York City in 1903, the first of 3 children of Emil and Elsie (Berger) Gottlieb. He attended public schools in New York however left high school to work his way to Europe at the age of 17, when he resolved to be an artist. Gottlieb lived in Paris for six months where he visited The Louvre Museum daily and audited sketch classes at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, then spent another year visiting museums and galleries in Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Dresden, among other major European cities. He returned to New York in 1924.
Gottlieb attended classes at The Art Students League, Educational Alliance, and other local schools where he met early friends including Mark Rothko, John Graham, Milton Avery, and Chaim Gross. Barnett Newman was another early and close friend.
Gottlieb valued the artist’s role as a leader and creator, and he served as both with his art and his organizing abilities. He was a founding member of artist’s groups as early as The Ten in 1935, and helped organize the Federation of American Painters and Sculptors (1939) and New York Artist-Painters (1943); was instrumental in organizing the Forum 49 sessions in Provincetown and New York City and was the primary organizer of the protest that led to the naming of he and his friends as “The Irascibles” in 1951.
Gottlieb had his first solo exhibition in 1930 and was the first of his colleagues to be collected by a major museum when the Guggenheim Museum purchased eleven works in 1945 and the Museum of Modern Art purchased a painting in 1946.
His art was the subject of 34 solo exhibitions in his lifetime, including a retrospective exhibition jointly organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York that filled both museums concurrently in 1968. He was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, among which he was the first American to win the Gran Premio at the Bienal do São Paulo in 1963.
Adolph Gottlieb died in New York City in 1974. He left a legacy of art, active involvement in the art and progressive movements of his time, and a foundation that extends his legacy of giving to individual artists and promoting their interests.
Gottlieb attended classes at The Art Students League, Educational Alliance, and other local schools where he met early friends including Mark Rothko, John Graham, Milton Avery, and Chaim Gross. Barnett Newman was another early and close friend.
Gottlieb valued the artist’s role as a leader and creator, and he served as both with his art and his organizing abilities. He was a founding member of artist’s groups as early as The Ten in 1935, and helped organize the Federation of American Painters and Sculptors (1939) and New York Artist-Painters (1943); was instrumental in organizing the Forum 49 sessions in Provincetown and New York City and was the primary organizer of the protest that led to the naming of he and his friends as “The Irascibles” in 1951.
Gottlieb had his first solo exhibition in 1930 and was the first of his colleagues to be collected by a major museum when the Guggenheim Museum purchased eleven works in 1945 and the Museum of Modern Art purchased a painting in 1946.
His art was the subject of 34 solo exhibitions in his lifetime, including a retrospective exhibition jointly organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York that filled both museums concurrently in 1968. He was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, among which he was the first American to win the Gran Premio at the Bienal do São Paulo in 1963.
Adolph Gottlieb died in New York City in 1974. He left a legacy of art, active involvement in the art and progressive movements of his time, and a foundation that extends his legacy of giving to individual artists and promoting their interests.
Morris Graves Morris Graves was a Modern American painter and member of the Northwest School of Visionary Art. He created coded, colorful paintings exploring the spiritual bond he shared with the land and culture of the Pacific Northwest, his birthplace and home. Lauded by critics as a type of modern-day mysticism or “visionary art,” Graves' canvases and works on paper often featured bold depictions of local flora and fauna, contrasted by natural, recognizable forms inspired by the artist’s personal relationship to spirituality. “I paint to rest from the phenomena of the external world—to pronounce it—and to make notations of its essences with which to verify the inner eye,” he once wrote. Born on August 28, 1910 in Fox Valley, OR, Graves was a self-taught artist and lifetime traveler, spending much of his time in Asia and absorbing ideas and iconography related to Zen Buddhism. After receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship for study in Japan in 1947, his passage was blocked in Hawaii due to World War II. Graves died on May 5, 2001 in Loleta, CA, considered as one of the Pacific Northwest's most recognized artists, with a prosperous lifetime of art held in collections such as those of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Elliott Green Elliott Green was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1960. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied World literature and Art history. He moved to New York City in 1981 and has been making paintings ever since.
After spending a year in Rome in 2012, his work developed a new sense of space and landscape, characterized by panoramic, far-reaching vistas, and geophysical features like mountains, reservoirs and skies that seem to melt impossibly into pure gesture. In his recent work, the conventions of landscape are upended to produce a visual experience of equal parts gestural energy, emotion, memory, and metaphor.
The poet Jana Prikryl notes, “Elliott Green’s paintings appear to be in continuous motion, the way animals, plants, and ultimately rocks and mountains are in continuous motion, even when our human vision fails to apprehend it. Placing great thick gestures of paint amid minute intricacies and vice versa, his compositions demonstrate the movement of the universe on both the macro and the micro scales.”
Elliott Green has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Jules Guerin Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Residency, a The Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant, a residency at the BAU Institute, Cassis, France, a MacDowell Colony Residency, and three residencies at Yaddo.
After spending a year in Rome in 2012, his work developed a new sense of space and landscape, characterized by panoramic, far-reaching vistas, and geophysical features like mountains, reservoirs and skies that seem to melt impossibly into pure gesture. In his recent work, the conventions of landscape are upended to produce a visual experience of equal parts gestural energy, emotion, memory, and metaphor.
The poet Jana Prikryl notes, “Elliott Green’s paintings appear to be in continuous motion, the way animals, plants, and ultimately rocks and mountains are in continuous motion, even when our human vision fails to apprehend it. Placing great thick gestures of paint amid minute intricacies and vice versa, his compositions demonstrate the movement of the universe on both the macro and the micro scales.”
Elliott Green has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Jules Guerin Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Residency, a The Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant, a residency at the BAU Institute, Cassis, France, a MacDowell Colony Residency, and three residencies at Yaddo.
Holly Hagan Holly Hagan was born in Portland, Oregon in 1967 and from a very young age, she was drawing and seeing the world in shapes.
Hagan applied her love of shape and drawing throughout her education, and in 1989 graduated magna cum laude from the University of Oregon with a degree in fine art.
Holly began her career working in realism, focusing both on the figure and on wildlife landscapes. During this time, she developed a comprehensive understanding of structure and foundation, and spent endless hours finding the planes of the form. Her medium was wax - based colored pencil, and she would build up layers of wax, often completing only one to two square inches a day. While this early period still informs her work, she reached a point where re-creating the surface of an image or scene began to feel sterile.
After a 1995 visit to Santa Fe, she began painting with acrylics and her work took on a primitive contemporary approach, reinforced by her study of ancient art history. During this formative period – she describes these years as an “awakening” - she began creating works which took the viewer beyond the surface of the image to the radiance within the image.
Over the last decade, Holly has merged her early focus on structure and planes with her intuitive painting process to create works of a unique and definitive style. Her art interconnects the mystery and light of the natural landscape, capturing that place where the veil between here and there feels a little thinner. She utilizes extensive fracturing, not to show separation, but to reveal interconnection.
Currently her vision explores the human connection to the natural world, both seen and unseen, as she seeks to capture the genius loci, or spirit of place.
Holly’s paintings have been represented regionally in numerous exhibitions.
Holly has called Durango, Colorado home since 1997. When not painting, she can be found exploring the mountains and canyon country surrounding her home.
Holly describes her process:
"My process begins by having an experience in the natural environment, which causes a flurry of inspiration. It’s usually not the big epic vista, but something which captures my attention in a different, more energy-focused way.
I often complete a loose sketch or two, which is not for foundational purposes, but to remind me of the spirit of the place. I also take a number of photos while I’m on location. Then when I am back in my studio, I hand draw my vision onto the canvas using a watercolor pencil. Depending on the painting, the drawing can be loose or pretty tight.
When that is done, I lay in an underpainting of sienna or sienna/yellow ochre. This is a transparent layer, much like a watercolor. The next step is to lay in a base of color, also transparent. Once that is complete, any photographic reference material or sketching is put away and I begin going for it.
I just feel my way through the painting. I build up approximately 4-5 thin layers of paint, to get the finished color for each shape. No two shapes are exactly the same color, which I hope gives the painting a luminosity you couldn’t get otherwise.
I’m not formulaic in my approach. Each painting is fresh for me, and there exists an element of play. Sometimes I will work with a fixed color palette, and other times I will work mixing each color for each layer on a shape as I go. It just depends.
Often when a painting is done, I’m not sure how it happened; I just open myself up and allow it to flow. Also, I will stick with it until it is working for me. I find the sweet spot with some help from somewhere."
EXHIBITIONS
2020 Fractured Landscape: Through Color, Light, Shape, Denver Art Museum, Featured Artist, Demonstrating Artist Program
2019 Bellingham National Juried Art Exhibition @ Whatcom Museum, (Juror, Bruce Guenther), Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Washington
2019 Fragmented, Linus Galleries, Juried Online Exhibition, California
2018 Gateway to Imagination National Juried Exhibition, (Juror, Alex Gregory), Farmington Museum, Farmington, New Mexico
2018 Taos Art Insurgency: The New Protagonists, Juried Exhibition, Three Gallery Show: Greg Moon Art, David Anthony Fine Art, Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, Taos, New Mexico
2017 Miramonte, Private Residence, Colorado
2015-2016 Through the Veil, Solo Exhibition, Delaney Library, Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado
2016 The Star Bright Factory, Solo Exhibition, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colorado 2015 Durango Art Center Juried Show, Group Exhibition, Durango Art Center, Durango, Colorado
2014 Durango Art Center Juried Show, Group Exhibition, Durango Art Center, Durango, Colorado
2011-2013 Diane West Gallery, Group Exhibition, Durango, Colorado
PRINT
2020 Hively, Zach: “Shaking her Monet-maker”, The Durango Telegraph, Vol. XIX, January 2020, p.16
2019 There’s Always Something, Walt Dear, Cover art,September 2019; Salann Magazine. March 2019. Print.
2016 Cary, Jaime: “’The Star Bright Factory’: Charming, lyrical and rhythmic”, The Durango Herald, January 2016
2016 The Star Bright Factory, Illustration, Pie in the Sky Publishing 2016
AWARDS
2018 Director’s Choice Award, Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM
2016 CIPA EVVY Awards, First Place, Children’s Book Illustration, Star Bright Factory
Hagan applied her love of shape and drawing throughout her education, and in 1989 graduated magna cum laude from the University of Oregon with a degree in fine art.
Holly began her career working in realism, focusing both on the figure and on wildlife landscapes. During this time, she developed a comprehensive understanding of structure and foundation, and spent endless hours finding the planes of the form. Her medium was wax - based colored pencil, and she would build up layers of wax, often completing only one to two square inches a day. While this early period still informs her work, she reached a point where re-creating the surface of an image or scene began to feel sterile.
After a 1995 visit to Santa Fe, she began painting with acrylics and her work took on a primitive contemporary approach, reinforced by her study of ancient art history. During this formative period – she describes these years as an “awakening” - she began creating works which took the viewer beyond the surface of the image to the radiance within the image.
Over the last decade, Holly has merged her early focus on structure and planes with her intuitive painting process to create works of a unique and definitive style. Her art interconnects the mystery and light of the natural landscape, capturing that place where the veil between here and there feels a little thinner. She utilizes extensive fracturing, not to show separation, but to reveal interconnection.
Currently her vision explores the human connection to the natural world, both seen and unseen, as she seeks to capture the genius loci, or spirit of place.
Holly’s paintings have been represented regionally in numerous exhibitions.
Holly has called Durango, Colorado home since 1997. When not painting, she can be found exploring the mountains and canyon country surrounding her home.
Holly describes her process:
"My process begins by having an experience in the natural environment, which causes a flurry of inspiration. It’s usually not the big epic vista, but something which captures my attention in a different, more energy-focused way.
I often complete a loose sketch or two, which is not for foundational purposes, but to remind me of the spirit of the place. I also take a number of photos while I’m on location. Then when I am back in my studio, I hand draw my vision onto the canvas using a watercolor pencil. Depending on the painting, the drawing can be loose or pretty tight.
When that is done, I lay in an underpainting of sienna or sienna/yellow ochre. This is a transparent layer, much like a watercolor. The next step is to lay in a base of color, also transparent. Once that is complete, any photographic reference material or sketching is put away and I begin going for it.
I just feel my way through the painting. I build up approximately 4-5 thin layers of paint, to get the finished color for each shape. No two shapes are exactly the same color, which I hope gives the painting a luminosity you couldn’t get otherwise.
I’m not formulaic in my approach. Each painting is fresh for me, and there exists an element of play. Sometimes I will work with a fixed color palette, and other times I will work mixing each color for each layer on a shape as I go. It just depends.
Often when a painting is done, I’m not sure how it happened; I just open myself up and allow it to flow. Also, I will stick with it until it is working for me. I find the sweet spot with some help from somewhere."
EXHIBITIONS
2020 Fractured Landscape: Through Color, Light, Shape, Denver Art Museum, Featured Artist, Demonstrating Artist Program
2019 Bellingham National Juried Art Exhibition @ Whatcom Museum, (Juror, Bruce Guenther), Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Washington
2019 Fragmented, Linus Galleries, Juried Online Exhibition, California
2018 Gateway to Imagination National Juried Exhibition, (Juror, Alex Gregory), Farmington Museum, Farmington, New Mexico
2018 Taos Art Insurgency: The New Protagonists, Juried Exhibition, Three Gallery Show: Greg Moon Art, David Anthony Fine Art, Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, Taos, New Mexico
2017 Miramonte, Private Residence, Colorado
2015-2016 Through the Veil, Solo Exhibition, Delaney Library, Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado
2016 The Star Bright Factory, Solo Exhibition, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colorado 2015 Durango Art Center Juried Show, Group Exhibition, Durango Art Center, Durango, Colorado
2014 Durango Art Center Juried Show, Group Exhibition, Durango Art Center, Durango, Colorado
2011-2013 Diane West Gallery, Group Exhibition, Durango, Colorado
2020 Hively, Zach: “Shaking her Monet-maker”, The Durango Telegraph, Vol. XIX, January 2020, p.16
2019 There’s Always Something, Walt Dear, Cover art,September 2019; Salann Magazine. March 2019. Print.
2016 Cary, Jaime: “’The Star Bright Factory’: Charming, lyrical and rhythmic”, The Durango Herald, January 2016
2016 The Star Bright Factory, Illustration, Pie in the Sky Publishing 2016
AWARDS
2018 Director’s Choice Award, Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM
2016 CIPA EVVY Awards, First Place, Children’s Book Illustration, Star Bright Factory
Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter was a British painter and printmaker associated with Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. He was notably the founder of one of the most influential print shops in the 20th-century, Atelier 17, which worked with Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and others. “The way we work, there is no sort of professor and student deal going on here,” he once said of his methods. “I have always had the theory since I started this thing that if you are going to get anything done about this craft it is going to take a lot of people to do it and you have got to work with them.”
Born on December 27, 1901 in Hackney, United Kingdom, he studied chemistry and geology at King’s College in London before working in Iran for the Anglo-Persian oil company. Moving to Paris in 1926, he briefly enrolled at the Académie Julian before befriending the Polish-born artist Joseph Hecht, who taught him engraving techniques. A year later, he opened Atelier 17, Hayter’s background in chemistry led him to treat printmaking as a science, and he experimented with a number of techniques, including viscosity printing, gaufrage, and soft-ground etching. Hayter fled Europe in 1939 due to World War II, establishing another print shop in New York where he continued to work until returning to Paris in 1950.
The artist died on May 4, 1988 in Paris, France. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.
Born on December 27, 1901 in Hackney, United Kingdom, he studied chemistry and geology at King’s College in London before working in Iran for the Anglo-Persian oil company. Moving to Paris in 1926, he briefly enrolled at the Académie Julian before befriending the Polish-born artist Joseph Hecht, who taught him engraving techniques. A year later, he opened Atelier 17, Hayter’s background in chemistry led him to treat printmaking as a science, and he experimented with a number of techniques, including viscosity printing, gaufrage, and soft-ground etching. Hayter fled Europe in 1939 due to World War II, establishing another print shop in New York where he continued to work until returning to Paris in 1950.
The artist died on May 4, 1988 in Paris, France. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.
Hilaire Hiler Throughout his career, Hilaire Hiler was fascinated by color, design, and abstraction. His early work – from his time in Paris in the 1920's – was primitivistic and semi-abstract in style. In the 1930's, he experimented with Native American themes, though his work became increasingly abstract over time. By the 1940's, he was moving into the style of work for which he is best-known, a style which Hiler termed “Structuralism.” Hiler’s theory of Structuralism embodied a kind of “scientific analysis of color-form," as it was described by the art critic and theorist Waldemar George.
James Hilleary Born in 1924, James Hilleary was a native of Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Despite his vocation as a practicing architect he had a sixty-plus year career as an artist. He studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, receiving his degree in 1950. Best known for his paintings in oil and acrylic, he produced an extensive body of works on paper as well as sculptures in plexiglass. Hilleary lived and worked in Bethesda, Maryland.
The influence of Hilleary’s father, who was both an amateur artist and musician, played a significant role in his early life and in his youth he gave serious thought to becoming a professional pianist. An interest in architecture eventually came to the fore but Hilleary’s education was interrupted by the advent of World War II and three years of service in the army. Following the war he returned to his architectural studies and eventually established his own practice. The possibility of a career as an artist was never a serious consideration.
Architecture and art are closely related disciplines and Hilleary never lost his early interest in drawing and painting. His father had studied painting with C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Collection and the art that Hilleary had been exposed to at that venerable institution left a lasting impression. Always interested in the artists of his day, Hilleary had aspirations to become a serious collector but lacked the finances to acquire work by the painters whose work he admired. Much in the manner of the academic model of an earlier era, he began to emulate their work in his own studio, steadily developing his confidence and technique. Hilleary’s efforts were rewarded when he realized that he had executed a painting of genuine originality. Inspired by this breakthrough he decided to dedicate himself to the development of his personal style.
Hilleary recalled that “Living in the suburbs and busy supporting a family, I was somewhat isolated from the city [Washington, D.C.] art scene and was completely unaware of the art school that Leonard Berkowitz and his first wife founded as a gathering place for emerging artists. I am sure that attending the school would have hastened by development.”
Dispiriting though such isolation may be, it likely worked to Hilleary’s eventual benefit. In 1960 his paintings came to the attention of Adelyn Breskin, Director of the Baltimore Art Museum, who pointed out that Hilleary’s independent development paralleled that of the group that became to be known as the Washington Color School. Following on the heels of the New York-based Abstract Expressionist movement, in the late 1950s the Washington Color School artists were beginning to dominate the local art scene and to gain significant national recognition. Hilleary began to make contact with various artists of the Color School, several of whom (Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, and Howard Mehring among them) were represented at the Henri Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1967 the gallery relocated to 21st Street in Washington, near the Phillips Collection, and Hilleary became the architect for the renovation of the building. He had his first solo exhibition at the Henri in 1968, thusly launching what Hilleary referred to “an unplanned and unexpected second career.”
Hilleary exhibited his work steadily after that time, and in 2003 an forty-year retrospective of his work was presented at the Edison Place Gallery in Washington, D.C. Acknowledging the artist’s early musical aspirations, Donald Kuspit wrote of that exhibition, “Hilleary’s abstract paintings have their sophisticated place in its [“musical abstraction’s”] history. Indeed, they civilize the primitive musical painting with which 20th century abstraction began, making it harmonious with no loss of drama. Inner conflict is unresolved in Kandinsky’s visual music—from the beginning, abstract painting was an emotional breathing space in an everyday world which had none—but Hilleary’s visual music resolves it in the act of revealing it, which is why music is said to be healing.”
The influence of Hilleary’s father, who was both an amateur artist and musician, played a significant role in his early life and in his youth he gave serious thought to becoming a professional pianist. An interest in architecture eventually came to the fore but Hilleary’s education was interrupted by the advent of World War II and three years of service in the army. Following the war he returned to his architectural studies and eventually established his own practice. The possibility of a career as an artist was never a serious consideration.
Architecture and art are closely related disciplines and Hilleary never lost his early interest in drawing and painting. His father had studied painting with C. Law Watkins at the Phillips Collection and the art that Hilleary had been exposed to at that venerable institution left a lasting impression. Always interested in the artists of his day, Hilleary had aspirations to become a serious collector but lacked the finances to acquire work by the painters whose work he admired. Much in the manner of the academic model of an earlier era, he began to emulate their work in his own studio, steadily developing his confidence and technique. Hilleary’s efforts were rewarded when he realized that he had executed a painting of genuine originality. Inspired by this breakthrough he decided to dedicate himself to the development of his personal style.
Hilleary recalled that “Living in the suburbs and busy supporting a family, I was somewhat isolated from the city [Washington, D.C.] art scene and was completely unaware of the art school that Leonard Berkowitz and his first wife founded as a gathering place for emerging artists. I am sure that attending the school would have hastened by development.”
Dispiriting though such isolation may be, it likely worked to Hilleary’s eventual benefit. In 1960 his paintings came to the attention of Adelyn Breskin, Director of the Baltimore Art Museum, who pointed out that Hilleary’s independent development paralleled that of the group that became to be known as the Washington Color School. Following on the heels of the New York-based Abstract Expressionist movement, in the late 1950s the Washington Color School artists were beginning to dominate the local art scene and to gain significant national recognition. Hilleary began to make contact with various artists of the Color School, several of whom (Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, and Howard Mehring among them) were represented at the Henri Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1967 the gallery relocated to 21st Street in Washington, near the Phillips Collection, and Hilleary became the architect for the renovation of the building. He had his first solo exhibition at the Henri in 1968, thusly launching what Hilleary referred to “an unplanned and unexpected second career.”
Hilleary exhibited his work steadily after that time, and in 2003 an forty-year retrospective of his work was presented at the Edison Place Gallery in Washington, D.C. Acknowledging the artist’s early musical aspirations, Donald Kuspit wrote of that exhibition, “Hilleary’s abstract paintings have their sophisticated place in its [“musical abstraction’s”] history. Indeed, they civilize the primitive musical painting with which 20th century abstraction began, making it harmonious with no loss of drama. Inner conflict is unresolved in Kandinsky’s visual music—from the beginning, abstract painting was an emotional breathing space in an everyday world which had none—but Hilleary’s visual music resolves it in the act of revealing it, which is why music is said to be healing.”
Charles Hinman Charles Hinman, known for his shaped-canvas sculpture, was born in Syracuse, New York on December 29, 1932. He attended art classes at Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts (now Everson Museum of Art) and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University in 1955. He was a professional baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves while pursuing his BFA. From 1955 to 1966, he studied at the Art Students League; then served in the United States Army from 1956 to 1958.
Hinman lived in New York City and held various part-time jobs while he continued to paint. Charles Hinman taught painting and engineering drawing at Staten Island Academy, New York from 1960 to 1962, and was the shop instructor at Woodmere Academy on Long Island from 1962 to 1964. In these two positions, he developed carpentry and engineering skills that gave him the ability to construct his own shaped canvases with complex three-dimensional curves.
In 1963, while seeking an independent path, he created his first shaped canvases in his studio on the Bowery, where Will Insley, who was also working on shaped canvases, and Robert Indiana had studios, as well.
Hinman first received critical attention in the exhibition 7 New Artisits at the Sidney Janis Gallery in May 1964 where he exhibited flat canvases cut at angles and suspended by cords. The other artists in the exhibition were: Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Norman Ives, Robert Slutsky, Robert Whitman, and Arakawa.
Hinman went on to add the third dimension to his shaped canvases while examining the subtle boundary between the picture plane and the space in front of it, as well as playing with the idea of literal versus illusionistic depth.
Usually Hinman begins his work by building charcoal drawings of volumetric shapes. Out of the series of drawings, he will select one drawing and turn it into “shop drawings” to determine how the organic shape can be turned into a constructed form with intricate shape stretchers supporting it. While building the armature, he addresses the level of three-dimensionality of the work. Once the work has been stretched with canvas and given a ground, he then determines colors, often creating more sketches and repainting areas several times.
In the 1960’s, Hinman used bright colors in his work adding an almost Pop aesthetic to his canvases, such as Poltergeist, 1964, which is in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He said he was then using color as if he were painting a hot rod. In 1975, Hinman began an all-white series of paintings. Returning to color in the late 1970’s, Hinman treated color as spatial indicators with each color representing a different canvas unit; each color having a separate stretcher underneath it. With a more muted palette of grays, silvers, and tans, the artist attained subtle interactions of color shapes interlocking with each other in space within a rhythmic order.
Hinman’s first solo exhibition was at the Feigen Gallery in New York in Nov.-Dec.1964, quickly followed by exhibitions with Feigen in 1965 at both his New York and Chicago galleries. Out of the 1964 show, the Museum of Modern Art, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and Nelson Rockefeller purchased works. In 1965, Hinman was one of four Americans invited to exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Nagaoka, Japan where Hinman shared first prize with the Japanese artist Jiro Takamatsu. More solo and group exhibitions followed with Feigen through 1969 and then Hinman signed on with the Paris dealer Denise Rene, having solo exhibitions at Galerie Denise Rene in Paris in 1971 and then in her New York gallery in 1972, 1973 and 1975.
Hinman has visited Japan, Thailand, India, Iran, Greece, Italy, France and England. He served as artist-in-Residence, Aspen, Colorado in 1966. Hinman has taught at Cornell University and at Syracuse University. He has also held teaching positions at Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, the Cooper Union, Princeton University, University of Georgia campuses in Athens, Georgia and Cortona, Italy, and other distinguished institutions. Presently, he is teaching at the Art Students League of New York. In 1989, Hinman’s work traveled to Russia for an exhibition organized by Donald Kuspit titled Painting Beyond the Death of Painting at the Kuznetsky Most Exhibition Hall in Moscow. Hinman has credited Russian Supremacists as having a strong influence on his work.
Museum collections with Charles Hinman’s work include: the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; the Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; the Denver Art Museum, CO; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the Nagaoke Museum in Japan; the Louisiana Museum in Denmark; the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel; and the Pfalzgalerie Museum in Germany, among others.
Hinman lived in New York City and held various part-time jobs while he continued to paint. Charles Hinman taught painting and engineering drawing at Staten Island Academy, New York from 1960 to 1962, and was the shop instructor at Woodmere Academy on Long Island from 1962 to 1964. In these two positions, he developed carpentry and engineering skills that gave him the ability to construct his own shaped canvases with complex three-dimensional curves.
In 1963, while seeking an independent path, he created his first shaped canvases in his studio on the Bowery, where Will Insley, who was also working on shaped canvases, and Robert Indiana had studios, as well.
Hinman first received critical attention in the exhibition 7 New Artisits at the Sidney Janis Gallery in May 1964 where he exhibited flat canvases cut at angles and suspended by cords. The other artists in the exhibition were: Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Norman Ives, Robert Slutsky, Robert Whitman, and Arakawa.
Hinman went on to add the third dimension to his shaped canvases while examining the subtle boundary between the picture plane and the space in front of it, as well as playing with the idea of literal versus illusionistic depth.
Usually Hinman begins his work by building charcoal drawings of volumetric shapes. Out of the series of drawings, he will select one drawing and turn it into “shop drawings” to determine how the organic shape can be turned into a constructed form with intricate shape stretchers supporting it. While building the armature, he addresses the level of three-dimensionality of the work. Once the work has been stretched with canvas and given a ground, he then determines colors, often creating more sketches and repainting areas several times.
In the 1960’s, Hinman used bright colors in his work adding an almost Pop aesthetic to his canvases, such as Poltergeist, 1964, which is in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He said he was then using color as if he were painting a hot rod. In 1975, Hinman began an all-white series of paintings. Returning to color in the late 1970’s, Hinman treated color as spatial indicators with each color representing a different canvas unit; each color having a separate stretcher underneath it. With a more muted palette of grays, silvers, and tans, the artist attained subtle interactions of color shapes interlocking with each other in space within a rhythmic order.
Hinman’s first solo exhibition was at the Feigen Gallery in New York in Nov.-Dec.1964, quickly followed by exhibitions with Feigen in 1965 at both his New York and Chicago galleries. Out of the 1964 show, the Museum of Modern Art, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and Nelson Rockefeller purchased works. In 1965, Hinman was one of four Americans invited to exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Nagaoka, Japan where Hinman shared first prize with the Japanese artist Jiro Takamatsu. More solo and group exhibitions followed with Feigen through 1969 and then Hinman signed on with the Paris dealer Denise Rene, having solo exhibitions at Galerie Denise Rene in Paris in 1971 and then in her New York gallery in 1972, 1973 and 1975.
Hinman has visited Japan, Thailand, India, Iran, Greece, Italy, France and England. He served as artist-in-Residence, Aspen, Colorado in 1966. Hinman has taught at Cornell University and at Syracuse University. He has also held teaching positions at Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, the Cooper Union, Princeton University, University of Georgia campuses in Athens, Georgia and Cortona, Italy, and other distinguished institutions. Presently, he is teaching at the Art Students League of New York. In 1989, Hinman’s work traveled to Russia for an exhibition organized by Donald Kuspit titled Painting Beyond the Death of Painting at the Kuznetsky Most Exhibition Hall in Moscow. Hinman has credited Russian Supremacists as having a strong influence on his work.
Museum collections with Charles Hinman’s work include: the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; the Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; the Denver Art Museum, CO; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the Nagaoke Museum in Japan; the Louisiana Museum in Denmark; the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel; and the Pfalzgalerie Museum in Germany, among others.
Margo Hoff Margo Hoff was born into a large family in Tulsa in 1912. As a child she spent many hours playing outside, finding patterns in nature, a practice she pursued throughout her life, rendering them as bright, textural paintings. Hoff graduated from Tulsa University in 1931. Three years later she moved to Chicago, enrolling in the National Academy of Art and later at SAIC. In 1939 she spent a few months in Europe traveling and looking at art, and during her lifetime she traveled and worked in over twenty-five countries, including Brazil, Ethiopia, and Lebanon.
Hoff showed in exhibitions at Art Institute Chicago (1945, 1946, 1950, and 1953), winning several prizes. In addition to her long-standing association with Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, which began in 1955 with her first one-person exhibition in Chicago, Hoff's work was frequently shown in New York, including Hadler-Rodriguez Galleries, Saidenberg Gallery, Babcock Gallery, Betty Parsons Gallery, and Banter Gallery; and in Paris at Wildenstein Gallery. Her work can be found in the collections of major museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and Art Institute of Chicago.
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Hoff showed in exhibitions at Art Institute Chicago (1945, 1946, 1950, and 1953), winning several prizes. In addition to her long-standing association with Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, which began in 1955 with her first one-person exhibition in Chicago, Hoff's work was frequently shown in New York, including Hadler-Rodriguez Galleries, Saidenberg Gallery, Babcock Gallery, Betty Parsons Gallery, and Banter Gallery; and in Paris at Wildenstein Gallery. Her work can be found in the collections of major museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and Art Institute of Chicago.
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View the exhibition catalogue
Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann is one of the most important figures of postwar American art. Celebrated for his exuberant, color-filled canvases, and renowned as an influential teacher for generations of artists—first in his native Germany, then in New York and Provincetown—Hofmann played a pivotal role in the development of Abstract Expressionism.
As a teacher he brought to America direct knowledge of the work of a celebrated group of European modernists (prior to World War I he had lived and studied in Paris) and developed his own philosophy of art, which he expressed in essays which are among the most engaging discussions of painting in the twentieth century, including "The Color Problem in Pure Painting—Its Creative Origin."
Hofmann taught art for over four decades; his impressive list of students includes Vaclav Vytlacil (featured in last week's email), Helen Frankenthaler, Red Grooms, Alfred Jensen, Wolf Kahn, Lee Krasner, Louise Nevelson and Frank Stella. As an artist Hofmann tirelessly explored pictorial structure, spatial tensions and color relationships. In his earliest portraits done just years into the twentieth century, his interior scenes of the 1940s and his signature canvases of the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Hofmann brought to his paintings what art historian Karen Wilkin has described as a "range from loose accumulations of brushy strokes…to crisply tailored arrangements of rectangles…but that somehow seems less significant than their uniform intensity, their common pounding energy and their consistent physicality."
Hofmann was born Johann Georg Hofmann in Weissenberg, Bavaria, Germany in 1880 and raised and educated in Munich. After initial studies in science and mathematics, he began studying art in 1898. With the support of Berlin art patron Phillip Freudenberg, Hofmann was able to move to Paris in 1904, taking classes at both the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (with fellow student Henri Matisse) and the Académie Colarossi. In Paris Hofmann observed and absorbed the innovations of the most adventurous artists of the day including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Fernand Léger and Henri Matisse, many of whom he met and became friendly with. Hofmann would remain in Paris until 1914 when the advent of World War I required him to return to Germany. In 1915, unable to enroll in the military due to a respiratory ailment, Hofmann opened an innovative school for art in Munich, where he transmitted what he had learned from the avant-garde in Paris. The school’s reputation spread internationally, especially after the war, attracting students from Europe and the United States, thus beginning what was to be almost a lifetime of teaching for Hofmann.
At the invitation of Worth Ryder, one of his former students, Hofmann went to the University of California, Berkeley, to teach in the summer of 1930. He returned to Berkeley the following year, a momentous one which also saw his first American solo exhibition at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Because of the deteriorating circumstances in pre-war Germany, Hofmann made the decision to remain in the United States permanently (his wife, Maria, would join him in 1939). In 1932 he settled in New York where he again taught art, first at The Art Students League, then, a year later, at his own school (adding in 1935 summer sessions in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he also lived). For eager young Americans, most of whom had traveled little—constrained in the 1930s by the Depression and in the 1940s by World War II and its aftermath—contact with Hofmann served as an invaluable alternative for direct contact with the European sources of Modernism.
By 1960 noted art historian Clement Greenberg called Hofmann "in all probability the most important art teacher of our time." His school would remain a vital presence in the New York art world until 1958, when the seventy-eight year old Hofmann decided to devote himself full-time to painting.
Despite his renown as a teacher, it wasn’t until 1944, at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery, that Hofmann had his first major solo exhibition in the United States. He became part of the emerging New York School, and was friendly with Pollock, Robert Motherwell, William Baziotes, Clyfford Still, and Mark Rothko. From that time on, Hofmann exhibited widely. Hofmann’s paintings were the subject of exhibitions at major institutions such as the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Museum of Modern Art. Hofmann was also one of four artists representing the United States at the Venice Biennale in 1960.Three years later, The Museum of Modern Art mounted the landmark exhibition “Hans Hofmann and His Students.”
Although Hofmann did not come to the United States until he was over fifty, he is embraced as an American painter and regarded as a key member of the Abstract Expressionists. For all his connections to that movement, and to abstraction itself, his work was nonetheless and by his own admission firmly rooted in the visible world. He combined Cubist structure and intense Fauvist color into a highly personal visual language with which he endlessly explored pictorial structures and chromatic relationships. Hofmann created volume in his compositions not by rendering or modeling but through contrasts of color, shape and surface.
Hofmann was close to 70 years old when, in a dazzling burst of energy he painted most of the large, highly recognizable canvases of the late 1950s and 1960s that assured his reputation. With their stacked, overlapping and floating rectangles and clear, saturated hues, these extraordinary paintings continued up until the end of his remarkable long career what Hofmann had first explored as an artist over six decades earlier.
His work is in the public collections of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Aspen Art Museum; the Auckland Art Gallery; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; the Germanische Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Kunsthaus Hamburg; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; the Musée de Grenoble; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Tate Gallery, London; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, among others.
Recent select solo exhibitions include Hans Hofmann, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York (2021—22); Works on Paper, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Wyoming (2021); Hans Hofmann: Color and Form, American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich (2019-20); The Post-War Years: 1945—1946, Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York (2017); Push and Pull: Hans Hofmann, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley (2016); Hans Hofmann: Selected Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2014—15).
Recent select group exhibitions include Do You Think It Needs A Cloud?, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York (2020); The Irascibles: Painters Against the Museum (New York, 1950), Fundación Juan March, Madrid (2020); Color Beyond Description: The Watercolors of Charles Hawthorne, Hans Hofmann and Paul Resika, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown (2019); Sublime Abstraction, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert (2017—18); Now's the Time, Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska (2017); Abstract Expressionism, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016—17); Art in the Making, Freedman Art, New York (2014—15); From Abstract Expression to Colored Planes, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (2013—15).
Biographical and exhibition/collection sources: Courtesy of Hans Hofmann Trust; Smithsonian; Artnet; Phoebe Bradford, Ocula
As a teacher he brought to America direct knowledge of the work of a celebrated group of European modernists (prior to World War I he had lived and studied in Paris) and developed his own philosophy of art, which he expressed in essays which are among the most engaging discussions of painting in the twentieth century, including "The Color Problem in Pure Painting—Its Creative Origin."
Hofmann taught art for over four decades; his impressive list of students includes Vaclav Vytlacil (featured in last week's email), Helen Frankenthaler, Red Grooms, Alfred Jensen, Wolf Kahn, Lee Krasner, Louise Nevelson and Frank Stella. As an artist Hofmann tirelessly explored pictorial structure, spatial tensions and color relationships. In his earliest portraits done just years into the twentieth century, his interior scenes of the 1940s and his signature canvases of the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Hofmann brought to his paintings what art historian Karen Wilkin has described as a "range from loose accumulations of brushy strokes…to crisply tailored arrangements of rectangles…but that somehow seems less significant than their uniform intensity, their common pounding energy and their consistent physicality."
Hofmann was born Johann Georg Hofmann in Weissenberg, Bavaria, Germany in 1880 and raised and educated in Munich. After initial studies in science and mathematics, he began studying art in 1898. With the support of Berlin art patron Phillip Freudenberg, Hofmann was able to move to Paris in 1904, taking classes at both the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (with fellow student Henri Matisse) and the Académie Colarossi. In Paris Hofmann observed and absorbed the innovations of the most adventurous artists of the day including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Fernand Léger and Henri Matisse, many of whom he met and became friendly with. Hofmann would remain in Paris until 1914 when the advent of World War I required him to return to Germany. In 1915, unable to enroll in the military due to a respiratory ailment, Hofmann opened an innovative school for art in Munich, where he transmitted what he had learned from the avant-garde in Paris. The school’s reputation spread internationally, especially after the war, attracting students from Europe and the United States, thus beginning what was to be almost a lifetime of teaching for Hofmann.
At the invitation of Worth Ryder, one of his former students, Hofmann went to the University of California, Berkeley, to teach in the summer of 1930. He returned to Berkeley the following year, a momentous one which also saw his first American solo exhibition at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Because of the deteriorating circumstances in pre-war Germany, Hofmann made the decision to remain in the United States permanently (his wife, Maria, would join him in 1939). In 1932 he settled in New York where he again taught art, first at The Art Students League, then, a year later, at his own school (adding in 1935 summer sessions in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he also lived). For eager young Americans, most of whom had traveled little—constrained in the 1930s by the Depression and in the 1940s by World War II and its aftermath—contact with Hofmann served as an invaluable alternative for direct contact with the European sources of Modernism.
By 1960 noted art historian Clement Greenberg called Hofmann "in all probability the most important art teacher of our time." His school would remain a vital presence in the New York art world until 1958, when the seventy-eight year old Hofmann decided to devote himself full-time to painting.
Despite his renown as a teacher, it wasn’t until 1944, at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery, that Hofmann had his first major solo exhibition in the United States. He became part of the emerging New York School, and was friendly with Pollock, Robert Motherwell, William Baziotes, Clyfford Still, and Mark Rothko. From that time on, Hofmann exhibited widely. Hofmann’s paintings were the subject of exhibitions at major institutions such as the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Museum of Modern Art. Hofmann was also one of four artists representing the United States at the Venice Biennale in 1960.Three years later, The Museum of Modern Art mounted the landmark exhibition “Hans Hofmann and His Students.”
Although Hofmann did not come to the United States until he was over fifty, he is embraced as an American painter and regarded as a key member of the Abstract Expressionists. For all his connections to that movement, and to abstraction itself, his work was nonetheless and by his own admission firmly rooted in the visible world. He combined Cubist structure and intense Fauvist color into a highly personal visual language with which he endlessly explored pictorial structures and chromatic relationships. Hofmann created volume in his compositions not by rendering or modeling but through contrasts of color, shape and surface.
Hofmann was close to 70 years old when, in a dazzling burst of energy he painted most of the large, highly recognizable canvases of the late 1950s and 1960s that assured his reputation. With their stacked, overlapping and floating rectangles and clear, saturated hues, these extraordinary paintings continued up until the end of his remarkable long career what Hofmann had first explored as an artist over six decades earlier.
His work is in the public collections of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Aspen Art Museum; the Auckland Art Gallery; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; the Germanische Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Kunsthaus Hamburg; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; the Musée de Grenoble; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Tate Gallery, London; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, among others.
Recent select solo exhibitions include Hans Hofmann, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York (2021—22); Works on Paper, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Wyoming (2021); Hans Hofmann: Color and Form, American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich (2019-20); The Post-War Years: 1945—1946, Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York (2017); Push and Pull: Hans Hofmann, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley (2016); Hans Hofmann: Selected Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2014—15).
Recent select group exhibitions include Do You Think It Needs A Cloud?, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York (2020); The Irascibles: Painters Against the Museum (New York, 1950), Fundación Juan March, Madrid (2020); Color Beyond Description: The Watercolors of Charles Hawthorne, Hans Hofmann and Paul Resika, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown (2019); Sublime Abstraction, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert (2017—18); Now's the Time, Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska (2017); Abstract Expressionism, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016—17); Art in the Making, Freedman Art, New York (2014—15); From Abstract Expression to Colored Planes, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (2013—15).
Biographical and exhibition/collection sources: Courtesy of Hans Hofmann Trust; Smithsonian; Artnet; Phoebe Bradford, Ocula
Alexandre Hogue Alexandre Hogue was born on February 22, 1898 in Memphis, Missouri, to Reverend Charles Lehman Hogue and Mattie Hoover. Soon after, the Hogues moved to Denton, Texas, and later attended the Dallas-based Bryan Street High School in 1918. After a short year at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Hogue moved home to Dallas, where he was employed at the Dallas Morning News as an illustrator. In 1921, Hogue moved to New York City to work at various advertising firms with calligraphy assignments and to study in museums. He traveled back to Texas every summer while in New York to sketch with Charles Franklin Reaugh until he decided to plant himself in Texas in 1925 to paint. In 1931, he began teaching art classes at the Texas State College for Women and went on to become the head of the art department at Hockaday Junior College in 1936. In 1938, Hogue married and started a family with Maggie Joe Watson. During World War II, Hogue worked at North American Aviation. From 1945 to 1963, he became the head of the art department at the University of Tulsa. After his retirement from the University of Tulsa, the institution founded the Alexandre Hogue Gallery in his honor. Hogue remained in Tulsa until his death on July 22, 1994.
Carl Holty Holty was a pivotal member in the history of the development of abstraction in this country. He was a founding member of the American Abstract artists Association, usually referred to as the New York School. Known for his floating, luminous, highly-colorful forms, Carl Holty belongs to the school of pure geometric abstract artists.
Martha Visser’t Hooft Martha Visser’t Hooft was an artist and teacher in the modernist tradition, best known for her abstract expressionist work, geometric-totemic abstractions, and surrealism. Her career spanned more than 60 years and she garnered critical acclaim with many awards and distinctions during the course of her long art career. She exhibited extensively in Buffalo, New York City and throughout the United States.
Martha for the most part was a self-taught artist. In 1922 she traveled to Europe to study the works of the emerging modernist painters at the Académie Julian, in Paris, as well as the music and avant-garde theater of the day. She moved to New York City three years later to further her studies at the Parson’s School of Applied Art, where she practiced set design for the theater there. She taught at the University of Buffalo from 1956-58, in Buffalo, NY. Her sister Mary Hamlin Goodwin, designer and patron of the arts, settled in Taos as a member of the Taos Art Colony. Visser’t Hooft visited her often, where she painted the surrounding landscape.
Martha for the most part was a self-taught artist. In 1922 she traveled to Europe to study the works of the emerging modernist painters at the Académie Julian, in Paris, as well as the music and avant-garde theater of the day. She moved to New York City three years later to further her studies at the Parson’s School of Applied Art, where she practiced set design for the theater there. She taught at the University of Buffalo from 1956-58, in Buffalo, NY. Her sister Mary Hamlin Goodwin, designer and patron of the arts, settled in Taos as a member of the Taos Art Colony. Visser’t Hooft visited her often, where she painted the surrounding landscape.
Ika Huber Ika Huber was born in Freiburg in 1953. She studied (1973-80) at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe, under Peter Dreher and Georg Baselitz. Since 1980 she has lived in Freiburg and Munich.
Huber's work as a painter and as a graphic artist is characterized by the relation between the clear, gestural quality of her brush and the overall composition of each image. Of particular significance are the glowing colours, applied very carefully in many layers and determining the character of the individual elements within each image. Huber evolves her motifs out of plant and floral forms, landscapes or buildings and interior spaces, and constructs these as sweeping lines and layers of colour that often intertwine or interweave. Within Huber's oeuvre, painting, prints and other works on paper retain an equal importance.
Huber's work as a painter and as a graphic artist is characterized by the relation between the clear, gestural quality of her brush and the overall composition of each image. Of particular significance are the glowing colours, applied very carefully in many layers and determining the character of the individual elements within each image. Huber evolves her motifs out of plant and floral forms, landscapes or buildings and interior spaces, and constructs these as sweeping lines and layers of colour that often intertwine or interweave. Within Huber's oeuvre, painting, prints and other works on paper retain an equal importance.
Scott Robert Hudson Education
B.A. California State University, Chico, 1986
Museum Collections
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
California State University, Chico Museum of Natural History
Center for Art+Environment Archive, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno
I am an artist investigating the intersections of ecology, archeology, storytelling, memory and place. There are many experiences that formed me as an artist and three stand out in this moment. My sense of landscape was altered by five seasons as a wild-land firefighter. Second, is the two winters I spent as the studio assistant for the solar-kinetic sculptor Lowell Jones. Third, I spent three years as the artist in residence at the Vertebrate Museum at California State University, Chico where I produced watercolors of North American birds from study skins and sculpted models of nudibranchs and other mollusks.
These paintings at Peyton Wright are abstract but not non-object. The compositions were derived from specific socio-ecological sources, the petroglyphs at Grimes Point in Northern Nevada and the geo-glyphs at the Blythe Intaglios near the Colorado River in Southern California. It is my intent to reconfigure the geometry of the prehistoric forms to craft a new vocabulary of contemporary symbols. The Blythe paintings include an additional experiment. I have synthesized the ancient geo-glyphs with the traverse maps of the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The traverse maps seem so pictographic to me. By synthesizing these elements. I want to intuit and imply a span of time and geographic space. However, it was important to me that these paintings retained a primary abstract nature. I did not want the paintings to depict something but to become something.
B.A. California State University, Chico, 1986
Museum Collections
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
California State University, Chico Museum of Natural History
Center for Art+Environment Archive, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno
I am an artist investigating the intersections of ecology, archeology, storytelling, memory and place. There are many experiences that formed me as an artist and three stand out in this moment. My sense of landscape was altered by five seasons as a wild-land firefighter. Second, is the two winters I spent as the studio assistant for the solar-kinetic sculptor Lowell Jones. Third, I spent three years as the artist in residence at the Vertebrate Museum at California State University, Chico where I produced watercolors of North American birds from study skins and sculpted models of nudibranchs and other mollusks.
These paintings at Peyton Wright are abstract but not non-object. The compositions were derived from specific socio-ecological sources, the petroglyphs at Grimes Point in Northern Nevada and the geo-glyphs at the Blythe Intaglios near the Colorado River in Southern California. It is my intent to reconfigure the geometry of the prehistoric forms to craft a new vocabulary of contemporary symbols. The Blythe paintings include an additional experiment. I have synthesized the ancient geo-glyphs with the traverse maps of the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The traverse maps seem so pictographic to me. By synthesizing these elements. I want to intuit and imply a span of time and geographic space. However, it was important to me that these paintings retained a primary abstract nature. I did not want the paintings to depict something but to become something.
Kenneth Hudson Kenneth E. Hudson was Dean of the School of Art at Washington University from 1938 to 1969, and under his leadership, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree was first offered by the School of Art in 1941. Today, scholarships in his name are given to art students.
He was also a painter of richly colored abstract expressionist works and painted murals that are at the University of Oregon, and in Columbia, Missouri at the Municipal Building and Hendrix Hall. He studied at Ohio Wesleyan University and in 1927, earned a BFA from Yale University. From 1927 to 1929, he taught and was Chair of the School of Art at the University of Oregon.
He was also a painter of richly colored abstract expressionist works and painted murals that are at the University of Oregon, and in Columbia, Missouri at the Municipal Building and Hendrix Hall. He studied at Ohio Wesleyan University and in 1927, earned a BFA from Yale University. From 1927 to 1929, he taught and was Chair of the School of Art at the University of Oregon.
Lucero Isaac Lucero Isaac is a Mexican postwar and contemporary set designer, dancer, film art director and plastic artist, who was born in 1936.
Born in Mexico City, Isaac began her professional life as a dancer.
In 1964 she began her career as an art director for film and theater with the production and direction of her husband Alberto Isaac, with a story by Gabriel García Márquez (“In this Town There Are No Thieves”).
From 1964 to the late 1980s, she worked as an art director and production designer in film. Her responsibilities included everything from sets to costumes and make-up; often she was called upon to produce the texture and feeling of past eras by recreating objects and details specific to a particular time and place.
As an art director she worked on films directed by Isaac, Arturo Ripstein, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Juan Manuel Torres, Claudio Isaac, Sergio Olhovich, Juan Luis Buñuel, Maurice Ronet, Juan López Moctezuma, Miguel Littin, Rafael Castanedo, Felipe Cazals, Juan García, Pedro Torres, and Costa Gavras. She created costume designs for Diana Bracho, Charlotte Rampling, Geraldine Chaplin, Max Von Sydow, Peter O´Toole, Jorge Luke, Helena Rojo, and María Rojo, among others, and won Academy Award nominations for her work.
At the end of 1987, disillusioned by poor scripts and dwindling budgets, she left film to devote herself full-time to sculpture; her boxes and assemblages are a natural development from her earlier work as a set designer.
Within a year, Isaac held her first exhibition (at the Galería Honfleur in Mexico City). A series of one-person exhibitions followed in rapid succession: "Letters That Never Arrived and Other Things" (1989), "Night Peoples’ Theater" and Night People’s Theater II" (1991 and 1992), and "Forsaken Dreams" (1994). Her work quickly attracted an international audience and has been included in a number of major exhibitions, among them "Women in Mexico," organized by the National Academy of Design in New York and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Monterrey, Mexico (1990-91) (which also travelled to the Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City), The Biennale of Sydney in Sydney, Australia (1992) , and "Latin America and Surrealism" (1993) at the Museum of Bochum, Germany.
Isaac often mingles personal mementos –a piece of jewelry, a love letter– with historical artifacts; the result is a frisson of recognition as we confront the: relics of lives unknown, but nevertheless startlingly familiar. The preciosity, even pomposity of objects endowed with public and historical significance becomes an occasion for gentle satire in Pomp and Cire Perdue. Here a melange of political and military "medals" and ribbons fashioned from cigar rings, the tops of enameled tea tins, and the insignia of champagne bottles and corks,creates a witty send-up of those ubiquitous bronze public monuments and memorials created using the so-called "lost wax" technique.
Isaac has always been interested in the intuitive sparks that fly between kindred souls. She credits her son Claudio, who has worked as a writer, painter, and film director, with having been her greatest influence. There has existed between them a rich exchange of images and ideas, a mirroring of the creative process, which often extends to his supplying titles for her works. With Claudio, as with Marquez, Carrington, and the other artists, writers, and filmakers with whom she has shared her creative life, Isaac has set about teasing the Marvelous out of everyday reality.
Sources include : Whitney Chadwick , “Latin American Art”, San Francisco, July 1994
Born in Mexico City, Isaac began her professional life as a dancer.
In 1964 she began her career as an art director for film and theater with the production and direction of her husband Alberto Isaac, with a story by Gabriel García Márquez (“In this Town There Are No Thieves”).
From 1964 to the late 1980s, she worked as an art director and production designer in film. Her responsibilities included everything from sets to costumes and make-up; often she was called upon to produce the texture and feeling of past eras by recreating objects and details specific to a particular time and place.
As an art director she worked on films directed by Isaac, Arturo Ripstein, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Juan Manuel Torres, Claudio Isaac, Sergio Olhovich, Juan Luis Buñuel, Maurice Ronet, Juan López Moctezuma, Miguel Littin, Rafael Castanedo, Felipe Cazals, Juan García, Pedro Torres, and Costa Gavras. She created costume designs for Diana Bracho, Charlotte Rampling, Geraldine Chaplin, Max Von Sydow, Peter O´Toole, Jorge Luke, Helena Rojo, and María Rojo, among others, and won Academy Award nominations for her work.
At the end of 1987, disillusioned by poor scripts and dwindling budgets, she left film to devote herself full-time to sculpture; her boxes and assemblages are a natural development from her earlier work as a set designer.
Within a year, Isaac held her first exhibition (at the Galería Honfleur in Mexico City). A series of one-person exhibitions followed in rapid succession: "Letters That Never Arrived and Other Things" (1989), "Night Peoples’ Theater" and Night People’s Theater II" (1991 and 1992), and "Forsaken Dreams" (1994). Her work quickly attracted an international audience and has been included in a number of major exhibitions, among them "Women in Mexico," organized by the National Academy of Design in New York and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Monterrey, Mexico (1990-91) (which also travelled to the Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City), The Biennale of Sydney in Sydney, Australia (1992) , and "Latin America and Surrealism" (1993) at the Museum of Bochum, Germany.
Isaac often mingles personal mementos –a piece of jewelry, a love letter– with historical artifacts; the result is a frisson of recognition as we confront the: relics of lives unknown, but nevertheless startlingly familiar. The preciosity, even pomposity of objects endowed with public and historical significance becomes an occasion for gentle satire in Pomp and Cire Perdue. Here a melange of political and military "medals" and ribbons fashioned from cigar rings, the tops of enameled tea tins, and the insignia of champagne bottles and corks,creates a witty send-up of those ubiquitous bronze public monuments and memorials created using the so-called "lost wax" technique.
Isaac has always been interested in the intuitive sparks that fly between kindred souls. She credits her son Claudio, who has worked as a writer, painter, and film director, with having been her greatest influence. There has existed between them a rich exchange of images and ideas, a mirroring of the creative process, which often extends to his supplying titles for her works. With Claudio, as with Marquez, Carrington, and the other artists, writers, and filmakers with whom she has shared her creative life, Isaac has set about teasing the Marvelous out of everyday reality.
Sources include : Whitney Chadwick , “Latin American Art”, San Francisco, July 1994
Daniel LaRue Johnson “Color talks of power, sex, lust and life. A motivating spirit that makes my mind see changing patterns of color is the music of Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis.” - Daniel Larue Johnson
Born in Los Angeles, African American painter, sculptor, printmaker Daniel LaRue Johnson (1938-2017) studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts)and in Paris with Alberto Giacometti. He was closely associated with Los Angeles’s African American artist movement of the mid-20th century, which developed as a response to the country’s social, political, and economic changes. His varied body of work includes politically charged collages as well as meticulously rendered color abstractions.
Throughout the early 1960s Johnson and his wife, artist Virginia Jaramillo, traveled extensively, often spending long periods of time in New York. In 1964, Johnson was invited by John Weber to participate in “Boxes,” an exhibition at Dwan Gallery. In the show, he presented works from his “Black Box” series, assemblages of objects painted black that addressed America’s civil rights movement. One such work, titled Yesterday, an open-faced box containing a section of the American flag besides a headless doll, comments on the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
After graduating in 1965, Johnson received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship that allowed the couple to live in Paris for a time. Upon their return, they settled permanently in New York, and the move marks a shift in Johnson's work. The visually arresting and emotive constructions gave way to a more painterly sculptural practice that played up vibrant colors with glossy surfaces. Very different from the black boxes, these works, for many, seemed more aligned with the slick, hard-edge, cool aesthetic then associated with Los Angeles. He also worked on a series of public commissions, including the 50-foot "Peace Form One," which commemorates Ralph Johnson Bunche, the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. Previously, Johnson created the largest Corten steel sculpture in the world, "Freedom Form #2." Dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., the work was installed in a park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1970.
Noting Johnson's relationship to Los Angeles and the other artists with whom he attended Chouinard, artist-critic Frank Bowling described his friend's sculpture "The Boy Wonder Dejohnette" (1969) as a "tulip trip through chrome-plated graveyards of California vulgarity."In other ways, Johnson's sculptures from the late 1960s into the 1970s reflect what he had always strived for in his work: utmost craftsmanship.
Writing about his sculptures, art critic Margit Rowell said:
"Specific to his generation is the concept of art as a multi-sensory experience: not just visual but acoustic; a multi-dimensional experience involving space as well as time; the eyes, the mind, and the body.... Like jazz [Johnson's work] it contains the paradoxes of the popular and the refined, the spiritual and the visceral, channeling a rich, raw and unsophisticated vernacular of feeling into a strict formal pattern, thus relating an intuitive improvisation to a traditional structural logic. The effect, immediate and imperative as well as joyful and relaxed, is an optimistic prelude to the new decade of the seventies."
In 1971, his work was included in the historically significant "DeLuxe Show", which was one of the first racially integrated exhibitions in the United States – supported by the Menil family, also including artists such as Al Loving, Sam Gilliam, Virginia Jaramillo, Kenneth Noland and Jules Olitski. That same year, Johnson withdrew his work from the Whitney Museum’s show “Contemporary Black Artists in America,” in solidarity with the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition, the group of African American artists who initiated the exhibition. The boycotting artists claimed that the institution reneged on its promise to consult with African American arts specialists before selecting works for the show and to stage it during “the most prestigious period of the 1970–71 season.”
In 2011 Johnson's work was featured prominently in the exhibition "Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980." In a review of the exhibition the critic Christopher Knight noted “Daniel LaRue Johnson merged painting with assemblage, affixing fragments of a broken doll, a hacksaw, a mousetrap and rubber hose onto a large, black field of viscous, tar-like pitch. Made in the aftermath of Bull Connor's notorious Birmingham assault on peaceful civil rights marchers, Johnson injected a jolt of black social consciousness into the exalted status abstract artists then afforded to all-black paintings.”
In 2017, Johnson’s work was featured in Tate Modern’s Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (London, UK) which toured to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (AR, USA); Brooklyn Museum (NY, USA); the Broad (CA, USA) and de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (CA, USA). Johnson’s work is in many prestigious public collections, including: Museum of Modern Art (NY, USA); Whitney Museum of American Art (NY, USA); California African American Museum (CA, USA); and the Guggenheim Museum (NY, USA).
Additional biographical material from Artforum
Born in Los Angeles, African American painter, sculptor, printmaker Daniel LaRue Johnson (1938-2017) studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts)and in Paris with Alberto Giacometti. He was closely associated with Los Angeles’s African American artist movement of the mid-20th century, which developed as a response to the country’s social, political, and economic changes. His varied body of work includes politically charged collages as well as meticulously rendered color abstractions.
Throughout the early 1960s Johnson and his wife, artist Virginia Jaramillo, traveled extensively, often spending long periods of time in New York. In 1964, Johnson was invited by John Weber to participate in “Boxes,” an exhibition at Dwan Gallery. In the show, he presented works from his “Black Box” series, assemblages of objects painted black that addressed America’s civil rights movement. One such work, titled Yesterday, an open-faced box containing a section of the American flag besides a headless doll, comments on the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
After graduating in 1965, Johnson received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship that allowed the couple to live in Paris for a time. Upon their return, they settled permanently in New York, and the move marks a shift in Johnson's work. The visually arresting and emotive constructions gave way to a more painterly sculptural practice that played up vibrant colors with glossy surfaces. Very different from the black boxes, these works, for many, seemed more aligned with the slick, hard-edge, cool aesthetic then associated with Los Angeles. He also worked on a series of public commissions, including the 50-foot "Peace Form One," which commemorates Ralph Johnson Bunche, the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. Previously, Johnson created the largest Corten steel sculpture in the world, "Freedom Form #2." Dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., the work was installed in a park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1970.
Noting Johnson's relationship to Los Angeles and the other artists with whom he attended Chouinard, artist-critic Frank Bowling described his friend's sculpture "The Boy Wonder Dejohnette" (1969) as a "tulip trip through chrome-plated graveyards of California vulgarity."In other ways, Johnson's sculptures from the late 1960s into the 1970s reflect what he had always strived for in his work: utmost craftsmanship.
Writing about his sculptures, art critic Margit Rowell said:
"Specific to his generation is the concept of art as a multi-sensory experience: not just visual but acoustic; a multi-dimensional experience involving space as well as time; the eyes, the mind, and the body.... Like jazz [Johnson's work] it contains the paradoxes of the popular and the refined, the spiritual and the visceral, channeling a rich, raw and unsophisticated vernacular of feeling into a strict formal pattern, thus relating an intuitive improvisation to a traditional structural logic. The effect, immediate and imperative as well as joyful and relaxed, is an optimistic prelude to the new decade of the seventies."
In 1971, his work was included in the historically significant "DeLuxe Show", which was one of the first racially integrated exhibitions in the United States – supported by the Menil family, also including artists such as Al Loving, Sam Gilliam, Virginia Jaramillo, Kenneth Noland and Jules Olitski. That same year, Johnson withdrew his work from the Whitney Museum’s show “Contemporary Black Artists in America,” in solidarity with the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition, the group of African American artists who initiated the exhibition. The boycotting artists claimed that the institution reneged on its promise to consult with African American arts specialists before selecting works for the show and to stage it during “the most prestigious period of the 1970–71 season.”
In 2011 Johnson's work was featured prominently in the exhibition "Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980." In a review of the exhibition the critic Christopher Knight noted “Daniel LaRue Johnson merged painting with assemblage, affixing fragments of a broken doll, a hacksaw, a mousetrap and rubber hose onto a large, black field of viscous, tar-like pitch. Made in the aftermath of Bull Connor's notorious Birmingham assault on peaceful civil rights marchers, Johnson injected a jolt of black social consciousness into the exalted status abstract artists then afforded to all-black paintings.”
In 2017, Johnson’s work was featured in Tate Modern’s Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (London, UK) which toured to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (AR, USA); Brooklyn Museum (NY, USA); the Broad (CA, USA) and de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (CA, USA). Johnson’s work is in many prestigious public collections, including: Museum of Modern Art (NY, USA); Whitney Museum of American Art (NY, USA); California African American Museum (CA, USA); and the Guggenheim Museum (NY, USA).
Additional biographical material from Artforum
Ynez Johnston Frances Ynez Johnston (May 12, 1920 – 2019) was an American painter, sculptor, printmaker and educator. Her artwork is modernist and abstract with a narrative of imaginative lands or creatures, and often featuring collage.
Johnston was born on May 12, 1920, in Berkeley, California. She attended University of California, Berkeley to study with Worth Ryder and received her bachelor of fine arts in 1941. She traveled to Mexico in the early 1940s to continue her studies, returning to Berkeley in 1943, earning her Masters of Fine Arts in 1946.
In 1960 she married novelist and poet John Berry. In the years following she produced prints through the Tamarind Lithography Workshop.
Johnston started teaching art classes at various universities and colleges in 1950 and ended teaching in 1980.[8] She began at University of California, Berkeley (1950–1951) and then continued her teaching career at Colorado Springs Fine Art Center (1954–1955), Chouinard Art Institute (1956), California State College (1966–1967, 1969, 1973), the University of Jerusalem (1967), and Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design (1978–1980).
Her work is featured in various permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Spencer Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, Fullerton College, the McNay Art Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and others.
Johnston was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952 for fine art, which allowed her travel to Italy. In 1955–1956 she was awarded the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for painting and printmaking, and was awarded the National Endowment for the Art (NEA) grant in 1976 and 1986.
In addition to her intricate prints and paintings, Johnston also created three dimensional pieces in collaboration with her husband and with ceramic sculptor Adam Mekler.
Her watercolors, oils and etchings of the 1950s and 1960s were rich with complex imagery, and displayed a disciplined, restrained use of color. In later mixed-media pieces, she examined the tactile qualities of surface. Her paintings incorporated soil, acrylic, dyes, encaustic on cloth, canvas, and raw silk. Composite forms suggest ambiguous architectural, human, animal and plant shapes. Johnston cited Persian and Indian miniatures as influences but also drew inspiration from European abstract artists Matisse, Miro, Klee and Picasso.
Ynez Johnston died in 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Johnston was born on May 12, 1920, in Berkeley, California. She attended University of California, Berkeley to study with Worth Ryder and received her bachelor of fine arts in 1941. She traveled to Mexico in the early 1940s to continue her studies, returning to Berkeley in 1943, earning her Masters of Fine Arts in 1946.
In 1960 she married novelist and poet John Berry. In the years following she produced prints through the Tamarind Lithography Workshop.
Johnston started teaching art classes at various universities and colleges in 1950 and ended teaching in 1980.[8] She began at University of California, Berkeley (1950–1951) and then continued her teaching career at Colorado Springs Fine Art Center (1954–1955), Chouinard Art Institute (1956), California State College (1966–1967, 1969, 1973), the University of Jerusalem (1967), and Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design (1978–1980).
Her work is featured in various permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Spencer Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, Fullerton College, the McNay Art Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and others.
Johnston was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952 for fine art, which allowed her travel to Italy. In 1955–1956 she was awarded the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for painting and printmaking, and was awarded the National Endowment for the Art (NEA) grant in 1976 and 1986.
In addition to her intricate prints and paintings, Johnston also created three dimensional pieces in collaboration with her husband and with ceramic sculptor Adam Mekler.
Her watercolors, oils and etchings of the 1950s and 1960s were rich with complex imagery, and displayed a disciplined, restrained use of color. In later mixed-media pieces, she examined the tactile qualities of surface. Her paintings incorporated soil, acrylic, dyes, encaustic on cloth, canvas, and raw silk. Composite forms suggest ambiguous architectural, human, animal and plant shapes. Johnston cited Persian and Indian miniatures as influences but also drew inspiration from European abstract artists Matisse, Miro, Klee and Picasso.
Ynez Johnston died in 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Don Joint Don Joint is an American artist and curator who lives and works in New York City. His work consists of collage, assemblage, painting, works on paper, and photography.
Joint studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Chautauqua Institution.
Joint's work has been shown internationally in solo exhibitions at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, NY; Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD; [FRED [London], England; Galerie Marion Meyer, Paris, France; Price Street Gallery, New York, NY.
His work has been included extensively in two-person and group shows in galleries and museums across the United States and Europe, including the Dr. M.T. Geoffrey Art Gallery, St John's University, Queens, NY; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; McClain Gallery, Houston, TX; The Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO; Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA; The Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY; Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY; FRED [London]; Zoller Gallery, Penn State University, State College, PA; and Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York, NY.
His work has been reviewed in the New York Times,[1] Art in America,[2] ARTnews and The New York Sun[3] among others, and has been written about by Susanna Coffey, Grace Glueck, Mario Naves[4] and Edward Leffingwell.[5]
Don Joint is represented in New York by Francis M. Naumann Fine Art and his collage work is represented in New York by Pavel Zoubok Gallery.
Joint studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Chautauqua Institution.
Joint's work has been shown internationally in solo exhibitions at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, NY; Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD; [FRED [London], England; Galerie Marion Meyer, Paris, France; Price Street Gallery, New York, NY.
His work has been included extensively in two-person and group shows in galleries and museums across the United States and Europe, including the Dr. M.T. Geoffrey Art Gallery, St John's University, Queens, NY; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; McClain Gallery, Houston, TX; The Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO; Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA; The Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY; Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY; FRED [London]; Zoller Gallery, Penn State University, State College, PA; and Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York, NY.
His work has been reviewed in the New York Times,[1] Art in America,[2] ARTnews and The New York Sun[3] among others, and has been written about by Susanna Coffey, Grace Glueck, Mario Naves[4] and Edward Leffingwell.[5]
Don Joint is represented in New York by Francis M. Naumann Fine Art and his collage work is represented in New York by Pavel Zoubok Gallery.
Anita Romero Jones Anita Romero Jones, a native of Santa Fe, was an exceptional artist and recognized talent in the traditional arts of New Mexico.
The first of seven children of tinsmith Emilio Romero and colcha artist Senaida Romero (and the eldest sister of artist Marie Romero Cash), Jones steered clear of artistic endeavors as a young woman. Instead, she married in 1956 and raised four children while accompanying her husband to homes in California, Florida and Idaho.
After returning to Santa Fe in the early ‘70s, when she was in her 40s, she began to investigate art. Jones tried tinwork, retablo painting, colcha embroidery and hide painting before she discovered the art of carving wooden saints when the curator of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society showed her the collection of bultos in the basement of the Museum of International Folk Art. Jones once noted that because she had grown up with plaster-of-Paris saints, she “went crazy” when she first saw the Museum’s bulto collection.
Wanting to try her hand at carving, Jones brought home a piece of firewood, probably piñon or cedar, to carve. Her husband knew that would be difficult to carve, so he found her a piece of aspen. Soon, she was creating versions of St. Francis (patron saint of Santa Fe and animals), St. Agnes (patron saint of children, engaged couples and gardeners), St. Pasqual (patron saint of cooks and kitchens), St. Cayetano (patron saint of gamblers) and her favorite, the Virgin of Guadalupe. She began exhibiting at Spanish Market in 1974.
A popular and well-known “santera”, Jones participated in Spanish Market each summer from 1974 until her retirement in 2003. Creative and innovative, she was the recipient of many major awards throughout her career. She was best known for her original concept of combining tin altar screens with painted and hand carved figures and creating highly detailed and colorful wooden retablos. Her works have been featured in many books and magazines, including Arte del Espirito; Across Frontiers; The Saint Makers, and Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change.
In 2000 she was honored by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, at their exhibit, “Santos: Substance and Soul.” Her works are in major museum and private collections, including the Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Millicent Rogers Museum, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Albuquerque Museum and others.
(Harwood Museum of Art)
The first of seven children of tinsmith Emilio Romero and colcha artist Senaida Romero (and the eldest sister of artist Marie Romero Cash), Jones steered clear of artistic endeavors as a young woman. Instead, she married in 1956 and raised four children while accompanying her husband to homes in California, Florida and Idaho.
After returning to Santa Fe in the early ‘70s, when she was in her 40s, she began to investigate art. Jones tried tinwork, retablo painting, colcha embroidery and hide painting before she discovered the art of carving wooden saints when the curator of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society showed her the collection of bultos in the basement of the Museum of International Folk Art. Jones once noted that because she had grown up with plaster-of-Paris saints, she “went crazy” when she first saw the Museum’s bulto collection.
Wanting to try her hand at carving, Jones brought home a piece of firewood, probably piñon or cedar, to carve. Her husband knew that would be difficult to carve, so he found her a piece of aspen. Soon, she was creating versions of St. Francis (patron saint of Santa Fe and animals), St. Agnes (patron saint of children, engaged couples and gardeners), St. Pasqual (patron saint of cooks and kitchens), St. Cayetano (patron saint of gamblers) and her favorite, the Virgin of Guadalupe. She began exhibiting at Spanish Market in 1974.
A popular and well-known “santera”, Jones participated in Spanish Market each summer from 1974 until her retirement in 2003. Creative and innovative, she was the recipient of many major awards throughout her career. She was best known for her original concept of combining tin altar screens with painted and hand carved figures and creating highly detailed and colorful wooden retablos. Her works have been featured in many books and magazines, including Arte del Espirito; Across Frontiers; The Saint Makers, and Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change.
In 2000 she was honored by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, at their exhibit, “Santos: Substance and Soul.” Her works are in major museum and private collections, including the Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Millicent Rogers Museum, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Albuquerque Museum and others.
(Harwood Museum of Art)
Raymond Jonson In 1938, Raymond Jonson co-founded the Transcendental Painting Group, a group of painters whose vision was to advance spirituality in art through the creation of non-objective work. As a professor of art at the University of New Mexico, Jonson’s vision inspired such renowned artists as Richard Diebenkorn and Agnes Martin. In 1950, he founded the Jonson Gallery at UNM, the only space in the southwest where abstract and non-representational works were being exhibited.
Paul Kallos Paul Kallos, was born in Hernádnémeti in Hungary into a middle-class family. He made his first drawings in 1938, during an illness which immobilized him for a few months. He started his secondary education in 1940 in Kiskunhalas, which was interrupted by the war. He was deported by the Nazi regime in 1944 to Auschwitz, where almost all of his relatives died.
In 1945 he returned to Hungary and entered the Budapest School of Fine Arts in 1946. Influenced by his friend Georges Feher, he worked on surrealism and geometric abstraction. In 1949 Kallos, alongside with Feher, secretly left Stalinist Hungary, spending one year in a refugee camp near Salzburg, Austria, in the French zone.
Kallos settled as a political refugee in Paris in a room near the Place Clichy, where he created small-scale works. He worked part-time for a furrier and frequently visited the Louvre, examining the works of old masters. In 1952, he began renting a workshop with Raymond Goden, an artist from Quebec. Paul Kallos became a French citizen since 1974.
As early as 1951 Paul Kallos sent four compositions to the “Salon des réalités nouvelles”, which he regularly participated until 1983. Pierre Loeb noticed one of these paintings in 1954 under contract in his gallery, andf through Loeb, Kalllos became friends with Vieira da Silva, Szenes, Lanskoy, Riopelle, Zao Wou-Ki and Wilfredo Lam. After Loeb’s death in 1964, Kallos exhibited at the Galerie Pierre Domec (1964, 1966 and 1967) and then at the gallery Nane Stern (1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1986).
He exhibited internationally in the 1950s and 60s, including exhibitions in London, Turin, New York, Basel and Toronto. In 1986, together with Victor Vasarely and other Hungarian emigrant artists, he exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Budapest.
Kallos' works are in The Centre Pompidou, Paris’ Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Saint-Etienne, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon, the Denver Art Museum, and the museums of Tel Aviv, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Eindhoven, Rehovot, Metz , Evreux, and Epinal.
In 1945 he returned to Hungary and entered the Budapest School of Fine Arts in 1946. Influenced by his friend Georges Feher, he worked on surrealism and geometric abstraction. In 1949 Kallos, alongside with Feher, secretly left Stalinist Hungary, spending one year in a refugee camp near Salzburg, Austria, in the French zone.
Kallos settled as a political refugee in Paris in a room near the Place Clichy, where he created small-scale works. He worked part-time for a furrier and frequently visited the Louvre, examining the works of old masters. In 1952, he began renting a workshop with Raymond Goden, an artist from Quebec. Paul Kallos became a French citizen since 1974.
As early as 1951 Paul Kallos sent four compositions to the “Salon des réalités nouvelles”, which he regularly participated until 1983. Pierre Loeb noticed one of these paintings in 1954 under contract in his gallery, andf through Loeb, Kalllos became friends with Vieira da Silva, Szenes, Lanskoy, Riopelle, Zao Wou-Ki and Wilfredo Lam. After Loeb’s death in 1964, Kallos exhibited at the Galerie Pierre Domec (1964, 1966 and 1967) and then at the gallery Nane Stern (1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1986).
He exhibited internationally in the 1950s and 60s, including exhibitions in London, Turin, New York, Basel and Toronto. In 1986, together with Victor Vasarely and other Hungarian emigrant artists, he exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Budapest.
Kallos' works are in The Centre Pompidou, Paris’ Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Saint-Etienne, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon, the Denver Art Museum, and the museums of Tel Aviv, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Eindhoven, Rehovot, Metz , Evreux, and Epinal.
Ray Kass Ray Kass is an internationally recognized artist living and working in Virginia.
Kass is Professor Emeritus of Art at Virginia Tech, and founder and director of The Mountain Lake Workshop; an ongoing series of collaborative and inter-related workshops centered in the environmental, cultural, and community resources of the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia. The workshops have resulted in many unique, collaborative works of art that have been widely exhibited.
Kass is Professor Emeritus of Art at Virginia Tech, and founder and director of The Mountain Lake Workshop; an ongoing series of collaborative and inter-related workshops centered in the environmental, cultural, and community resources of the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia. The workshops have resulted in many unique, collaborative works of art that have been widely exhibited.
Jeffrey Keith Jeffrey Keith was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, in 1954. He attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1972. In 1972 he attended the competitive California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. Although Keith liked CalArts, he found a lack of support for figurative painting (his focus at the time), so he relocated to the San Francisco Art Institute from 1973-74 to be in the midst of the Bay Area Figurative School. Though certainly influenced by the paint-pushers of the New York Abstract Expressionist school, Keith was more strongly drawn to the figurative work of California painters like Richard Diebenkorn and the Bay Area “Bad Painters” such as David Park, Joan Brown, and Bruce McGaw, whom he studied under at the San Francisco Art Institute. Keith’s work is represented in many public, private and museum collections around the country and abroad. He has taught painting, drawing and color theory at the University of Denver School of Art and Art History for over 20 years, where he was named the 2001 Adjunct Faculty Member.
Leon Kelly Leon Kelly, born in 1901, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Awarded a traveling scholarship from that institution in 1924, he studied in Paris, France at the Grande Chaumiere. Other teachers included Arthur B. Carles, Jean Auguste Adolphe, Earl Horter and Alexandre Portinoff.
Essentially a Surrealist painter, Kelly did wide-ranging work that went from painterly to meticulous Surrealism, Cezanne-inspired watercolors, and Cubist painting. In the 1940s, Julian Levy, the Surrealist dealer, handled Kelly's work in New York City.
Kelly also exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art Annuals (1933-34, 1939-46, 1966); Corcoran Gallery Biennials, Washington, D.C. (three times from 1935-47); Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; had a 1965 retrospective exhibition at the International Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland; Long Beach, New Jersey (1968); Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (1968, 1970); Newark Museum, New Jersey (1969); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Kelly's paintings are in the collections of three New York city museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; and Museum of Modern Art; as well as Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California; Sara Roby Foundation Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska; Newark Museum, New Jersey; and the Tel Aviv Museum, Israel.
Essentially a Surrealist painter, Kelly did wide-ranging work that went from painterly to meticulous Surrealism, Cezanne-inspired watercolors, and Cubist painting. In the 1940s, Julian Levy, the Surrealist dealer, handled Kelly's work in New York City.
Kelly also exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art Annuals (1933-34, 1939-46, 1966); Corcoran Gallery Biennials, Washington, D.C. (three times from 1935-47); Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; had a 1965 retrospective exhibition at the International Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland; Long Beach, New Jersey (1968); Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (1968, 1970); Newark Museum, New Jersey (1969); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Kelly's paintings are in the collections of three New York city museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; and Museum of Modern Art; as well as Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California; Sara Roby Foundation Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska; Newark Museum, New Jersey; and the Tel Aviv Museum, Israel.
Vance Kirkland As an artist and educator, Vance Kirkland almost single-handedly brought modern art to Denver. At a time when conservative tastes ruled, he came to Colorado and worked in a manner that emphasized process more than subject matter. Rather than pleasing landscapes, he created paintings that expressed the dynamic forces of the universe, often with results that were strange and otherworldly. Standing on principle, he never wavered from his conviction that the arts were respected disciplines, and he constantly pushed for the inclusion of modern art in Denver's public institutions. Deliberately working away from the major art centers, Kirkland's varied art styles were determined by his own compass yet were nationally recognized.
Growing up in Ohio, Kirkland began his art studies at the Cleveland School of Art, where he received a diploma in painting and a bachelor's degree in art education. The former curator of the Denver Art Museum, Diane Vanderlip points to a failed watercolor class as an indicator of both his future stylistic development and his early self-confidence. When the teacher criticized Kirkland for colors that fought with each other, the young man listened to his own muse rather than pass the course.
Upon graduation, he was offered a job at Princeton, but when the university discovered just how young he was, they withdrew their offer. He then accepted an offer at the University of Denver to establish their art department in 1929. While most schools shunted art off to the side, Kirkland developed the program as a combination of academics and art. He also got officials to accept nude figure drawing. However, a parting of the ways came when he and the Provost clashed over degree recognition. The subsequent establishment of his Kirkland School of Art became a cultural beacon in this Rocky Mountain capitol.
Fom 1927 to 1944, he worked in a style he referred to as "Designed Realism," in which natural forms were highly stylized in rhythmic shapes. Working totally in watercolor, he developed an individualized method of applying dots to a saturated color surface. By the end of the thirties, Kirkland's paintings became larger and more energetic. Hiking in the mountains, the artist was inspired by the unusual shapes of high-altitude plants and trees stunted and bent by the fierce winds. Taking his painting gear, he had to add antifreeze to his paints in order to work in these demanding conditions.
Departing from his ordinary perspective, Kirkland created compositions of open spaces and wild linear elements, which he increasingly liberated from any specific representation. In his fantastic imaginings, he had an affinity with Surrealism, although he had no interest in their Freudian pursuits. Kirkland received national attention with inclusion in exhibitions, such as "Abstract and Surrealist American Art" at the Art Institute of Chicago and "Reality and Fantasy" at the Walker Art Center. In 1946, Knoedler and Company in New York invited him to be one of their artists, which brought solo shows and group exhibitions with artists like Max Ernst.
Beginning in the 1940s, he also became more active with the Denver Art Museum, serving in various honorary and formal positions. Both in his capacity as board member and curator, he relentlessly pressed for the recognition of contemporary art and artists. At the same time, his prestige grew when the University of Denver invited him back: this time as Director of the School of Art, Professor of Painting, and Chairman of the Department of Arts and Humanities. In 1941, he married Anne Fox Oliphant Olson, a librarian, and their home was a center for Denver's cultural life with evening salons and musical performances.
Hs first non-objective painting, "Red Abstraction" (1951) initiated his break with his past art. Looking back, Kirkland said, "There had to be a way of creating something and I became interested in abstraction." Deciding to forego watercolor, he experimented with paint and materials, particularly with inventive ways of mixing them. He had always been intrigued by the quality of resistance, and now he used the combination of oil and water to cause unexpected effects. The surface of his canvases became almost like breathing skins. Committed to his new direction, Kirkland didn't flinch when Knoedler's dropped him for abandoning his commercially successful style.
Moving to greater heights, Kirkland began painting large canvases that suggested cosmic phenomena, some of which he called "nebula." Although the fifties saw the birth of space exploration, the artist deliberately avoided any astronomical study, preferring instead to paint the mystery beyond his knowledge. When he saw pre-Hubble photographs that looked startlingly similar, he decided to stop.
Towards the end of his career, he returned to his earlier practice of layering the surface with dots. The works that first appeared in 1963 were geometric abstractions that share some of the qualities of contemporary Op Art. These later paintings were painstakingly done. Always a tireless worker, he pursued his art even after hepatitis made painting more difficult and physically excruciating, devising a system that suspended him over his canvases.
His studio on Pearl Street in Denver is now the Vance Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, a significant center for mid-century modernism in painting and the decorative arts.
Growing up in Ohio, Kirkland began his art studies at the Cleveland School of Art, where he received a diploma in painting and a bachelor's degree in art education. The former curator of the Denver Art Museum, Diane Vanderlip points to a failed watercolor class as an indicator of both his future stylistic development and his early self-confidence. When the teacher criticized Kirkland for colors that fought with each other, the young man listened to his own muse rather than pass the course.
Upon graduation, he was offered a job at Princeton, but when the university discovered just how young he was, they withdrew their offer. He then accepted an offer at the University of Denver to establish their art department in 1929. While most schools shunted art off to the side, Kirkland developed the program as a combination of academics and art. He also got officials to accept nude figure drawing. However, a parting of the ways came when he and the Provost clashed over degree recognition. The subsequent establishment of his Kirkland School of Art became a cultural beacon in this Rocky Mountain capitol.
Fom 1927 to 1944, he worked in a style he referred to as "Designed Realism," in which natural forms were highly stylized in rhythmic shapes. Working totally in watercolor, he developed an individualized method of applying dots to a saturated color surface. By the end of the thirties, Kirkland's paintings became larger and more energetic. Hiking in the mountains, the artist was inspired by the unusual shapes of high-altitude plants and trees stunted and bent by the fierce winds. Taking his painting gear, he had to add antifreeze to his paints in order to work in these demanding conditions.
Departing from his ordinary perspective, Kirkland created compositions of open spaces and wild linear elements, which he increasingly liberated from any specific representation. In his fantastic imaginings, he had an affinity with Surrealism, although he had no interest in their Freudian pursuits. Kirkland received national attention with inclusion in exhibitions, such as "Abstract and Surrealist American Art" at the Art Institute of Chicago and "Reality and Fantasy" at the Walker Art Center. In 1946, Knoedler and Company in New York invited him to be one of their artists, which brought solo shows and group exhibitions with artists like Max Ernst.
Beginning in the 1940s, he also became more active with the Denver Art Museum, serving in various honorary and formal positions. Both in his capacity as board member and curator, he relentlessly pressed for the recognition of contemporary art and artists. At the same time, his prestige grew when the University of Denver invited him back: this time as Director of the School of Art, Professor of Painting, and Chairman of the Department of Arts and Humanities. In 1941, he married Anne Fox Oliphant Olson, a librarian, and their home was a center for Denver's cultural life with evening salons and musical performances.
Hs first non-objective painting, "Red Abstraction" (1951) initiated his break with his past art. Looking back, Kirkland said, "There had to be a way of creating something and I became interested in abstraction." Deciding to forego watercolor, he experimented with paint and materials, particularly with inventive ways of mixing them. He had always been intrigued by the quality of resistance, and now he used the combination of oil and water to cause unexpected effects. The surface of his canvases became almost like breathing skins. Committed to his new direction, Kirkland didn't flinch when Knoedler's dropped him for abandoning his commercially successful style.
Moving to greater heights, Kirkland began painting large canvases that suggested cosmic phenomena, some of which he called "nebula." Although the fifties saw the birth of space exploration, the artist deliberately avoided any astronomical study, preferring instead to paint the mystery beyond his knowledge. When he saw pre-Hubble photographs that looked startlingly similar, he decided to stop.
Towards the end of his career, he returned to his earlier practice of layering the surface with dots. The works that first appeared in 1963 were geometric abstractions that share some of the qualities of contemporary Op Art. These later paintings were painstakingly done. Always a tireless worker, he pursued his art even after hepatitis made painting more difficult and physically excruciating, devising a system that suspended him over his canvases.
His studio on Pearl Street in Denver is now the Vance Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, a significant center for mid-century modernism in painting and the decorative arts.
Masatoyo Kishi Painter, printmaker, and sculptor Masatoyo Kishi - best known for mixing elements of traditional Japanese culture with Western abstraction - was born in Sakai, Japan, on March 11, 1924. He graduated with degrees in physics and mathematics from the Tokyo University of Science in 1953.
"As a Japanese artist in the 1950s in Tokyo, I didn't go to art school," said Kishi. "Japanese artists studied literature, economics, science; then you explored art."
After graduating, he pursued a short career as a mathematics teacher before he began exhibiting with Tekkei Kai, a group of abstract painters associated with the Kyoto Museum of Art.
From the late 1950s to the 1960s, he created his Opus paintings, which feature softly dripped pigments and sweeping brushwork. Using large brushes, Kishi painted his works by laying canvases horizontally and using wooden sticks to drip paint onto them.
"The paint brush is a difficult extension for me," Kishi explained. "What develops from this method is an orderly conversation between me and the canvas. I respond to each change taking place.”
In 1960, Kishi moved from Japan to San Francisco, where he lived until 1988. exhibited throughout the Bay Area and the U.S. and taught at Holy Names College in Oakland and the Dominican College in San Rafael.
Beginning in the 1970s Kishi's focus switched to sculpture, and by the mid '70s he was working almost exclusively in the three dimensional medium. In 1998, he relocated to Grass Valley, California, where he lived and worked until his death in 2017.
“Kishi’s paintings inspire a sense of chaos and awe,” said Jessica Phillips, director of Hackett Mill. “To look at a Kishi painting is to accept a challenge of sorts, one where you find yourself completely immersed in the rhythm of the paint as you try to trace the artist's hand not to learn how or why he painted in this way but rather to gain access to the lyrical complexity that resulted from it.”
His work is found in numerous museum collections, including the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; Oakland Museum of California; Stanford University Museum of Art; Stanford Art Gallery, Palo Alto; Barlow Building, Washington, D.C.; State University College at Potsdam, NY; and Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, among others.
biographical sources include Annex Galleries, Artforum
"As a Japanese artist in the 1950s in Tokyo, I didn't go to art school," said Kishi. "Japanese artists studied literature, economics, science; then you explored art."
After graduating, he pursued a short career as a mathematics teacher before he began exhibiting with Tekkei Kai, a group of abstract painters associated with the Kyoto Museum of Art.
From the late 1950s to the 1960s, he created his Opus paintings, which feature softly dripped pigments and sweeping brushwork. Using large brushes, Kishi painted his works by laying canvases horizontally and using wooden sticks to drip paint onto them.
"The paint brush is a difficult extension for me," Kishi explained. "What develops from this method is an orderly conversation between me and the canvas. I respond to each change taking place.”
In 1960, Kishi moved from Japan to San Francisco, where he lived until 1988. exhibited throughout the Bay Area and the U.S. and taught at Holy Names College in Oakland and the Dominican College in San Rafael.
Beginning in the 1970s Kishi's focus switched to sculpture, and by the mid '70s he was working almost exclusively in the three dimensional medium. In 1998, he relocated to Grass Valley, California, where he lived and worked until his death in 2017.
“Kishi’s paintings inspire a sense of chaos and awe,” said Jessica Phillips, director of Hackett Mill. “To look at a Kishi painting is to accept a challenge of sorts, one where you find yourself completely immersed in the rhythm of the paint as you try to trace the artist's hand not to learn how or why he painted in this way but rather to gain access to the lyrical complexity that resulted from it.”
His work is found in numerous museum collections, including the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; Oakland Museum of California; Stanford University Museum of Art; Stanford Art Gallery, Palo Alto; Barlow Building, Washington, D.C.; State University College at Potsdam, NY; and Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, among others.
biographical sources include Annex Galleries, Artforum
Elaine Kurtz Born Elaine Kahn in 1928, Kurtz graduated from what is now the University of the Arts in 1949, and married Jerome Kurtz in 1956. In the 1970's and 80's, New York City and Philadelphia were rife with her solo exhibitions.
William Valerio points out the "incredible finesse" of Kurtz's strokes with the brush: her color gradations are as smooth as a modern digital painting. Earlier work – such as a delicate gray still-life of flowers from 1970 – proves her skill as a draftsman. "If she wanted to draw a vase of flowers, she could," Valerio said. But she was usually after something far more challenging and enveloping than representational images.
William Valerio points out the "incredible finesse" of Kurtz's strokes with the brush: her color gradations are as smooth as a modern digital painting. Earlier work – such as a delicate gray still-life of flowers from 1970 – proves her skill as a draftsman. "If she wanted to draw a vase of flowers, she could," Valerio said. But she was usually after something far more challenging and enveloping than representational images.
Raye Leith A decades-long thrall with the illusion of three dimensions lured Raye from sculpture to two-dimensional work, and to the current series of abstracted and sculptural drawings of the expansive landscapes and turbulent skies of New Mexico. The choice of monochromatic palette affords an even greater sense of volume and depth, as well as a layer of emotional and meditative content.
From the age of 11, Raye studied figure drawing and abstract painting at the Art Students League of NY, and was steeped in the teachings of protégés of Ash Can and WPA Social Realism, a thread evident in her oeuvre.
Raye has a BA in Ceramics and an MFA in Painting, and taught perspective drawing, color theory, artistic anatomy, and painting for over 35 years (Smithsonian, the University of Maryland, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center). Concurrently, she worked as a set designer and painter in the DC opera and theater scene.
Solo exhibitions include:
“Blueprints,” Schlesinger Performing Arts, Arlington, VA
“The Topography of Memory,” McLean Project for the Arts, VA
“Inside/out” Knew Gallery, Georgetown, DC
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC
Stuart Mott Foundation, Washington, DC
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
First Street Gallery, SoHo
Group exhibitions include:
International Art Fair, Salzburg (Velvenoir Design/Collectors Club Berlin)
White Gallery, Berlin
Sarona Gallery, Tel Aviv
Arlington National Cemetery
Galleria Arte & Altro di Carlo Grossetti, Milan
From the age of 11, Raye studied figure drawing and abstract painting at the Art Students League of NY, and was steeped in the teachings of protégés of Ash Can and WPA Social Realism, a thread evident in her oeuvre.
Raye has a BA in Ceramics and an MFA in Painting, and taught perspective drawing, color theory, artistic anatomy, and painting for over 35 years (Smithsonian, the University of Maryland, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center). Concurrently, she worked as a set designer and painter in the DC opera and theater scene.
Solo exhibitions include:
“Blueprints,” Schlesinger Performing Arts, Arlington, VA
“The Topography of Memory,” McLean Project for the Arts, VA
“Inside/out” Knew Gallery, Georgetown, DC
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC
Stuart Mott Foundation, Washington, DC
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
First Street Gallery, SoHo
Group exhibitions include:
International Art Fair, Salzburg (Velvenoir Design/Collectors Club Berlin)
White Gallery, Berlin
Sarona Gallery, Tel Aviv
Arlington National Cemetery
Galleria Arte & Altro di Carlo Grossetti, Milan
Janet Lippincott In a 1980 article in Southwest Art, Janet Lippincott addressed who she was as an artist: "Abstract painting is an intellectual process. To be a modern painter and to make a truthful statement is the sum total of all I am and what I am continually striving to create. I am a painter and my paintings are all I can contribute to this world." Working away from the major art centers, Lippincott had a singular devotion to her art - a quest to find a pure expression based in color and form. New Mexico afforded her a place to work independently without the distractions of the New York art scene.
Born in New York into a privileged family, she went to museums with her Aunt Gertrude, a modern dancer. When she saw her first Picasso, Lippincott was hooked, and residing in Paris for a period as a child brought her in contact with the most contemporary movements. At age fifteen, she took a life-drawing class at the Art Students League, where she would later enroll full time.
Born in New York into a privileged family, she went to museums with her Aunt Gertrude, a modern dancer. When she saw her first Picasso, Lippincott was hooked, and residing in Paris for a period as a child brought her in contact with the most contemporary movements. At age fifteen, she took a life-drawing class at the Art Students League, where she would later enroll full time.
Ward Lockwood Born in Kansas, Ward Lockwood studied at the University of Kansas from 1912-1914. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art until 1916. Like many other artists at the time, he took a brief hiatus from his studies to begin a two-year enlistment in the Army during World War I. His time in the service allowed him to experience European cultures first hand. Lockwood was deeply impacted in France by the works of artists Paul Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh. In 1921, after his release from the service, he returned to Paris to study at the Academie Ranson.
In Paris, he met fellow Kansan, Kenneth Adams. The two artists then traveled the French countryside, practicing their craft. In 1922, Lockwood's fascination with French culture was satiated as he returned to Kansas to work as a commercial artist.
By 1926, Lockwood had married Clyde Bonebrake. The newlyweds quickly settled in Taos, New Mexico, due to the encouragement of Kenneth Adams. Lockwood soon established himself as a member of the Taos Society of Artists. In an effort to generate greater financial stability, Lockwood did a variety of murals for the Federal Arts Project and went on to teach at the Broadmoor Academy in Colorado Springs. At this time, he taught painting and lithography and worked on Works Progress Administration murals with his mentor, Andrew Dasburg. In 1938, due to his continuous development as an artist and professor, he was awarded the chair of the Department of Art at the University of Texas in Austin.
During the 1950s, he taught at the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. In 1940, he moved to San Francisco and experimented with abstraction and assemblage but was again in the Army during World War II, advancing to the rank of colonel.
After he completed his time in the service, he returned to California where he resumed teaching. Although he was highly involved in the art circles of California, Lockwood made frequent trips to Taos and finally settled there in his later years.
Public exhibitions of his work include: Salon d'Automne, Paris, 1922; Salons of America, 1925; Corcoran Gallery biennials, 1928-41; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Annex, 1929, 34, 38-39; Art Institute of Chicago (prizes 1931, 1952); Denver Art Museum; Nebraska Art Institute; de Young Museum, (prize 1950); San Francisco Art Festival, (prize 1950); Santa Rosa California (prize 1954); University of Utah, 1955; San Francisco Art Association, (purchase prize1957); Cranbrook Academy; Whitney Museum of American Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Weyhe Gallery; Dayton Art Institute; University of Illinois; Colorado Springs Fine Art Center; Museum of New Mexico; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; Texas General Exhibit; Mulvane Art Museum (solo); Rehn Gallery (solo); Wichita Art Museum (solo); Crocker Art Gallery (solo); University of Texas (solo); Museum of Fine Art, Houston (solo); St. Louis Art Museum (solo); Luyber Gallery (solo).
His work is found in many museum collections: Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Denver Art Museum; Iowa State College; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; Baker University; Wichita, Kansas Murals: Colorado Springs Fine Art Center; Federal Court Room, Lexington, Kentucky; WPA Murals at Taos, NM courthouse & United States Post Office in Wichita, KS, Wahington, DC, Edinburgh, TX & Hamilton, TX.
In Paris, he met fellow Kansan, Kenneth Adams. The two artists then traveled the French countryside, practicing their craft. In 1922, Lockwood's fascination with French culture was satiated as he returned to Kansas to work as a commercial artist.
By 1926, Lockwood had married Clyde Bonebrake. The newlyweds quickly settled in Taos, New Mexico, due to the encouragement of Kenneth Adams. Lockwood soon established himself as a member of the Taos Society of Artists. In an effort to generate greater financial stability, Lockwood did a variety of murals for the Federal Arts Project and went on to teach at the Broadmoor Academy in Colorado Springs. At this time, he taught painting and lithography and worked on Works Progress Administration murals with his mentor, Andrew Dasburg. In 1938, due to his continuous development as an artist and professor, he was awarded the chair of the Department of Art at the University of Texas in Austin.
During the 1950s, he taught at the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. In 1940, he moved to San Francisco and experimented with abstraction and assemblage but was again in the Army during World War II, advancing to the rank of colonel.
After he completed his time in the service, he returned to California where he resumed teaching. Although he was highly involved in the art circles of California, Lockwood made frequent trips to Taos and finally settled there in his later years.
Public exhibitions of his work include: Salon d'Automne, Paris, 1922; Salons of America, 1925; Corcoran Gallery biennials, 1928-41; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Annex, 1929, 34, 38-39; Art Institute of Chicago (prizes 1931, 1952); Denver Art Museum; Nebraska Art Institute; de Young Museum, (prize 1950); San Francisco Art Festival, (prize 1950); Santa Rosa California (prize 1954); University of Utah, 1955; San Francisco Art Association, (purchase prize1957); Cranbrook Academy; Whitney Museum of American Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Weyhe Gallery; Dayton Art Institute; University of Illinois; Colorado Springs Fine Art Center; Museum of New Mexico; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; Texas General Exhibit; Mulvane Art Museum (solo); Rehn Gallery (solo); Wichita Art Museum (solo); Crocker Art Gallery (solo); University of Texas (solo); Museum of Fine Art, Houston (solo); St. Louis Art Museum (solo); Luyber Gallery (solo).
His work is found in many museum collections: Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Denver Art Museum; Iowa State College; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; Baker University; Wichita, Kansas Murals: Colorado Springs Fine Art Center; Federal Court Room, Lexington, Kentucky; WPA Murals at Taos, NM courthouse & United States Post Office in Wichita, KS, Wahington, DC, Edinburgh, TX & Hamilton, TX.
William Thomas Lumpkins William Lumpkins, one of the only early modernists native to New Mexico, was born on a ranch west of Clayton, New Mexico. As a young boy, Lumpkins saw a man demonstrating painting techniques in the window of a hardware store in Holbrook, New Mexico, and decided that he wanted to be an artist. In 1929, he enrolled at the University of New Mexico to pursue a career in architecture. During this time, he took a portraiture class from the Swedish artist Nils Hogner, where he met many young modern artists, such as Cady Wells. These artists first introduced Lumpkins to the notion of art not only as means of representing the physical world, but as a vehicle of personal expression through line and color. In 1930, Lumpkins viewed an exhibition of New Mexico watercolors by the artist John Marin. Marin’s semi-abstract landscapes had a profound impact on Lumpkins, whose work was already developing toward abstraction.
In 1934, Lumpkins received his degree in architecture from the University of Southern California. In the following years, he worked as a junior architect for the Works Project Administration. In 1938, he returned to Santa Fe. Upon his return, he began to befriend many of the early New Mexico modernists, such as Jozef Bakos, Willard Nash, and B.J.O. Nordfeldt. He developed a particularly devoted friendship with the artist Raymond Jonson, who shared his passion for the expressive possibilities of abstract work. That same year, Jonson and Emil Bisttram founded the Transcendental Painting Group, a group of artists whose shared vision was to transcend material reality and advance the expression of spirituality in art through the creation of non-representational work. Lumpkins soon became a member. The Group included Agnes Pelton, Lauren Harris, Ed Garman, Robert Gribbroek, Florence Miller Pierce, Stuart Walker, and Horace Towner Pierce. During this time, Lumpkins was also associated with
Los Cinco Pintores, a group which met in local cafes in Santa Fe and included Willard Nash, Walter Mruk, Fremont Ellis, Will Schuster and Josef Bakos.
Lumpkins is well-known in Santa Fe, not only for his participation in several of the most prominent artistic movements in New Mexico, but also for his innovation in architecture and solar technology. In 1935, he built his first passive solar house at Capitan. In 1972, he found Sun Mountain Design, a group of influential solar activists responsible for the solar demonstration center at Ghost Ranch, north of Santa Fe.
After World War II, Lumpkins lived for a time in California, before returning with his wife and children to Santa Fe in 1967. In 1985, he founded the prestigious Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts. He continued to live and work in Santa Fe until his death in 2000.
Lumpkins’ paintings, both representational and abstract, exhibit a unique mastery with the medium of watercolor. According to Lumpkins, his “paintings are all developed through quiet meditation, following the reading of Zen koans” – short statements to provoke contemplation (Wiggins 1990; 17). Many of the titles of Lumpkins’ works are derived from these koans. The works poignantly communicate emotion and mood with a powerful eloquence of expression through shape, color, and space.
Lumpkins exhibited extensively throughout New Mexico. His work is included in such collections as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Jonson Gallery at the University of New Mexico, the Museum of New Mexico, the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA, and the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution.
Sources:
Wiggins, Walt. Lumpkins: Pioneer Abstract Expressionist. Ruidoso Downs, NM: Pintores Press, 1990.
In 1934, Lumpkins received his degree in architecture from the University of Southern California. In the following years, he worked as a junior architect for the Works Project Administration. In 1938, he returned to Santa Fe. Upon his return, he began to befriend many of the early New Mexico modernists, such as Jozef Bakos, Willard Nash, and B.J.O. Nordfeldt. He developed a particularly devoted friendship with the artist Raymond Jonson, who shared his passion for the expressive possibilities of abstract work. That same year, Jonson and Emil Bisttram founded the Transcendental Painting Group, a group of artists whose shared vision was to transcend material reality and advance the expression of spirituality in art through the creation of non-representational work. Lumpkins soon became a member. The Group included Agnes Pelton, Lauren Harris, Ed Garman, Robert Gribbroek, Florence Miller Pierce, Stuart Walker, and Horace Towner Pierce. During this time, Lumpkins was also associated with
Los Cinco Pintores, a group which met in local cafes in Santa Fe and included Willard Nash, Walter Mruk, Fremont Ellis, Will Schuster and Josef Bakos.
Lumpkins is well-known in Santa Fe, not only for his participation in several of the most prominent artistic movements in New Mexico, but also for his innovation in architecture and solar technology. In 1935, he built his first passive solar house at Capitan. In 1972, he found Sun Mountain Design, a group of influential solar activists responsible for the solar demonstration center at Ghost Ranch, north of Santa Fe.
After World War II, Lumpkins lived for a time in California, before returning with his wife and children to Santa Fe in 1967. In 1985, he founded the prestigious Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts. He continued to live and work in Santa Fe until his death in 2000.
Lumpkins’ paintings, both representational and abstract, exhibit a unique mastery with the medium of watercolor. According to Lumpkins, his “paintings are all developed through quiet meditation, following the reading of Zen koans” – short statements to provoke contemplation (Wiggins 1990; 17). Many of the titles of Lumpkins’ works are derived from these koans. The works poignantly communicate emotion and mood with a powerful eloquence of expression through shape, color, and space.
Lumpkins exhibited extensively throughout New Mexico. His work is included in such collections as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Jonson Gallery at the University of New Mexico, the Museum of New Mexico, the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA, and the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution.
Sources:
Wiggins, Walt. Lumpkins: Pioneer Abstract Expressionist. Ruidoso Downs, NM: Pintores Press, 1990.
Stanton Macdonald-Wright Stanton Macdonald-Wright (1890-1973) was one of America’s leading modernist painters and an early pioneer of abstract art. Born in Virginia and raised in southern California, he enrolled at the Art Students League in Los Angeles as a precocious thirteen-year-old. In 1907, while still a teenager, he married and then settled in Paris, studying at the Sorbonne and several art academies, including the Académie Colorossi and the École des Beaux Arts, and then privately with Percyval Hart-Tudor, who taught color theory in relation to music. Inspired chiefly by the works of Cézanne, Matisse, and the Cubists, Macdonald-Wright exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in 1910 and at the Salon des Indépendents in 1912. Together with fellow American expatriate Morgan Russell, Macdonald-Wright cofounded the avant-garde painting movement Synchromism, whose first exhibition was held in Munich in the summer of 1913 and the second in Paris during the fall of the same year. These were soon followed by shows in London, Milan, and Warsaw. And in early 1914 Synchromist paintings were exhibited for the first time in New York. Similar to its rival Parisian movement Orphism, Synchromism combined color with Cubism, producing luminous and rhythmic compositions of swirling and serpentine forms infused with a rich chromatic palette. As Macdonald-Wright later described it, “Synchromism simply means ‘with color’ as symphony means ‘with sound’, and our idea was to produce an art whose genesis lay, not in objectivity, but in form produced in color”.
At the outbreak of World War I, Macdonald-Wright moved to London with his older sibling, Willard Huntington Wright, who was an editor and author. Sharing quarters there for the next two years, the brothers collaborated on three art books, including Modern Painting, Its Tendency and Meaning (1915), that were subsequently published in New York. After repatriating himself to the United States in 1915, Macdonald-Wright took up residence in New York, where he participated in the Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters in 1916 and was given his first one-man show at Alfred Stieglitz’s “291” gallery the following year. His Synchromist paintings had a direct and marked influence on the work of Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Dasburg, Jan Matulka, Stuart Davis, Arnold Friedman, and Alfred Maurer.
Although successful in New York, Macdonald-Wright became increasingly dissatisfied with what he saw as the “sterile artistic formulism” of modern art and the “academicism” of his own Synchromism. Consequently, he permanently resettled in Santa Monica in 1919 and withdrew from the commercial art scene for the following three decades. Instead, he became an active and energetic force in the southern Californian art world primarily as a teacher and administrator, all the while still continuing his artistic pursuits, which turned heavily toward Eastern representational models, especially Chinese painting. From 1922 to 1930 he served as Director of the Art Students League in Los Angeles, writing a student textbook entitled Treatise on Color (1924). During the late twenties and early thirties, he co-exhibited at several museums in California with Morgan Russell and had a one-man show at Stieglitz’s “An American Place” in New York in 1932. He then worked for the WPA Art Project as Director of Southern California and as Technical Advisor for seven western states from 1935 to 1942, during which time he personally completed several major civil art projects, including the murals at the Santa Monica City Hall. During World War II and up through 1952, Macdonald-Wright taught at UCLA, USC, Scripps College, and the University of Hawaii on the subjects of art history, Oriental aesthetics, and iconography. In 1952-53, he visited Japan as a Fulbright exchange professor and briefly lectured at Kyoiku Daigaku (Tokyo University of Education). Finally, in 1954, he retired from academia. After a hiatus of more than thirty years, Macdonald-Wright returned to nonobjective painting in the mid 1950s with renewed vigor and enthusiasm, producing some of his finest canvases. This new body of Neo-Synchromist work surpassed the artist’s earlier paintings by way of a heightened luminosity and augmented spatiality, creating as a result, in the opinion of the modern art champion, Alfred Barr, a deeper spirituality. As the artist himself described it, “At first I saw my new painting with a certain astonishment, for I had made the “great circle”, coming back after 35 years to an art that was, superficially, not unlike the canvases of my youth. However, at bottom there was a great difference: I had achieved an interior realism, what is called yugen by the Japanese. This is a sense of reality which cannot be seen but which is evident by feeling, and I am certain that this quality of hidden reality was what I felt to be lacking in my younger days.” From 1958 on, Macdonald-Wright spent five months each year at Kenninji, a Zen monastery in the center of Kyoto, Japan. One of the most fruitful outcomes of his exposure to Japanese poetry and art was the creation of the Haiga portfolio (1965-66), a suite of twenty Haiku illustrations in brilliant color that is a masterful synthesis of modernist art in the Synchromist style and the traditional technique of Japanese woodblock printing.
In 1967 the Smithsonian Institution’s National Collection of Fine Arts held a major retrospective exhibition on Macdonald-Wright, honoring his more than six decades of artistic achievement. During the remaining years of his life and up until his passing in 1973 at the age of 83, Macdonald-Wright continued to be productive and inventive, leaving as his legacy a large and diverse body of modernist painting, which has since taken its rightful place as being of premier importance in American twentieth-century art. ~ Andrew Diversey
References:
Daviee, Jerry M. 1982. Stanton Macdonald-Wright: Watercolors and Drawings. San
Francisco: The Art Museum Association.
Figoten, Sheldon. 1985. Stanton Macdonald-Wright: Paintings 1953-1964. Redding, CA: Redding Museum and Art Center.
Scott, David W. and Stanton Macdonald-Wright. 1967. The Art of Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Press.
South, Will. 2001. Color, Music, and Myth. Stanton Macdonald-Wright and
Synchromism. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art.
Wight, Frederick. 1970. Stanton Macdonald-Wright: A Retrospective Exhibition 1911-1970. Los Angeles: The UCLA Art Galleries.
At the outbreak of World War I, Macdonald-Wright moved to London with his older sibling, Willard Huntington Wright, who was an editor and author. Sharing quarters there for the next two years, the brothers collaborated on three art books, including Modern Painting, Its Tendency and Meaning (1915), that were subsequently published in New York. After repatriating himself to the United States in 1915, Macdonald-Wright took up residence in New York, where he participated in the Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters in 1916 and was given his first one-man show at Alfred Stieglitz’s “291” gallery the following year. His Synchromist paintings had a direct and marked influence on the work of Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Dasburg, Jan Matulka, Stuart Davis, Arnold Friedman, and Alfred Maurer.
Although successful in New York, Macdonald-Wright became increasingly dissatisfied with what he saw as the “sterile artistic formulism” of modern art and the “academicism” of his own Synchromism. Consequently, he permanently resettled in Santa Monica in 1919 and withdrew from the commercial art scene for the following three decades. Instead, he became an active and energetic force in the southern Californian art world primarily as a teacher and administrator, all the while still continuing his artistic pursuits, which turned heavily toward Eastern representational models, especially Chinese painting. From 1922 to 1930 he served as Director of the Art Students League in Los Angeles, writing a student textbook entitled Treatise on Color (1924). During the late twenties and early thirties, he co-exhibited at several museums in California with Morgan Russell and had a one-man show at Stieglitz’s “An American Place” in New York in 1932. He then worked for the WPA Art Project as Director of Southern California and as Technical Advisor for seven western states from 1935 to 1942, during which time he personally completed several major civil art projects, including the murals at the Santa Monica City Hall. During World War II and up through 1952, Macdonald-Wright taught at UCLA, USC, Scripps College, and the University of Hawaii on the subjects of art history, Oriental aesthetics, and iconography. In 1952-53, he visited Japan as a Fulbright exchange professor and briefly lectured at Kyoiku Daigaku (Tokyo University of Education). Finally, in 1954, he retired from academia. After a hiatus of more than thirty years, Macdonald-Wright returned to nonobjective painting in the mid 1950s with renewed vigor and enthusiasm, producing some of his finest canvases. This new body of Neo-Synchromist work surpassed the artist’s earlier paintings by way of a heightened luminosity and augmented spatiality, creating as a result, in the opinion of the modern art champion, Alfred Barr, a deeper spirituality. As the artist himself described it, “At first I saw my new painting with a certain astonishment, for I had made the “great circle”, coming back after 35 years to an art that was, superficially, not unlike the canvases of my youth. However, at bottom there was a great difference: I had achieved an interior realism, what is called yugen by the Japanese. This is a sense of reality which cannot be seen but which is evident by feeling, and I am certain that this quality of hidden reality was what I felt to be lacking in my younger days.” From 1958 on, Macdonald-Wright spent five months each year at Kenninji, a Zen monastery in the center of Kyoto, Japan. One of the most fruitful outcomes of his exposure to Japanese poetry and art was the creation of the Haiga portfolio (1965-66), a suite of twenty Haiku illustrations in brilliant color that is a masterful synthesis of modernist art in the Synchromist style and the traditional technique of Japanese woodblock printing.
In 1967 the Smithsonian Institution’s National Collection of Fine Arts held a major retrospective exhibition on Macdonald-Wright, honoring his more than six decades of artistic achievement. During the remaining years of his life and up until his passing in 1973 at the age of 83, Macdonald-Wright continued to be productive and inventive, leaving as his legacy a large and diverse body of modernist painting, which has since taken its rightful place as being of premier importance in American twentieth-century art. ~ Andrew Diversey
References:
Daviee, Jerry M. 1982. Stanton Macdonald-Wright: Watercolors and Drawings. San
Francisco: The Art Museum Association.
Figoten, Sheldon. 1985. Stanton Macdonald-Wright: Paintings 1953-1964. Redding, CA: Redding Museum and Art Center.
Scott, David W. and Stanton Macdonald-Wright. 1967. The Art of Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Press.
South, Will. 2001. Color, Music, and Myth. Stanton Macdonald-Wright and
Synchromism. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art.
Wight, Frederick. 1970. Stanton Macdonald-Wright: A Retrospective Exhibition 1911-1970. Los Angeles: The UCLA Art Galleries.
Ati Maier Ati Maier is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes drawing, painting, photography, 3-D video animation, installation, performance, and live action video.She was born in Munich, Germany in 1962 and has studied, lived and worked in Vienna, Berlin and New York City.
Maier writes about her working process:
"I start with 3-15 overlapping sketches with which I create multiple layers suggesting the possibility of a novel compositional architecture. For example, I might begin with an abstract grid, add a galactic structure, then landscapes on top. It is in this time-consuming period that shapes begin to form and subside, subdivide and cut through and across one another. I weave the layers of space together in such a way that foreground, middle ground and background along with past, present and future become one dense coherence. Through my process the painting is like an organically growing puzzle coming together. The final image can never be predicted, as it is a direct result of the physical and the mental space I am in when I make the work.
I act as a sampler (as in music) of the abundant information available. Scientific theories, technological and geological models, maps, digital and satellite views, as well as NASA websites, books and magazines form the catalyst and interior armature for all of my work.
The vast open landscape and the big sky of the American West became an obsession as I was riding through it on horseback. I am an explorer, using geographical structures, rock formations, unique earth faults, weather phenomena etc. as visual and conceptual sources. Although my work is largely abstract, it is very much about making invisible energies and wavelengths visible.
Recently, I also began working with 3-D animated videos derived from my drawings. I basically re-build the drawings into a 3D model, making them move through time as well as space. In the animations, as well as my 2-D works, I aim to suggest new visual metaphors for our experience in non-linear, virtual spatial systems."
Maier’s 3D video animation was included in the Fokus Bienial in Lódz, Poland and her paintings are part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC) and the Museum der bildenden Kuenste Leipzig (Germany), amongst others. She is a recipient of the Pollack-Krasner Foundation grant and a Joan MItchell Foundation grant.
Maier's work has been featured in exhibitions at the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg (Germany) and “Remote Viewing” at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her work is included in numerous public collections, including the New Mexico Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art, The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, New York; Parrish Art Museum, Montauk, NY; Aspen Art Collection; MART, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto and Trentino, Italy; Staedtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany; Museum der bildenden Kuenste Leipzig, Bergmeier Collection, Germany; BAM Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA; Guilin Art Museum, Guilin, Guangxi, P.R. China. She currently lives in Brooklyn and New Mexico.
Ati Maier's work is included in the latest issue of New Observations.
Maier writes about her working process:
"I start with 3-15 overlapping sketches with which I create multiple layers suggesting the possibility of a novel compositional architecture. For example, I might begin with an abstract grid, add a galactic structure, then landscapes on top. It is in this time-consuming period that shapes begin to form and subside, subdivide and cut through and across one another. I weave the layers of space together in such a way that foreground, middle ground and background along with past, present and future become one dense coherence. Through my process the painting is like an organically growing puzzle coming together. The final image can never be predicted, as it is a direct result of the physical and the mental space I am in when I make the work.
I act as a sampler (as in music) of the abundant information available. Scientific theories, technological and geological models, maps, digital and satellite views, as well as NASA websites, books and magazines form the catalyst and interior armature for all of my work.
The vast open landscape and the big sky of the American West became an obsession as I was riding through it on horseback. I am an explorer, using geographical structures, rock formations, unique earth faults, weather phenomena etc. as visual and conceptual sources. Although my work is largely abstract, it is very much about making invisible energies and wavelengths visible.
Recently, I also began working with 3-D animated videos derived from my drawings. I basically re-build the drawings into a 3D model, making them move through time as well as space. In the animations, as well as my 2-D works, I aim to suggest new visual metaphors for our experience in non-linear, virtual spatial systems."
Maier’s 3D video animation was included in the Fokus Bienial in Lódz, Poland and her paintings are part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC) and the Museum der bildenden Kuenste Leipzig (Germany), amongst others. She is a recipient of the Pollack-Krasner Foundation grant and a Joan MItchell Foundation grant.
Maier's work has been featured in exhibitions at the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg (Germany) and “Remote Viewing” at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her work is included in numerous public collections, including the New Mexico Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art, The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, New York; Parrish Art Museum, Montauk, NY; Aspen Art Collection; MART, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto and Trentino, Italy; Staedtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany; Museum der bildenden Kuenste Leipzig, Bergmeier Collection, Germany; BAM Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA; Guilin Art Museum, Guilin, Guangxi, P.R. China. She currently lives in Brooklyn and New Mexico.
Ati Maier's work is included in the latest issue of New Observations.
Beatrice Mandelman Born on December 31, 1912 in Newark, New Jersey, from an early age Beatrice Mandelman was determined to be an artist. At age 12, she began taking classes at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art. In the 1930s, she attended Rutgers University, the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art and the Art Students League in New York City.
In 1935 Mandelman was employed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), first as a muralist and then as a printmaker with the Graphic Division of the New York Project. One of the original members of the Silk Screen Unit under Anthony Velonis, Mandelman worked in the WPA until 1942, when it was disbanded.
During this period she was associated with numerous New York School artists including Louis Lozowick, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Stuart Davis. By 1941, Mandelman’s works were included in important exhibitions at the Chicago Art Institute, the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
In 1942 Mandelman married Louis Ribak and in 1944, they traveled to Santa Fe to visit Ribak’s teacher and mentor, the artist John Sloan, who’d recommended the climate and atmosphere. Finding Santa Fe congested, they took the train along the Rio Grande and a stagecoach up to Taos and decided to settle there.
An impulsive and inspired move, it was a decision that would effectively remove them from the art world’s mainstream. In 1944 Taos was a well-known art community, but there were no galleries exhibiting modern art. A new influx of artists from New York and California during the late 40s and 50s would change this. A group of these artists, including Mandelman and Ribak, Ed Corbett, Agnes Martin, Oli Sihvonen, and Clay Spohn, would become known as the “Taos Moderns”.
Mandelman was an intensely dedicated painter. In the relative isolation of Northern New Mexico she found the freedom to develop a style that was distinctly her own. Inspired by the light, the local color, the landscape and the confluence of diverse cultures in Taos, her work flourished.
Through out her lifetime, together with Ribak and after his death in 1979, Mandelman was adventurous and profoundly curious about art and life and culture. She loved to travel and drew inspiration from it. Over the years she lived for extended periods in Mexico and traveled extensively in South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Beatrice Mandelman died on June 25th, 1998 in her home in Taos. In the last months of her life, she produced the thirty-one works in the Winter series. Over the span of seven decades, Beatrice Mandelman produced a body of work consisting of hundreds of paintings, prints, collages, and works on paper. Her work is held in many public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Denver Art Museum; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; works are also on long-term loan at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Biography courtesy of the Mandelman Ribak Foundation
In 1935 Mandelman was employed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), first as a muralist and then as a printmaker with the Graphic Division of the New York Project. One of the original members of the Silk Screen Unit under Anthony Velonis, Mandelman worked in the WPA until 1942, when it was disbanded.
During this period she was associated with numerous New York School artists including Louis Lozowick, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Stuart Davis. By 1941, Mandelman’s works were included in important exhibitions at the Chicago Art Institute, the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
In 1942 Mandelman married Louis Ribak and in 1944, they traveled to Santa Fe to visit Ribak’s teacher and mentor, the artist John Sloan, who’d recommended the climate and atmosphere. Finding Santa Fe congested, they took the train along the Rio Grande and a stagecoach up to Taos and decided to settle there.
An impulsive and inspired move, it was a decision that would effectively remove them from the art world’s mainstream. In 1944 Taos was a well-known art community, but there were no galleries exhibiting modern art. A new influx of artists from New York and California during the late 40s and 50s would change this. A group of these artists, including Mandelman and Ribak, Ed Corbett, Agnes Martin, Oli Sihvonen, and Clay Spohn, would become known as the “Taos Moderns”.
Mandelman was an intensely dedicated painter. In the relative isolation of Northern New Mexico she found the freedom to develop a style that was distinctly her own. Inspired by the light, the local color, the landscape and the confluence of diverse cultures in Taos, her work flourished.
Through out her lifetime, together with Ribak and after his death in 1979, Mandelman was adventurous and profoundly curious about art and life and culture. She loved to travel and drew inspiration from it. Over the years she lived for extended periods in Mexico and traveled extensively in South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Beatrice Mandelman died on June 25th, 1998 in her home in Taos. In the last months of her life, she produced the thirty-one works in the Winter series. Over the span of seven decades, Beatrice Mandelman produced a body of work consisting of hundreds of paintings, prints, collages, and works on paper. Her work is held in many public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Denver Art Museum; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; works are also on long-term loan at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Biography courtesy of the Mandelman Ribak Foundation
Franco Marzilli Franco Marzilli is an Italian Modernist painter and sculptor from Rome. His life's work is extremely varied, ranging from landscapes of the Roman Lazio countryside, to still lifes, to abstract subjects. Marzilli was at ease among landscape, still life and figure. His famous Roman landscapes, demonstrate a strength of draughtsmanship, enhanced by the extreme smoothness and refinement of color. In Marzilli's still lifes the bright colors are always wonderfully juxtaposed by lemons, grapes, apples, flowers that have the solidity of his ceramic sculptures, promising the fragrance and scent of reality.
Jan Matulka Jan Matulka was born in 1890 in a small town southwest of Prague, in what later became Czechoslovakia. In 1905 he took his first art classes in Prague, and two years later his family emigrated to the United States, settling in the Bronx, New York.
He then began taking classes at the National Academy of Design, continuing there through 1917. After he finished his training, he moved into a studio apartment in Manhattan and met Lida Jirouskova, whom he married in 1918. Throughout this time he traveled quite extensively, visiting the southwest United States, Czechoslovakia, Paris, and Prague. In 1917 he lived in New Mexico, where he adopted a cubist style and painted some the earliest modernist works in the Southwest. In addition, he also painted directly from life, recording ceremonial scenes and daily life in the Pueblos.
In 1926 Katherine Dreier arranged his first important one-man exhibition at The Art Center, 65 East 56th Street in New York. However their relationship soon began to sour due to disagreements between the two.
He then began taking classes at the National Academy of Design, continuing there through 1917. After he finished his training, he moved into a studio apartment in Manhattan and met Lida Jirouskova, whom he married in 1918. Throughout this time he traveled quite extensively, visiting the southwest United States, Czechoslovakia, Paris, and Prague. In 1917 he lived in New Mexico, where he adopted a cubist style and painted some the earliest modernist works in the Southwest. In addition, he also painted directly from life, recording ceremonial scenes and daily life in the Pueblos.
In 1926 Katherine Dreier arranged his first important one-man exhibition at The Art Center, 65 East 56th Street in New York. However their relationship soon began to sour due to disagreements between the two.
J. Jay McVicker J. Jay McVicker was an artist and educator. He was born in Vici, Oklahoma in 1911. He received his B.A. at Oklahoma State University, 1940 and his M.A. in 1941. He was on the faculty at OSU, Stillwater, 1941 as a professor of art, 1959-77, professor Emeritus, 1977 and headed the department, 1959-77.
During the 1940s McVicker produced black and white aquatints depicting his native Oklahoma landscape as well as industrialscapes in a very representational style. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he introduced color to his images in aquatint as well as silkscreen. It was during this time that he began shifting his style towards cubism and semi-abstraction.
During the 1940s McVicker produced black and white aquatints depicting his native Oklahoma landscape as well as industrialscapes in a very representational style. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he introduced color to his images in aquatint as well as silkscreen. It was during this time that he began shifting his style towards cubism and semi-abstraction.
Josef Meierhans Born in Aargau, Switzerland, Joseph Meierhans came to America in 1917 and lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania before settling in Perkasie in upper Bucks County. Meierhans was a prolific artist having produced many abstract paintings during his lifetime. He studied in New York at the Art Students League with Karl Knaths, John Sloan and later with A N Lindenmuth. He became a member of the Society of Independent Artists, the Provincetown Art Association, the Lansdale Art League, and the Lehigh Art Alliance.
He was also a member of American Abstract Artists, an avant-garde group in New York in 1936.
He was also a member of American Abstract Artists, an avant-garde group in New York in 1936.
Peter Miller The artist Peter Miller (1913-1996) was born Henrietta Myers. She changed her name to Peter shortly after concluding her studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1934, believing that she would be treated more fairly if the public thought her work was created by a man rather than a woman. Miller is today classified as an American Surrealist, a reputation that she earned for having shown in the early 1940s at the prestigious gallery of Julien Levy in New York, then considered the premiere showcase for Surrealist painting in the United States. Despite this affiliation, her worked shared little in common with the dream and fantasy world of European Surrealists, although reviewers of her exhibitions at the Julien Levy Gallery noted the unmistakable influence of the artists Joan Miró and Paul Klee.
These same reviewers observed that she was also influenced by sources in Native American art and culture, which today we know came from the fact that she divided her time between homes in Pennsylvania and New Mexico. She first came to Santa Fe as a child, but after her marriage in 1935 to Earle C. Miller, a fellow student at the Academy, she and her husband built a ranch in Española, about 25 miles north of Santa Fe (they purchased 85 acres, which allowed them to lease an additional five thousand acres from the Bureau of Land Management). From that point onward, they considered New Mexico their spiritual home. They were neighbors of the indigenous people of the Tewa Pueblo, whose crafts and religious beliefs fascinated her. The reliance of Native Americans upon the land and the animals who occupied it permeated her work for the remaining years of her career. Just as they believed that the creatures who surrounded them—birds, turtles, lizards, snakes—could serve as intermediaries in their communication with the gods of the underworld, Miller appropriated these same symbols in her paintings, along with abstract signs that she extrapolated from their pottery and petroglyphs.
Miller painted at her studio near San Ildefonso, New Mexico, as well as completing works on her farm in Pennsylvania. The Peyton Wright Gallery exhibits of 2021 and 2022 ("Coming Home" and "Coming Home Again") drew attention to paintings from her true "spiritual home" in New Mexico. Stylistically, reviewers of Miller's exhibition at the Julien Levy gallery in the 1940s noted a reference to the works of Miró, Klee and Picasso, further recognizing her themes/subjects were drawn from sources in Native American art and culture. This rapport existed because of Miller’s intimate familiarity with the customs, rituals and ceremonies of the Tewa, to which she was given unique access through of her friendship with Tilano Montoya, a Native American from the San Ildefonso Pueblo who was the companion of the writer Mary Warner, one of Peter Miller’s closest friends living in New Mexico at the time.
Until recently, Peter Miller had been yet another undiscovered figure within the history of American modernism; a lacuna the 2021 exhibition "Coming Home" rectified with wide critical acclaim and numerous acquisitions by collectors and curators alike. This continued exposure will draw her paintings to the attention of a whole new generation of critics, curators, historians, and collectors, finally giving her the recognition and critical acclaim she and her work rightly deserve.
2021 Albuquerque Journal - Exhibition Preview by Kathaleen Roberts
Pasatiempo - 2021 Exhibition Preview by Michael Abatemarco
These same reviewers observed that she was also influenced by sources in Native American art and culture, which today we know came from the fact that she divided her time between homes in Pennsylvania and New Mexico. She first came to Santa Fe as a child, but after her marriage in 1935 to Earle C. Miller, a fellow student at the Academy, she and her husband built a ranch in Española, about 25 miles north of Santa Fe (they purchased 85 acres, which allowed them to lease an additional five thousand acres from the Bureau of Land Management). From that point onward, they considered New Mexico their spiritual home. They were neighbors of the indigenous people of the Tewa Pueblo, whose crafts and religious beliefs fascinated her. The reliance of Native Americans upon the land and the animals who occupied it permeated her work for the remaining years of her career. Just as they believed that the creatures who surrounded them—birds, turtles, lizards, snakes—could serve as intermediaries in their communication with the gods of the underworld, Miller appropriated these same symbols in her paintings, along with abstract signs that she extrapolated from their pottery and petroglyphs.
Miller painted at her studio near San Ildefonso, New Mexico, as well as completing works on her farm in Pennsylvania. The Peyton Wright Gallery exhibits of 2021 and 2022 ("Coming Home" and "Coming Home Again") drew attention to paintings from her true "spiritual home" in New Mexico. Stylistically, reviewers of Miller's exhibition at the Julien Levy gallery in the 1940s noted a reference to the works of Miró, Klee and Picasso, further recognizing her themes/subjects were drawn from sources in Native American art and culture. This rapport existed because of Miller’s intimate familiarity with the customs, rituals and ceremonies of the Tewa, to which she was given unique access through of her friendship with Tilano Montoya, a Native American from the San Ildefonso Pueblo who was the companion of the writer Mary Warner, one of Peter Miller’s closest friends living in New Mexico at the time.
Until recently, Peter Miller had been yet another undiscovered figure within the history of American modernism; a lacuna the 2021 exhibition "Coming Home" rectified with wide critical acclaim and numerous acquisitions by collectors and curators alike. This continued exposure will draw her paintings to the attention of a whole new generation of critics, curators, historians, and collectors, finally giving her the recognition and critical acclaim she and her work rightly deserve.
2021 Albuquerque Journal - Exhibition Preview by Kathaleen Roberts
Pasatiempo - 2021 Exhibition Preview by Michael Abatemarco
Enrique Montenegro Enrique Montenegro was born in Valparaiso, Chile. After moving to the United States in his early 20s, he earned a BFA from the University of Florida in 1944, and studied further at the Art Students League in New York.
Montenegro taught painting at several schools, including Brown University, Penn State, and the University of New Mexico (1946-1952). He considers himself a painter who teaches, not a teacher who paints.
He moved a number of times during his career, settling in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Maryland, and finally, New Mexico, where he settled.
He occasionally paints with acrylics but prefers oils, even the smell of them. His early style was abstract expressionism, which eventually evolved into social realism. Montenegro is best known for his figurative paintings, but over his career he has also created landscapes, murals, and even collages.
Life Magazine (1957) advanced Montenegro's career by featuring his work in an article about western artists.
His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Albuquerque Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and the Museum of Art in Miami. In 2001, the City of Albuquerque purchased his oil painting, The Mall (1981), which is on permanent display in the Highland Senior Center, Albuquerque.
Bio by Larry Greenly, via Askart
Sources include:
City of Albuquerque Public Art Program.
The Albuquerque Museum Press Release: Enrique Montenegro: Artist and Teacher.
Personal interview
Montenegro taught painting at several schools, including Brown University, Penn State, and the University of New Mexico (1946-1952). He considers himself a painter who teaches, not a teacher who paints.
He moved a number of times during his career, settling in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Maryland, and finally, New Mexico, where he settled.
He occasionally paints with acrylics but prefers oils, even the smell of them. His early style was abstract expressionism, which eventually evolved into social realism. Montenegro is best known for his figurative paintings, but over his career he has also created landscapes, murals, and even collages.
Life Magazine (1957) advanced Montenegro's career by featuring his work in an article about western artists.
His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Albuquerque Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and the Museum of Art in Miami. In 2001, the City of Albuquerque purchased his oil painting, The Mall (1981), which is on permanent display in the Highland Senior Center, Albuquerque.
Bio by Larry Greenly, via Askart
Sources include:
City of Albuquerque Public Art Program.
The Albuquerque Museum Press Release: Enrique Montenegro: Artist and Teacher.
Personal interview
Paulette Morelli
Carl Morris Carl A. Morris was born in Yorba Linda, CA on May 12, 1911. Morris was inspired to become a painter in 1930 when he met Orozco at Pomona College. While in southern California he was active in the local art scene. He studied at the AIC and for three years in Paris and Vienna. During the late 1930s he was director of the Spokane (WA) Art Center and by 1941 had settled in Portland, OR. He was a figurative painter until the end of WWII and then painted abstractions. In 1985 he was given the Oregon Governor's Award for the Arts. Morris died in Portland on June 3, 1993.
Exhibitions include Paul Elder Gallery (SF), 1937 (solo); Oakland Art Gallery, 1937; Art Institute of Chicago, 1938; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1948; San Francisco Art Association, 1949; American Federation of Arts, 1960 (solo).
Works by Carl Morris are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Seattle Art Museum.
Exhibitions include Paul Elder Gallery (SF), 1937 (solo); Oakland Art Gallery, 1937; Art Institute of Chicago, 1938; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1948; San Francisco Art Association, 1949; American Federation of Arts, 1960 (solo).
Works by Carl Morris are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Seattle Art Museum.
Robert Motherwell American painter, Robert Motherwell, was one of the founders and principal exponents of Abstract Expressionism, who was among the first American artists to cultivate accidental elements in his work. A precocious youth, Motherwell received a scholarship to study art when he was 11 years old. He preferred academic studies, however, and eventually took degrees in aesthetics from Stanford and Harvard universities.
Motherwell decided to become a serious artist only in 1941. Although he was especially influenced by the Surrealist artists; Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, and André Masson; he remained largely self-taught. His early work followed no single style, but already contained motifs from which much of his later art grew.
Motherwell decided to become a serious artist only in 1941. Although he was especially influenced by the Surrealist artists; Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, and André Masson; he remained largely self-taught. His early work followed no single style, but already contained motifs from which much of his later art grew.
Marcia Myers Marcia Myers was an American painter best known for her large-scale Color Field abstractions. Emulating the traditional fresco painting techniques of ancient Rome, she used several layers of marble dust, acrylic varnish, as well as historical pigments like ochre and lapis lazuli. Born in 1949 in Scranton, PA, she went on to study at the Philadelphia College of Art and received her MFA from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. After finishing school, she received a Fulbright Grant to pursue her interest in Renaissance paintings in Florence and murals throughout Italy.
After completing her MFA in painting at George Washington University and a Fulbright scholarship, Marcia began teaching Art History at the Madeira School in Virginia. She later credited her academic training, including classes on materials and methods, with giving her the confidence to push the limits with the mediums that she experimented with when creating her frescoes.
Myers died in 2008 in Pennsylvania. Today, her works are in numerous public and corporate collections around the world, including the Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM; The Carnegie Institute, Washington, D.C.; Brussels, USEU Mission and Residence in Brussels, BE; the University of Kentucky Art Museum in Lexington; and the Denver Art Museum, among others.
After completing her MFA in painting at George Washington University and a Fulbright scholarship, Marcia began teaching Art History at the Madeira School in Virginia. She later credited her academic training, including classes on materials and methods, with giving her the confidence to push the limits with the mediums that she experimented with when creating her frescoes.
Myers died in 2008 in Pennsylvania. Today, her works are in numerous public and corporate collections around the world, including the Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM; The Carnegie Institute, Washington, D.C.; Brussels, USEU Mission and Residence in Brussels, BE; the University of Kentucky Art Museum in Lexington; and the Denver Art Museum, among others.
Dan Namingha Dan Namingha was born in 1950 in Keams Canyon, Arizona. He studied art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and The American Academy of Art in Chicago.
Namingha, whose ancestry is Hopi-Tewa, carries a strong family tradition of artistic expression into its fifteenth generation. His great-great-grandmother, Nampayco, is credited with rekindling the art of Hopi pottery, which his mother and sister continue. Namingha's uncles carve some of three hundred variations of Hopi kachinas - doll-sized, wooden renderings of ceremonial dancers who are messengers of the spirit world.
Namingha's studies at art schools and at the Institute of American Indian Arts led him toward the new movements that encouraged experimentation with traditional art forms. That sense of freedom is what he found so alluring in the art of the Abstract Expressionists, which he first discovered at the age of ten in an encyclopedia on his Arizona reservation. The works of Picasso and Klee, for example, which borrow petroglyphs and icons from indigenous cultures that the artists themselves did not understand, beguiled the young Namingha.
By imitating those masters he learned to transform, with deep understanding and authority, the symbols of his own visionary culture into contemporary art. By drawing on his 3500-year-old culture as well as his experience of modern America, Namingha gives us American art not only at its source but also at its best.
He has received commissions for public buildings (including the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix) and has had more than 35 group exhibitions and more than 16 one-man exhibitions; and has received numerous awards.
In 2009, the Institute of American Indian Arts awarded him an honorary doctorate and in 2016, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture named Namingha its 2016 "Living Treasure."
Namingha's work was part of the survey Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting (2019–21) at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.
Dan Namingha's artworks are in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Sundance Institute, the Wheelwright Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Heard Museum, among others, and in numerous foreign museums, including the British Royal Collection, London; the Naprstkovo Museum, Prague, Czechoslovakia; and Dahlem Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Biographical sources include Janet Hawkins in Harvard Magazine, November-December 1994; AskART.com; Niman Gallery
Namingha, whose ancestry is Hopi-Tewa, carries a strong family tradition of artistic expression into its fifteenth generation. His great-great-grandmother, Nampayco, is credited with rekindling the art of Hopi pottery, which his mother and sister continue. Namingha's uncles carve some of three hundred variations of Hopi kachinas - doll-sized, wooden renderings of ceremonial dancers who are messengers of the spirit world.
Namingha's studies at art schools and at the Institute of American Indian Arts led him toward the new movements that encouraged experimentation with traditional art forms. That sense of freedom is what he found so alluring in the art of the Abstract Expressionists, which he first discovered at the age of ten in an encyclopedia on his Arizona reservation. The works of Picasso and Klee, for example, which borrow petroglyphs and icons from indigenous cultures that the artists themselves did not understand, beguiled the young Namingha.
By imitating those masters he learned to transform, with deep understanding and authority, the symbols of his own visionary culture into contemporary art. By drawing on his 3500-year-old culture as well as his experience of modern America, Namingha gives us American art not only at its source but also at its best.
He has received commissions for public buildings (including the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix) and has had more than 35 group exhibitions and more than 16 one-man exhibitions; and has received numerous awards.
In 2009, the Institute of American Indian Arts awarded him an honorary doctorate and in 2016, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture named Namingha its 2016 "Living Treasure."
Namingha's work was part of the survey Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting (2019–21) at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.
Dan Namingha's artworks are in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Sundance Institute, the Wheelwright Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Heard Museum, among others, and in numerous foreign museums, including the British Royal Collection, London; the Naprstkovo Museum, Prague, Czechoslovakia; and Dahlem Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Biographical sources include Janet Hawkins in Harvard Magazine, November-December 1994; AskART.com; Niman Gallery
Robert Natkin Born in Chicago in 1930, Robert Natkin encountered Abstract Expressionism in 1949 through an article in Life magazine. At that time a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, he later lived briefly in New York, where he felt deeply influenced by Willem de Kooning’s paintings. Natkin’s style evolved through several series of paintings, sometimes revisited. As influences that have affected his work Natkin names American jazz vocalists such as Nina Simone and Billie Holliday as well as Post-Impressionist, Cubist and Abstract Expressionist painters.
Helmuth Naumer Known for his New Mexico landscape paintings, Helmuth Naumer worked in pastel, watercolor and oil but loved pastel the most because he didn't have to mix the paints nor worry about the color fading with time. For him, pastel was the most effective for catching the fleeting changes in atmosphere in the Southwest landscape. His paintings are generally composites of landscapes and not realistic depictions of a particular place.
John Opper Academically trained like many of his contemporaries, Opper came to New York in 1934, two years after his graduation from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. By 1937 Opper had become familiar with modernism, though he was not yet converted to the cause. In time, he became known as an Abstract Expressionist, a painter of large canvases in which vertical bands of varying widths pulsed with color. His gesture was controlled, yet dynamic; his overlays of color luminous and tactile. In these works, and in field paintings in which clouds of color seem to float against soft grounds, he strengthened his commitment to "painting as painting" that he first developed as a Hofmann student.
Arthur Osver In 1940, Arthur Osver settled in New York's Greenwich Village and went on to teach at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and then Columbia University. He was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1952, and he visited Italy and France a number of times throughout that decade. He also taught at Yale University and Cooper Union in New York in the late 1950s.
Osver came to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1960, serving as Professor of Art at Washington University until his retirement in 1981. He was the third high-profile artist attracted to the university by Dean Kenneth Hudson, who also hired Max Beckmann and Philip Guston.
Paintings by Osver appear in private collections and museums all over the world. Museum collectors include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
A retrospective exhibition of Osver's work was held at The Saint Louis Art Museum in March 2000. Known for painterly abstractions in glorious colors, Osver's latest body of work includes a new timely element: text from graphics and newsprint.
Osver came to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1960, serving as Professor of Art at Washington University until his retirement in 1981. He was the third high-profile artist attracted to the university by Dean Kenneth Hudson, who also hired Max Beckmann and Philip Guston.
Paintings by Osver appear in private collections and museums all over the world. Museum collectors include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
A retrospective exhibition of Osver's work was held at The Saint Louis Art Museum in March 2000. Known for painterly abstractions in glorious colors, Osver's latest body of work includes a new timely element: text from graphics and newsprint.
Emmy Lou Packard Emmy Lou Packard was born in California in 1914. Her father, Walter Packard, was an internationally known agronomist. In 1927, taking his family with him, he went to Mexico City as a consultant on the government's historic land reform program.
There, Ms. Packard, who drew and painted precociously at the age of 13, was taken by her mother to meet muralist Rivera and his wife, Frida Kahlo. Rivera later recalled the beauty of the little girl ``with the face of a French Gothic angel plucked from the reliefs of Chartres.'' When he came to San Francisco to do a fresco for the Treasure Island World's Fair in 1940 (now at City College of San Francisco), she was his full-time assistant and painted side by side with him on many areas of the 1,650-square-foot mural.
By then, Ms. Packard was a full- fledged artist who had studied from 1932 to 1936 at UC Berkeley, where she was art editor of the Daily Californian, the student newspaper, and of Occident, the campus literary magazine. She was also the first female editor of the Pelican, the humor magazine.
There, Ms. Packard, who drew and painted precociously at the age of 13, was taken by her mother to meet muralist Rivera and his wife, Frida Kahlo. Rivera later recalled the beauty of the little girl ``with the face of a French Gothic angel plucked from the reliefs of Chartres.'' When he came to San Francisco to do a fresco for the Treasure Island World's Fair in 1940 (now at City College of San Francisco), she was his full-time assistant and painted side by side with him on many areas of the 1,650-square-foot mural.
By then, Ms. Packard was a full- fledged artist who had studied from 1932 to 1936 at UC Berkeley, where she was art editor of the Daily Californian, the student newspaper, and of Occident, the campus literary magazine. She was also the first female editor of the Pelican, the humor magazine.
Young Sook Park Acclaimed ceramic artist Young Sook Park was raised in Kyongju, once the capital of the Shilla Kingdom. This fabled artistic enclave informed and inspired her dedication to mastering the art of traditional Korean pottery-making.
Renowned world wide for her technical abilities, versatility and precision, Park is recognized for her dedication to capturing the long-lost artistic traditions of the Joseon Dynasty (c. 1300- 1900ad).
Established in 1979, the YSP kiln and studio provided the tools and environment necessary for Ms. park to perfect her methods and distinctive style. Through constant, and intensive experimenting with material, form, scale and firing technique, Ms. Park blends traditional ways of making, and a contemporary sensibility. In doing so, Young Sook Park ceramics have realized a renaissance for the art of Korean clay making.
Renowned world wide for her technical abilities, versatility and precision, Park is recognized for her dedication to capturing the long-lost artistic traditions of the Joseon Dynasty (c. 1300- 1900ad).
Established in 1979, the YSP kiln and studio provided the tools and environment necessary for Ms. park to perfect her methods and distinctive style. Through constant, and intensive experimenting with material, form, scale and firing technique, Ms. Park blends traditional ways of making, and a contemporary sensibility. In doing so, Young Sook Park ceramics have realized a renaissance for the art of Korean clay making.
Ray Parker Originally from South Dakota, Ray Parker entered the University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1940; he earned his MFA in 1948. From 1948 to 1951 he taught painting at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. During the 1940s his paintings were heavily influenced by cubism. In the early 1950s, however, Parker became associated with the leading Abstract Expressionists of the day, including Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. Parker soon began to simplify and refine his works realizing that through abstraction, and color his paintings could convey and express emotion.Like Piet Mondrian, Stuart Davis and Jackson Pollock, Parker was a fan of jazz music; and his interest in jazz, combined with his interest in abstract expressionism, led to his improvised painting style.
Agnes Pelton Agnes Pelton (1881-1961) was born to American parents in Stuttgart, Germany. After her father died in 1890, she and her mother moved to Brooklyn, New York, where her mother taught piano lessons, as well as German and French. Young Agnes learned piano from her mother, and at age 14 began taking art classes at Pratt Institute. After graduating at age 19, she continued studying with two of her instructors, Arthur Wesley Dow and Hamilton Easter Field. She studied landscape painting with Dow, who emphasized structure, spirit, imagination, creation, and the non-naturalistic use of color, a technique he taught using Japanese prints to demonstrate space relations and the appropriate use of light and dark masses. Dow believed that the Japanese and the Chinese had already found the essence of the painting ideals that Modernism was still striving to achieve. Dow’s influence was critical to Pelton’s development of abstractions based on interior, spiritual values.
Pelton traveled to Italy for a year in 1910, where Field, also an enthusiast of oriental art, was residing. Under his guidance she studied Italian painters and did daily life drawing at the British Academy in Rome. Liberated by her studies, in 1911 she began what she called “Imaginative Paintings,” which were influenced by outdoor explorations of the effects of natural light, and continued through 1917. At a 1912 exhibition of Pelton’s recent paintings at Field’s studio in Ogunquit, Maine, Walt Kuhn was introduced to her work. Kuhn, the organizer of the Armory Show of 1913, invited her to exhibit two of her “Imaginative Paintings” in that landmark exhibition: Vine Wood and Stone Age.
Pelton made New York City her home Until 1921, but her need for solitude finally prompted her to find a rural environment, and she moved to Long Island. It was here in the winter of 1926 that she created her first original abstractions. She also began, during this time, to use notebooks to record her most personal thoughts on life and spiritual issues. From 1921 to 1932 Pelton traveled to Hawaii, New Hampshire, Beirut, Syria, Georgia, and Pasadena, finally relocating in Cathedral City outside of Palm Springs, California, where she remained for the rest of her life.
In the mid-1930s, Pelton became a founding member of a group of artists based in Taos, New Mexico, known as the Transcendental Painting Group (TPG). The TPG manifesto stated that their purpose was “to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space, color, light and design, to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual.” The manifesto included the statement that “the work does not concern itself with political, economic, or other social problems.” Arranging exhibitions of transcendental work that would “serve to widen the horizon of art” became the focus of the TPG’s activity.
Pelton was also deeply influenced by literature, and especially the Romantic poetry of Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth. Many of her paintings, in fact, have an accompanying poem that Pelton wrote herself, revealing elements of her inspiration for the images. She also read the esoteric and spiritualist writings of Madame Blavatsky on Theosophy and Occultism. A deeply spiritual person, Pelton’s life revolved around William Blake’s belief that “the Imagination is not a State: it is Human Existence itself.” As a person, Pelton was small, quiet, and described as “someone special” and having a “beautiful soul.” She believed that despite its many conflicts, the world was a place of kindness and grace.
Although Pelton's art had received some recognition, she remained relatively obscure on the national level until the 1995-1996 tour of a retrospective exhibition of her work, entitled "Agnes Pelton, Poet of Nature," which was curated by Michael Zakian. Pelton died just before she turned eighty and was cremated, leaving this world through the element of fire. Throughout her painting career, she had continued to express the spiritual in art and the possibilities within human reach.
Her work is found in numerous museums around the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Honolulu Museum of Art; University of New Mexico Art Museum; Oakland Museum of California; Palm Springs Art Museum; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York; San Diego Museum of Art; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; New Mexico Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art.
Pelton traveled to Italy for a year in 1910, where Field, also an enthusiast of oriental art, was residing. Under his guidance she studied Italian painters and did daily life drawing at the British Academy in Rome. Liberated by her studies, in 1911 she began what she called “Imaginative Paintings,” which were influenced by outdoor explorations of the effects of natural light, and continued through 1917. At a 1912 exhibition of Pelton’s recent paintings at Field’s studio in Ogunquit, Maine, Walt Kuhn was introduced to her work. Kuhn, the organizer of the Armory Show of 1913, invited her to exhibit two of her “Imaginative Paintings” in that landmark exhibition: Vine Wood and Stone Age.
Pelton made New York City her home Until 1921, but her need for solitude finally prompted her to find a rural environment, and she moved to Long Island. It was here in the winter of 1926 that she created her first original abstractions. She also began, during this time, to use notebooks to record her most personal thoughts on life and spiritual issues. From 1921 to 1932 Pelton traveled to Hawaii, New Hampshire, Beirut, Syria, Georgia, and Pasadena, finally relocating in Cathedral City outside of Palm Springs, California, where she remained for the rest of her life.
In the mid-1930s, Pelton became a founding member of a group of artists based in Taos, New Mexico, known as the Transcendental Painting Group (TPG). The TPG manifesto stated that their purpose was “to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space, color, light and design, to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual.” The manifesto included the statement that “the work does not concern itself with political, economic, or other social problems.” Arranging exhibitions of transcendental work that would “serve to widen the horizon of art” became the focus of the TPG’s activity.
Pelton was also deeply influenced by literature, and especially the Romantic poetry of Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth. Many of her paintings, in fact, have an accompanying poem that Pelton wrote herself, revealing elements of her inspiration for the images. She also read the esoteric and spiritualist writings of Madame Blavatsky on Theosophy and Occultism. A deeply spiritual person, Pelton’s life revolved around William Blake’s belief that “the Imagination is not a State: it is Human Existence itself.” As a person, Pelton was small, quiet, and described as “someone special” and having a “beautiful soul.” She believed that despite its many conflicts, the world was a place of kindness and grace.
Although Pelton's art had received some recognition, she remained relatively obscure on the national level until the 1995-1996 tour of a retrospective exhibition of her work, entitled "Agnes Pelton, Poet of Nature," which was curated by Michael Zakian. Pelton died just before she turned eighty and was cremated, leaving this world through the element of fire. Throughout her painting career, she had continued to express the spiritual in art and the possibilities within human reach.
Her work is found in numerous museums around the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Honolulu Museum of Art; University of New Mexico Art Museum; Oakland Museum of California; Palm Springs Art Museum; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York; San Diego Museum of Art; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; New Mexico Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art.
Matthew Pendleton Matthew Pendleton’s work challenges judgement; a pencil in his hand becomes a sorcerer’s wand, conjuring a meditation on the first known manual of Japanese gardening, the Sakuteiki (“records of garden-making”) or a never-ending dream-time journal from the Kimberley region of western Australia.
Compellingly precise, ripe with unfolding metaphysical lineage, the visual promise of Pendleton's work is profound.
Born in 1980 in Woodward, Oklahoma, Pendleton grew up inspired by the multidisciplinary practices of his older brothers, who each had their own artistic outlet. He settled in Denver in 2005 for a change of environment and to develop his own vision.
With no formal education in the arts, Pendleton makes his way and defines his process with focus, commitment, and an abundant investment of time.
Matthew Pendleton's work is a labor of quietness and precision. It can best be described as the physical footprint of a "living meditation."
Pendleton was never interested in the rendering of objects using realism. For him, abstraction is the mystery that comes out of his work; he never knows what a piece will be until it is complete.
Spending months - or even years - of focused attention on each piece, every line gives vitality to the work.
He begins each piece with a small, abstract shape against a paper field. Slowly, laboriously, he begins to outline the shape with spider-web thin lines. Never-touching and carefully drawn, these lines begin to take on a life of their own as the drawing's topography is revealed.
The lines create a visual echo of the central shape, rippling out in all directions to the edge of the paper, reacting and creating tension within and around each other.
“I feel my work can be described as continuous life, boundless growth and vibrating energy,” he told Peyton-Wright Gallery. “It's an exploration into one's eternal topography.“
Pendleton’s lines prevail and unfold, piquing our device-addled psyches, enjoining us to accompany him across the threshold and through the doorway of perception, the abiding frontispiece of Pendleton’s work.
Compellingly precise, ripe with unfolding metaphysical lineage, the visual promise of Pendleton's work is profound.
Born in 1980 in Woodward, Oklahoma, Pendleton grew up inspired by the multidisciplinary practices of his older brothers, who each had their own artistic outlet. He settled in Denver in 2005 for a change of environment and to develop his own vision.
With no formal education in the arts, Pendleton makes his way and defines his process with focus, commitment, and an abundant investment of time.
Matthew Pendleton's work is a labor of quietness and precision. It can best be described as the physical footprint of a "living meditation."
Pendleton was never interested in the rendering of objects using realism. For him, abstraction is the mystery that comes out of his work; he never knows what a piece will be until it is complete.
Spending months - or even years - of focused attention on each piece, every line gives vitality to the work.
He begins each piece with a small, abstract shape against a paper field. Slowly, laboriously, he begins to outline the shape with spider-web thin lines. Never-touching and carefully drawn, these lines begin to take on a life of their own as the drawing's topography is revealed.
The lines create a visual echo of the central shape, rippling out in all directions to the edge of the paper, reacting and creating tension within and around each other.
“I feel my work can be described as continuous life, boundless growth and vibrating energy,” he told Peyton-Wright Gallery. “It's an exploration into one's eternal topography.“
Pendleton’s lines prevail and unfold, piquing our device-addled psyches, enjoining us to accompany him across the threshold and through the doorway of perception, the abiding frontispiece of Pendleton’s work.
Florence Pierce Florence Pierce, the youngest member of the Taos Painters Group, was born in Washington, D.C. Her interest in art emerged at an early age, but her formal training did not begin until she was enrolled in 1935 at the Studio School of the Phillips Memorial Art Gallery (since renamed the Phillips Collection). At the museum, she learned of Emil Bisttram's Taos School of Art and soon traveled to New Mexico to study at the school for the three months of summer in 1936. By 1938 she was painting strong abstract paintings of a single floral or shell-like motif suspended in a background of indeterminate space, using a palette of two or three contrasting hues. Morang described her work as projecting "the non-objective into a slightly mystical field of beautiful color relationships.
Kenneth Pool Kenneth E. Pool was born about 1912 to Ray (mother) and Ross Pool of DeGraff, Ohio (Miami Township, Logan County, Ohio). The 1940 Census shows Kenneth E. Pool residing in Cincinnati, Ohio, and working as an interior decorator.
He enlists in the Army in 1942, and his occupation is listed as a commercial artist.
The Greeley Daily Tribune article dated Wednesday December 1943 reports Staff Sergeant Kenneth Pool at Lowry Field in Denver. “An artist of some renown, particularly around Cincinnati and at DeGraff, Ohio, where his mother lives, the 31-year-old sergeant came to Lowry’s armament school months ago ….” The article describes the murals painted by Pool at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver.
According to The Cincinnati Enquirer article on May 4, 1944, “Sergeant Pool, a native of DeGraff, Ohio, exhibited several of his paintings at shows in Cincinnati before he entered the service.”
After World War II, Pool remained in Denver and worked as an illustrator at the Air Force Finance Center in Denver until his retirement in the 1970s.
Biographical information courtesy Rob Lewis
He enlists in the Army in 1942, and his occupation is listed as a commercial artist.
The Greeley Daily Tribune article dated Wednesday December 1943 reports Staff Sergeant Kenneth Pool at Lowry Field in Denver. “An artist of some renown, particularly around Cincinnati and at DeGraff, Ohio, where his mother lives, the 31-year-old sergeant came to Lowry’s armament school months ago ….” The article describes the murals painted by Pool at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver.
According to The Cincinnati Enquirer article on May 4, 1944, “Sergeant Pool, a native of DeGraff, Ohio, exhibited several of his paintings at shows in Cincinnati before he entered the service.”
After World War II, Pool remained in Denver and worked as an illustrator at the Air Force Finance Center in Denver until his retirement in the 1970s.
Biographical information courtesy Rob Lewis
Ann Purcell Ann Purcell was born in 1941 in Washington, D.C. and raised in Arlington, Virginia. She received her B.A. from the Corcoran College of Art and Design and George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1973. While finishing her degree at the Corcoran, Purcell took a summer course with Washington Color School painter Gene Davis, who became her mentor and lifelong friend. Her development was also shaped by the artist’s colony at Provincetown, Massachusetts. There she was introduced to Robert Motherwell, from whose work Purcell has drawn much inspiration. Other sources of influence for Purcell are the cutouts of Matisse and paintings by Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko.
She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions at prestigious galleries around the country including: Berry Campbell Gallery and Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York City; Hokin Gallery in Chicago, Palm Beach, and Bay Harbor Island in Miami; Dart Gallery, Chicago; Bernard Jacobson Gallery in New York; and Osuna Gallery in Washington, DC., Miami, and Coconut Grove, Florida; and the Misrachi Gallery in Mexico City.
Purcell taught painting, drawing, and art history for many years at The Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, DC, The Smithsonian Institution and Parsons School of Art in New York. She has been a guest lecturer and artist-in-residence of various universities and a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in Painting, The Lester Hereward Cooke Foundation Grant for Mid-Career Achievement in Painting from The National Gallery of Art, a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, Gottlieb Grant and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant.
Purcell’s work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; the Santa Barbara Museum; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; and the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions at prestigious galleries around the country including: Berry Campbell Gallery and Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York City; Hokin Gallery in Chicago, Palm Beach, and Bay Harbor Island in Miami; Dart Gallery, Chicago; Bernard Jacobson Gallery in New York; and Osuna Gallery in Washington, DC., Miami, and Coconut Grove, Florida; and the Misrachi Gallery in Mexico City.
Purcell taught painting, drawing, and art history for many years at The Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, DC, The Smithsonian Institution and Parsons School of Art in New York. She has been a guest lecturer and artist-in-residence of various universities and a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in Painting, The Lester Hereward Cooke Foundation Grant for Mid-Career Achievement in Painting from The National Gallery of Art, a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, Gottlieb Grant and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant.
Purcell’s work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; the Santa Barbara Museum; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; and the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Helen (Barchilon) Redman Helen Redman, MFA, is an internationally exhibited figurative painter, mixed media artist, teacher, feminist commentator and grandmother, exploring personal identity, gender stereotypes, health issues, and cycles of life in the expressive tradition of Alice Neel and Frida Kahlo.
For over six decades, her work has centered on life passages — including pregnancy, mothering, illness, healing, and the death of a child, and on various stages of her children’s growth. Redman, who was born in 1940, has focused in recent years on exploring women’s journey through menopause and old age and contradicting the negativity provoked by aging in a sexist and youth oriented culture.
Redman was previously known as Helen Barchilon (married to Jacques Barchilon from 1960-1973).
She has taught at the University of Colorado and the University of Iowa, and has lectured and exhibited her art across the United States.
She has been an active force for gaining support and recognition for women in the Arts, co-founding Front Range Women in the Visual Arts in Boulder, Colorado in 1974 and the San Diego Women’s Caucus for the Arts in 1992. Redman is also part of the first online digital archive dedicated solely to feminist art at the Brooklyn Museum.
Redman’s art is included in the following permanent collections: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Frost Art Museum, FIU, Miami; San Diego Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, University of Colorado Collections, Boulder; Women’s Museum of California, San Diego, Cornell Fine Art Museum, Winter Park, Florida, and Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.
biographical sources: helenredman.com, Brooklyn Museum, dontshutup2021
For over six decades, her work has centered on life passages — including pregnancy, mothering, illness, healing, and the death of a child, and on various stages of her children’s growth. Redman, who was born in 1940, has focused in recent years on exploring women’s journey through menopause and old age and contradicting the negativity provoked by aging in a sexist and youth oriented culture.
Redman was previously known as Helen Barchilon (married to Jacques Barchilon from 1960-1973).
She has taught at the University of Colorado and the University of Iowa, and has lectured and exhibited her art across the United States.
She has been an active force for gaining support and recognition for women in the Arts, co-founding Front Range Women in the Visual Arts in Boulder, Colorado in 1974 and the San Diego Women’s Caucus for the Arts in 1992. Redman is also part of the first online digital archive dedicated solely to feminist art at the Brooklyn Museum.
Redman’s art is included in the following permanent collections: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Frost Art Museum, FIU, Miami; San Diego Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, University of Colorado Collections, Boulder; Women’s Museum of California, San Diego, Cornell Fine Art Museum, Winter Park, Florida, and Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.
biographical sources: helenredman.com, Brooklyn Museum, dontshutup2021
Paul Allen Reed A prominent member of the Washington Color School - a group of Color Field painters who worked and exhibited in Washington, D.C.’s avant-garde art scene in the second half of the 20th century - Paul Reed was born in Washington, D.C. He studied at San Diego State College and the Corcoran School of Art. Throughout the 1940s, Reed worked in New York City as an illustrator of magazines and designer of advertisements.
While in New York, Reed visited museums and galleries, becoming acquainted with New York Abstract Expressionists and Action Painters, such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. In 1950, Reed returned to Washington to start his own graphic design business. Through his childhood friend, Gene Davis, Reed became acquainted with the works of the artists at the Washington Workshop for the Arts, including Jacob Kainen and Kenneth Noland. He also formed friendships with fellow Color Painters Tom Downing and Howard Mehring, who introduced Reed to the work of their Washington Workshop mentor, Morris Louis.
Reed’s early paintings are highly gestural and expressionistic in style, similar to Davis’ early work. In the late 1950s, he encountered the technique of staining raw canvas with pigment – a technique made possible by the invention of water based acrylic paint and becoming increasingly popular with Louis and his Color School colleagues. Reed began staining in 1959.
Over the next several decades, his work evolved through a variety of forms and compositional structures, each designed as a vehicle for the expression of ‘pure color’.
Like Mehring, Reed believed in the use of precise geometrical form as the best vehicle for the exploration of color. Reed’s best-known works employ stripes, grids or curvilinear shapes filled with luminous, transparent colors in delicate hues that overlap and bleed into one another. Throughout his career, Reed also experimented with a variety of other artistic media, including welded sculpture, photography, and print-making. From 1962 - 1972, he served as Art Director for the Peace Corps. In 1973, he began teaching at the Corcoran School of Art.
Reed began exhibiting in the 1960s at a number of Washington galleries, including the Corcoran Gallery, the Washington Gallery of Art, Jefferson Place Gallery, and Adams ‐ Morgan Gallery. A number of his works were included in Gerald Nordland’s 1964 ‘Washington Color Painters’ exhibition at the Washington Gallery of Art. His works have been exhibited in a variety of prominent museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Phoenix Art Museum. He is included in a number of private and public collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum.
He died at his home in Phoenix in 2015 at the age of 96.
Sources & Further Reading:
Washington Gallery of Modern Art. The Washington Color Painters. 1965. Humblet, Claudine. The New American Abstraction 1950-¬‐ 1970. Italy: Skira, 2007.
While in New York, Reed visited museums and galleries, becoming acquainted with New York Abstract Expressionists and Action Painters, such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. In 1950, Reed returned to Washington to start his own graphic design business. Through his childhood friend, Gene Davis, Reed became acquainted with the works of the artists at the Washington Workshop for the Arts, including Jacob Kainen and Kenneth Noland. He also formed friendships with fellow Color Painters Tom Downing and Howard Mehring, who introduced Reed to the work of their Washington Workshop mentor, Morris Louis.
Reed’s early paintings are highly gestural and expressionistic in style, similar to Davis’ early work. In the late 1950s, he encountered the technique of staining raw canvas with pigment – a technique made possible by the invention of water based acrylic paint and becoming increasingly popular with Louis and his Color School colleagues. Reed began staining in 1959.
Over the next several decades, his work evolved through a variety of forms and compositional structures, each designed as a vehicle for the expression of ‘pure color’.
Like Mehring, Reed believed in the use of precise geometrical form as the best vehicle for the exploration of color. Reed’s best-known works employ stripes, grids or curvilinear shapes filled with luminous, transparent colors in delicate hues that overlap and bleed into one another. Throughout his career, Reed also experimented with a variety of other artistic media, including welded sculpture, photography, and print-making. From 1962 - 1972, he served as Art Director for the Peace Corps. In 1973, he began teaching at the Corcoran School of Art.
Reed began exhibiting in the 1960s at a number of Washington galleries, including the Corcoran Gallery, the Washington Gallery of Art, Jefferson Place Gallery, and Adams ‐ Morgan Gallery. A number of his works were included in Gerald Nordland’s 1964 ‘Washington Color Painters’ exhibition at the Washington Gallery of Art. His works have been exhibited in a variety of prominent museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Phoenix Art Museum. He is included in a number of private and public collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum.
He died at his home in Phoenix in 2015 at the age of 96.
Sources & Further Reading:
Washington Gallery of Modern Art. The Washington Color Painters. 1965. Humblet, Claudine. The New American Abstraction 1950-¬‐ 1970. Italy: Skira, 2007.
Doel Reed Born in Logansport, Indiana, Doel Reed was raised in Indianapolis. He originally studied and worked in architecture but his interest in art led him to enroll in the Cincinnati Art Academy in 1916. His studies were interrupted the following year when he left for France to serve in Word War I. Following his discharge in 1919, he returned to the Art Academy where he studied for another year. While at the Academy, Reed studied under James R. Hopkins, H.H. Wessel, and L.H. Meaken. It was under L.H. Meaken that Reed had his first, and only, formal training in the graphic arts. The artist developed an interest in the medium after he observed Meaken print from the plates of Frank Duveneck. By the 1950s Reed was considered to be a premier printmaker and was elected to membership in the National Academy of Design for graphic arts in 1952. In addition to printmaking, Reed worked regularly in several mediums including oil and casein.
Roland Reiss Roland Reiss’ practice as an artist spanned Abstract Expressionism, the plastic arts, and representational painting.
Best known for his dioramas of the 1970s and ’80s - Plexiglas-encased miniature sculpture assemblages examining the human condition and modern American culture - Reiss investigated various modes of making as he became enchanted by them, and remained a prolific artist on the cutting edge to the end of his life. For the last twenty years he was almost exclusively painting large, stylized flowers in works that critic James Scarborough described as “not still lives but Vanitas paintings for a digital age.”
Born in Chicago at the height of the Great Depression, Reiss moved with his family to Pomona, California during World War II. After attending the American Academy of Art in Chicago, he graduated from Mt. San Antonio College in Pomona and was forthwith drafted into the army during the Korean War, where he oversaw forty artists working at the Camp Roberts base in Central California. Shortly after he and fellow artist Robert Irwin won an Army prize, Reiss saw his orders to transfer to active combat in Korea canceled. On his return to civilian life, Reiss enrolled in UCLA on the GI bill, earning his MA in art in 1956.
That same year, Reiss took a job teaching painting at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he brought Clyfford Still, Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Brown, Nancy Graves, and Hilton Kramer to teach summer courses. In 1971 he returned to California, where he headed the graduate art program at Claremont Graduate University for thirty years, implementing a community-minded approach that brought national recognition to the program. An endowed chair in art was established in his name at the university in 2010.
Over the course of his widely varied sixty-year career, Reiss exhibited work at the 1975 Whitney Biennial and Documenta 7 1982). He received fourteen solo museum exhibitions, among them The Dancing Lessons: 12 Sculptures (1977) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). A 2014 retrospective at the Begovich Gallery at Cal State Fullerton highlighted his career of continual self-reinvention.
His works are held in the permanent collections of LACMA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Hammer Museum, all in Los Angeles; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA; and the Palm Springs Art Museum, California, among others.
He also received four National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowships for both painting and sculpture.
Writing in the pages of Artforum in 1977, critic Peter Clothier compared Reiss’s dioramas to the “disnarrative” novels of Alain Robbe-Grillet. “The viewer’s participation, then, is not simply that of putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle (whose final piece may be missing), since all the necessary elements are present. The process is rather one of continuing reconstitution, with the realization that each reconstituted structure is a provisional one,” wrote Clothier. “Beyond the fantasy of the work, it thus becomes a model for our experience of reality itself.”
He died on December 13, 2020, in Los Angeles at the age of 91.
biographical sources: Artforum, Diane Rosenstein Gallery
Best known for his dioramas of the 1970s and ’80s - Plexiglas-encased miniature sculpture assemblages examining the human condition and modern American culture - Reiss investigated various modes of making as he became enchanted by them, and remained a prolific artist on the cutting edge to the end of his life. For the last twenty years he was almost exclusively painting large, stylized flowers in works that critic James Scarborough described as “not still lives but Vanitas paintings for a digital age.”
Born in Chicago at the height of the Great Depression, Reiss moved with his family to Pomona, California during World War II. After attending the American Academy of Art in Chicago, he graduated from Mt. San Antonio College in Pomona and was forthwith drafted into the army during the Korean War, where he oversaw forty artists working at the Camp Roberts base in Central California. Shortly after he and fellow artist Robert Irwin won an Army prize, Reiss saw his orders to transfer to active combat in Korea canceled. On his return to civilian life, Reiss enrolled in UCLA on the GI bill, earning his MA in art in 1956.
That same year, Reiss took a job teaching painting at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he brought Clyfford Still, Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Brown, Nancy Graves, and Hilton Kramer to teach summer courses. In 1971 he returned to California, where he headed the graduate art program at Claremont Graduate University for thirty years, implementing a community-minded approach that brought national recognition to the program. An endowed chair in art was established in his name at the university in 2010.
Over the course of his widely varied sixty-year career, Reiss exhibited work at the 1975 Whitney Biennial and Documenta 7 1982). He received fourteen solo museum exhibitions, among them The Dancing Lessons: 12 Sculptures (1977) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). A 2014 retrospective at the Begovich Gallery at Cal State Fullerton highlighted his career of continual self-reinvention.
His works are held in the permanent collections of LACMA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Hammer Museum, all in Los Angeles; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA; and the Palm Springs Art Museum, California, among others.
He also received four National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowships for both painting and sculpture.
Writing in the pages of Artforum in 1977, critic Peter Clothier compared Reiss’s dioramas to the “disnarrative” novels of Alain Robbe-Grillet. “The viewer’s participation, then, is not simply that of putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle (whose final piece may be missing), since all the necessary elements are present. The process is rather one of continuing reconstitution, with the realization that each reconstituted structure is a provisional one,” wrote Clothier. “Beyond the fantasy of the work, it thus becomes a model for our experience of reality itself.”
He died on December 13, 2020, in Los Angeles at the age of 91.
biographical sources: Artforum, Diane Rosenstein Gallery
Milton Resnick A painter, especially noted for Abstract Expressionism, Ukrainian-born Milton Resnick once wrote: . . "art need not be more than a serious but wanton game of leap-frog and that newism is not its goal" (Herskovic, 282).
Milton Resnick was born in the Ukraine and arrived in New York City in 1922 at age five. He settled in Brooklyn with his family and attended public school where a teacher re-named him from his birth name of Rachmiel and nickname of Milya to Milton. At age 14, he enrolled in the commercial art program at the Pratt Institute Evening School of Art in Brooklyn, but a teacher there suggested he switch to fine arts, so the next year he enrolled in the American Artists School* in New York City. Ad Reinhardt, future Abstract Expressionist, was a classmate, and they shared a budding interest in abstraction.
However, Resnick's father forbid any expression from his son of wanting to be an artist and faced with this disapproval of his commitment to painting, Resnick moved out of the family home in 1934 when he was 17. He supported himself as an elevator boy and continued at the American Artists School, where he was given a small studio room and each day provided with materials left behind by students attending night classes.
During the Depression Resnick was in the Easel and Mural Division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). By 1938, he had his own studio on West 21st Street, and there was near Willem de Kooning with whom he formed a close friendship in the 1960s. However, Resnick's art career was interrupted by World War II, and he served five years in the Army, stationed in Iceland and Europe. After the War, he lived for three years in Paris, where among others, he associated with modernist sculptors Alberto Giacometti and Constantin Brancusi.
In 1948, Milton Resnick returned to New York, and used his G.I. benefits to enroll in abstract expressionist painter Hans Hofmann's school. He also took a studio on East 8th Street, near Jackson Pollock, de Kooning, and Franz Kline, and in September met artist Pat Passlof, whom he married in 1961.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Resnick earned respect for his Abstract Expressionist paintings and also was unique for being one of the few New York artists to have a large working space for large-scale canvases. In 1976, he purchased the space that served him to the end of his active career, an abandoned synagogue on Eldridge Street on New York's lower east side. It was near his wife's studio, which was another abandoned synagogue and purchased by the couple in 1963.
During his career, Resnick was also an art educator, who taught at Pratt Institute and New York University beginning 1964.
MILTON RESNICK
1917 Born Bratslav, Ukraine, 2004 Died New York, NY
EDUCATION
Pratt Institute 1932
American Artists School 1933-1937
Worked for W.P.A. Art Project 1938-1939
Military Service, U.S. Army 1940-1945
Lived and painted in Paris 1946-1948
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Milton Resnick: Selections for the Estate,
Milton Resnick. A Question of Seeing:
Paintings 1958 - 1963, Cheim & Read, New York 2008
Milton Resnick: The Life of Paint,
The Anthony Giordano Gallery, Dowling College,
Oakdale, New York
Milton Resnick: Late Works, New York Studio School 2005
Robert Miller Gallery, New York 1985, 1986, 1991,1995,
1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002
Nielsen Gallery, Boston 2000
The Substance of Painting: Part I Milton Resnick:
New Paintings on Paper &Panel, d.p.
Fong and Spratt Galleries, San Jose, CA
Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles 1988
Galerie Montenay-Delsol, Paris 1987
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX
CompassRose Gallery, Chicago
Arbeiten auf Papier, Galerie Biedermann, Munich 1986
Gallery Urban, Nagoya, Japan
Milton Resnick: Paintings 1945 - 1985, Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston (traveled to
University Art Museum, California State University,
Long Beach)
Hand in Hand Galleries, New York
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX
Gruenebaum Gallery, New York 1983
Main Gallery, Art Department, San Jose State University,
San Jose, CA
Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York 1972, 1977, 1979,
1980, 1982
Poindexter Gallery, New York 1957, 1959, 1975
Kent State University Art Galleries, Kent, OH 1973
Roswell Museum and Art Center, NM 1971
Arden Anderson Gallery, Edgartown, MA 1969
Reed College, Portland, OR 1968
Madison Art Center, Madison, WI 1967
Howard Wise Gallery, New York 1960, 1961, 1967
Feiner Gallery, New York 1962, 1967
Zabriskie Gallery, Provincetown, MA 1963
Howard Wise Gallery, Cleveland, OH 1960
Ellison Gallery, Fort Worth, TX 1959
Holland-Goldowsky Gallery, Chicago 1959
American Association of University
Women of Rochester, NY 1959
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum 1955
& California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Abstractions by Gallery Artists,
Cheim & Read, New York 2009
Club Without Walls, Butler's Fine Art, East Hampton, NY
Pretty Ugly, Maccarone Gallery, New York 2008
Significant Form, the Persistence of Abstraction,
Maly Manege State Exhibition Hall, Moscow
New American Abstraction: 1950-1970, Gary Snyder/Project Space, New York
Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg 2007
Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Significant Form, The Persistence of Abstraction, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
The New Landscape/The New Still Life: Soutine
and Modern Art, Cheim & Read, New York 2006
1950 to Now: Works from the Collection,
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida 2005
The Continuous Mark: 40 Years of the New York Studio School: Part 2 (1971 -1978), New York Studio School, New York 2005
Ground - Field - Surface,
Robert Miller Gallery, New York 2004
The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints,
Worcester Art Museum,Worcester, MA; exhibition traveled to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 2001-03
Monet un die Moderne (Monet and Modernism),
Kunsthalle, Munich exhibition traveled to
Fondation Beyeler, Basel/Riehen 2001-02
2001 A Winter Group of Artist Couples, Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York
176th Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York
Excavating Abstract Expressionism, Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain 2000-01
Nature: Contemporary Art and the Natural World,
Contemporary Gallery, Marywood University,
Scranton, PA 2000
Painting Abstraction, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York
Art in America: 2000, Art in Embassies Program,
Ambassadorial Residence to the Slovak Republic 1999-2001
The American Century: Art & Culture 1950 - 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1999-2000
Painters/Painters, Frederick Spratt Gallery
(in association with Larry Evans/
James Willis Gallery), San Francisco; exhibition traveled to Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose 1999
Material Abstraction, Kingsborough Community College of CUNY Art Gallery, Brooklyn; coordinated exhibition with Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York
The Figure Revisited, The Gallery at
Hastings-On-Hudson, NY 1997
After the Fall: Aspects of Abstract Painting Since 1970, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY
Abstract Expressionism in the United States, Centro Cultural Arte
Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico 1996
Summer Group Show, Robert Miller Gallery
1995 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1995
10 + 10, New York Studio School, New York
Action and Edge: 1950s and 1960s, Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York
The Small Painting, O'Hara Gallery, New York
1994 Paths of Abstraction: Painting in New York 1944 - 1981, Selections from the
Ciba Art Collection, Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, Hunter College, New York
Abstract Works on Paper, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
With a Passage of Time, Vanderwoude Tananbaum Gallery, New York
Reclaiming Artists of the New York School: Toward a More Inclusive View of the 1950s, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, The City University of NewYork, New York
Isn't it Romantic?, curated by Michael Walls, On Crosby Street, New York
The Shaman as Artist/The Artist as Shaman, Aspen Art Museum, CO
Star Zone, Bondie's Contemporary Art, New York 1993
Timely & Timeless, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
The Inaugural Show, The Painting Gallery, New York
Windows and Doors, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York
The Usual Suspects, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and
Abstract - Figurative, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Awards, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
Important Works on Paper, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, TX 1992
Summer Group Exhibition, Ginny Williams Gallery, Denver (5/14 - 6/30/92)
Painters, Trenkmann Gallery, New York
Paint, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
Paths to Discovery The New York School: Works on Paper from the 1950s and
1960s, curated by Ellen Russotto, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College,
City University of New York
Al Held and Milton Resnick 1955 - 1965, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles
Painting, Galerie Lelong, New York 1991
The New York School: Works on Paper from the Fifties & Sixties, Elston Fine Arts, New York
Contemporary Abstract Paintings: Resnick, Reed, Laufer & Moore, Muscarelle
Museum of Art, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Line & Action, Tavelli Gallery, Aspen, CO 1990
Group Exhibition, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles Changing Perceptions: The Evolutions of Twentieth Century American Art, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
Forty-second Annual Academy-Institute Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
Some Seventies Works, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
The Figure in the 20th Century, Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX
Works by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Awards, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
Academy-Institute Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
The Image of Abstract Paintings in the 1980s, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Envoys, New York Studio School 1989
Forty-first Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
The Gestural Impulse 1945 - 1960, Whitney Museum of American Art (Federal Reserve Plaza), New York
Exhibition of Masterworks, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
A Decade of American Drawing 1980 - 1989, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles
Selections from the Collection of Marc and Livia Strauss, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Abstraction as Landscape, Gallery Urban, New York 1988
Recent Painterly Paintings, Schreiber/Cutler, Inc., New York
Works on Paper, Beijing Art Institute, Beijing, China (traveled to Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China; Alisan Gallery, Hong Kong; Newhouse Center For Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY; Nielsen Gallery,
Boston, MA
The Presence of Nature: Some American Paintings, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
After Pollock: Three Decades of Diversity, Iannetti Lanzone Gallery, San Francisco
Black, Siegeltuch Gallery, New York
American Still Life, 1980 - 87, Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX
Post Abstract Expressionism, Vanderwonde Tananbaum Gallery, New York
Modern: Contemporary Masters, Lever/Meyerson Galleries, New York
Inner Worlds, Sarah Lawrence College Art Gallery, Bronxville, NY
Portraits, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York 1986
The 1950s American Artists in Paris, Part III, Denise Cade Gallery, New York
Monotypes, Oscarsson Siegeltuch, New York
Summer Group Show, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Absolutes Defined: Line, Light and Surface, Oscarsson Siegeltuch, New York
Portraits and Self-Portraits, Sorkin Gallery, New York
Heads, Mokotoff Gallery, New York
Naked Paint, Newhouse Gallery, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY
The Gathering of the Avant Garde: The Lower East Side, 1950 - 70, Kenkelba House, Inc., New York 1985
Group Show, Art Galaxy, New York
Masters of the Fifties American Abstract Painting from Pollock to Stella, Marisa Del Re Gallery, New York
Group Show, Hand in Hand Galleries, New York 1984
Salvo, Siegel Contemporary Art, New York
Summer Group Show, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
1 + 1 = 2, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York
Summer Group Show, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Group Show, Art Galaxy, New York
Beauties & Beasts, Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery, Pratt Institute, New York
New York to Bennington, Bennington College, NY 1983
Paintings of the 1970s, Queens College, New York
Summer Group Show, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Purism, Segal Gallery, New York
Vintage New York, Contemporary Art at One Penn Plaza, One Penn Plaza, New York
Paint as Image, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Four Painters, Art Galaxy, New York 1982
Synergy/Artists 1+1=3, Thorpe Intermedia Gallery, Sparkhill, NY
Tenth Anniversary Exhibition of major Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Gruenebaum Gallery, New York 1981
1981 Painting Invitational, Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York
Art for Your Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Abstract Expressionism From the Michener Collection, Abilene Fine Arts Museum, Abilene, TX
For Love and Money: Dealers Choose I, Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery, Pratt Institute, New York (traveled to Hartwick College Museums, Oneonta, NY)
CIBA-GEIGY Collects: Aspects of Abstraction, Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX
An American Choice: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Luminosity in Paint, Landmark Gallery, New York 1980
American Painting of the 1970s, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (traveled) 1978
Recent Works on Paper by Contemporary American Artists, Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
In the Realm of the Monochromatic: 17 Painters, Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York
Critic's Choice: A Loan Exhibition from the New York Gallery Season, 1976 - 77,
The Joe & Emily Lowe Art Gallery, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 1977
New York - The State of the Art, New York State Museum, Albany, NY
1976 Works on Paper from the CIBA-GEIGY Collection, Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, Wichita Falls, KS
Around 10th Street: Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s, Young-Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
From Foreign Born American Masters, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI
Abstract Expressionists and Imagists: A Retrospective View and Exhibition of Paintings from the Michener Collection, Archer M. Huntington Gallery, The University at Austin, Austin, TX
1974 Works on Paper from CIBA-GEIGY Collection, Summit Art Center, Summit, NJ
The 1960s: Color Painting in the United States from the Michener Collection,
University Art Museum, The University of Texas at Austin, TX
Frank O'Hara, A Poet Among Painters, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Five American Painter's Recent Work: De Kooning, Mitchell, Motherwell, Resnick, Tworkov, The Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara
Group Show, Gallery A, Sydney, Australia 1973
Works on Paper, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Group Show, Landmark Gallery, New York
American Art at Mid-Century I, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Abstract Expressionism: The First and Second Generations, Selected from Paintings in the Michener Collection, University Art Museum, University of
Texas at Austin, TX
Visual R&D: A Corporation Collects: The CIBA-GEIGYCollection of Contemporary
Paintings, University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, TX
Selections from the New York University Collection, William Benton Museum, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
1973 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The Michener Collection: American Paintings of the 20th 1972
Century Inaugural Exhibition in the Michener Galleries, University of Texas at Austin, TX
A New Consciousness: The CIBA-GEIGY Collection, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY 1971
American Paintings of the Sixties from the Michener Collection, Tyler Museum of Art, University of Texas, TX
20th Century Painting and Sculpture from the New York University Art Collection, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
American Social Realism Between the Wars from the Michener Collection, University of Texas Art Galleries, Austin, TX
Selections from the Vincent Melzac Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 1970
The New American Painting and Sculpture: The First Generation, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Group Show, Bundy Gallery, Waitsfield, VT
American Paintings: The 1950s, Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA (traveled to Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS; 1968
Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Roberson Memorial Center for the Arts & Sciences, Binghamton, NY; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Huntington National Bank, Columbus, OH; Edmonton Art Gallery)
American Abstract Expressionists from the Michener Foundation Collection, Millersville State College, PA
The Neuberger Collection: An American Collection of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture I, (traveled to National Gallery of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC) The Neuberger Collection: An American Collection of Paintings, Drawings and
Sculpture I, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, and Annmary Brown Memorial, Brown University, Providence, RI
Painting as Painting, University Art Museum, The University of Texas at Austin, TX
1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1967
Contemporary Paintings from the Michener Foundation Collection, Old Dominion College, Norfolk, VA
Selections from the Michener Foundation Collection, Perkiomen School, Pittsburgh, PA
Large Scale American Paintings, Jewish Museum, New York
Twentieth Century American Painters from the Michener 1966
Foundation Collection, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
New Acquisitions 1963-66, The James A. Michener Foundation Collection, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
One Hundred and Sixty First Annual Exhibition of American Painting and Sculpture, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Expressionism of the Fifties, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO 1965
79Painters Who Paint, Poindexter Gallery; Graham Gallery; Martha Jackson Gallery; Kornblee Gallery; Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York (simultaneous exhibitions)
1964 Group Show, The Gallery of Modern Art, Scottsdale, AZ
New Accessions, U.S.A., Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO
Recent American Paintings, University Art Museum, the University of Texas at Austin, TX
Annual Exhibition 1963, Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1963
American Impressionists: Two Generations, Fort Lauderdale Art Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Directions - American Paintings, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco
The Closing Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1962
Art: USA Now - The Johnson Collection of Contemporary American Paintings,
Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI
Contemporary Art in Cleveland Collections, Cleveland museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Art Since 1950: America and International, Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, WA
Tenth Street, 1952, Tanager Gallery, New York
One Hundred and Fifty Seventh Annual Exhibition of American Painting and
Sculpture, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
65th American Exhibition: Some Directions in Contemporary Painting and
Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Pan American Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, United States Information Agency (traveling exhibition) 1961
American Vanguard Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, United States Information Agency (traveling exhibition)
Group Show, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Annual Exhibition of 1961, Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Contemporary Paintings Selected from 1960 - 1961 New York Gallery Exhibitions, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
American Abstract Expressionists and Imagists, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The Face of the Fifties, Recent Painting and Sculpture From the Collection of the Whitney Museum of Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Group Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1960
An Exhibition of Modern American Painting and Sculpture, Kroeber Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA
The Horace Richter Collection: Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
60 American Painters - Abstract Expressionists Painting of the Fifties, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Contemporary American Painting, Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, OH
1959 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Paintings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1959
Milton Resnick/Edward Dugmore, Allyn Gallery, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
Milton Resnick Paintings and Aaron Siskind Photographs, Holland-Goldosky Gallery, Chicago, IL
Project I, Longview Foundation Purchases in Modern American Painting and Sculpture for the Union Sanatorium Association of the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1958
Painting and Sculpture Acquisitions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The 30s: Painting in New York, Poindexter Gallery, New York
1957 Annual Exhibition: Sculpture, Paintings and Watercolor, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1957
Group Show, March Gallery, New York
Museum Purchase Fund Collection, Syracuse Museum, Syracuse, New York (traveled)
U.S. Representation: Fourth International Art Exhibition, Metropolitan Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Group Show, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
Artists of the New York School: Second Generation Paintings by Twenty-Three Artists, Jewish Museum, New York
Group Show, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
Group Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1956
Mid-Season Salon, Camino Gallery, New York
Fifth Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The Stable Gallery, New York
Group Show, March Gallery, New York
Paintings, Sculpture, Tanager Gallery, New York 1955
Group Show, Poindexter Gallery, New York
The Stable Show, The Stable Gallery, New York
Third Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The Stable Gallery, New York 1954
Group Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1953
Second Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The Stable Gallery, New York
Paintings - Sculpture, Tanager Gallery, New York 1952
9th Street Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 60 East 9th Street, New York 1951
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princetown, NJ
Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta, India
Carlson Gallery, University of Bridgeport College of Fine Arts, Bridgeport, CT
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
College Union Collection, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
The Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University, New York
Hampton University Museum, Hampton University, Hampton, VA
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Jonson Gallery, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
Malmö Konsthall, Stockhom, Sweden
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery, Ottawa, Canada
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
University of Nebraska; Lincoln/Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln, NE
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley, CA
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IO
Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Milton Resnick was born in the Ukraine and arrived in New York City in 1922 at age five. He settled in Brooklyn with his family and attended public school where a teacher re-named him from his birth name of Rachmiel and nickname of Milya to Milton. At age 14, he enrolled in the commercial art program at the Pratt Institute Evening School of Art in Brooklyn, but a teacher there suggested he switch to fine arts, so the next year he enrolled in the American Artists School* in New York City. Ad Reinhardt, future Abstract Expressionist, was a classmate, and they shared a budding interest in abstraction.
However, Resnick's father forbid any expression from his son of wanting to be an artist and faced with this disapproval of his commitment to painting, Resnick moved out of the family home in 1934 when he was 17. He supported himself as an elevator boy and continued at the American Artists School, where he was given a small studio room and each day provided with materials left behind by students attending night classes.
During the Depression Resnick was in the Easel and Mural Division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). By 1938, he had his own studio on West 21st Street, and there was near Willem de Kooning with whom he formed a close friendship in the 1960s. However, Resnick's art career was interrupted by World War II, and he served five years in the Army, stationed in Iceland and Europe. After the War, he lived for three years in Paris, where among others, he associated with modernist sculptors Alberto Giacometti and Constantin Brancusi.
In 1948, Milton Resnick returned to New York, and used his G.I. benefits to enroll in abstract expressionist painter Hans Hofmann's school. He also took a studio on East 8th Street, near Jackson Pollock, de Kooning, and Franz Kline, and in September met artist Pat Passlof, whom he married in 1961.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Resnick earned respect for his Abstract Expressionist paintings and also was unique for being one of the few New York artists to have a large working space for large-scale canvases. In 1976, he purchased the space that served him to the end of his active career, an abandoned synagogue on Eldridge Street on New York's lower east side. It was near his wife's studio, which was another abandoned synagogue and purchased by the couple in 1963.
During his career, Resnick was also an art educator, who taught at Pratt Institute and New York University beginning 1964.
MILTON RESNICK
1917 Born Bratslav, Ukraine, 2004 Died New York, NY
EDUCATION
Pratt Institute 1932
American Artists School 1933-1937
Worked for W.P.A. Art Project 1938-1939
Military Service, U.S. Army 1940-1945
Lived and painted in Paris 1946-1948
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Milton Resnick: Selections for the Estate,
Milton Resnick. A Question of Seeing:
Paintings 1958 - 1963, Cheim & Read, New York 2008
Milton Resnick: The Life of Paint,
The Anthony Giordano Gallery, Dowling College,
Oakdale, New York
Milton Resnick: Late Works, New York Studio School 2005
Robert Miller Gallery, New York 1985, 1986, 1991,1995,
1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002
Nielsen Gallery, Boston 2000
The Substance of Painting: Part I Milton Resnick:
New Paintings on Paper &Panel, d.p.
Fong and Spratt Galleries, San Jose, CA
Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles 1988
Galerie Montenay-Delsol, Paris 1987
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX
CompassRose Gallery, Chicago
Arbeiten auf Papier, Galerie Biedermann, Munich 1986
Gallery Urban, Nagoya, Japan
Milton Resnick: Paintings 1945 - 1985, Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston (traveled to
University Art Museum, California State University,
Long Beach)
Hand in Hand Galleries, New York
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX
Gruenebaum Gallery, New York 1983
Main Gallery, Art Department, San Jose State University,
San Jose, CA
Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York 1972, 1977, 1979,
1980, 1982
Poindexter Gallery, New York 1957, 1959, 1975
Kent State University Art Galleries, Kent, OH 1973
Roswell Museum and Art Center, NM 1971
Arden Anderson Gallery, Edgartown, MA 1969
Reed College, Portland, OR 1968
Madison Art Center, Madison, WI 1967
Howard Wise Gallery, New York 1960, 1961, 1967
Feiner Gallery, New York 1962, 1967
Zabriskie Gallery, Provincetown, MA 1963
Howard Wise Gallery, Cleveland, OH 1960
Ellison Gallery, Fort Worth, TX 1959
Holland-Goldowsky Gallery, Chicago 1959
American Association of University
Women of Rochester, NY 1959
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum 1955
& California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Abstractions by Gallery Artists,
Cheim & Read, New York 2009
Club Without Walls, Butler's Fine Art, East Hampton, NY
Pretty Ugly, Maccarone Gallery, New York 2008
Significant Form, the Persistence of Abstraction,
Maly Manege State Exhibition Hall, Moscow
New American Abstraction: 1950-1970, Gary Snyder/Project Space, New York
Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg 2007
Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Significant Form, The Persistence of Abstraction, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
The New Landscape/The New Still Life: Soutine
and Modern Art, Cheim & Read, New York 2006
1950 to Now: Works from the Collection,
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida 2005
The Continuous Mark: 40 Years of the New York Studio School: Part 2 (1971 -1978), New York Studio School, New York 2005
Ground - Field - Surface,
Robert Miller Gallery, New York 2004
The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints,
Worcester Art Museum,Worcester, MA; exhibition traveled to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 2001-03
Monet un die Moderne (Monet and Modernism),
Kunsthalle, Munich exhibition traveled to
Fondation Beyeler, Basel/Riehen 2001-02
2001 A Winter Group of Artist Couples, Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York
176th Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York
Excavating Abstract Expressionism, Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain 2000-01
Nature: Contemporary Art and the Natural World,
Contemporary Gallery, Marywood University,
Scranton, PA 2000
Painting Abstraction, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York
Art in America: 2000, Art in Embassies Program,
Ambassadorial Residence to the Slovak Republic 1999-2001
The American Century: Art & Culture 1950 - 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1999-2000
Painters/Painters, Frederick Spratt Gallery
(in association with Larry Evans/
James Willis Gallery), San Francisco; exhibition traveled to Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose 1999
Material Abstraction, Kingsborough Community College of CUNY Art Gallery, Brooklyn; coordinated exhibition with Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York
The Figure Revisited, The Gallery at
Hastings-On-Hudson, NY 1997
After the Fall: Aspects of Abstract Painting Since 1970, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY
Abstract Expressionism in the United States, Centro Cultural Arte
Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico 1996
Summer Group Show, Robert Miller Gallery
1995 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1995
10 + 10, New York Studio School, New York
Action and Edge: 1950s and 1960s, Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York
The Small Painting, O'Hara Gallery, New York
1994 Paths of Abstraction: Painting in New York 1944 - 1981, Selections from the
Ciba Art Collection, Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, Hunter College, New York
Abstract Works on Paper, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
With a Passage of Time, Vanderwoude Tananbaum Gallery, New York
Reclaiming Artists of the New York School: Toward a More Inclusive View of the 1950s, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, The City University of NewYork, New York
Isn't it Romantic?, curated by Michael Walls, On Crosby Street, New York
The Shaman as Artist/The Artist as Shaman, Aspen Art Museum, CO
Star Zone, Bondie's Contemporary Art, New York 1993
Timely & Timeless, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
The Inaugural Show, The Painting Gallery, New York
Windows and Doors, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York
The Usual Suspects, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and
Abstract - Figurative, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Awards, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
Important Works on Paper, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, TX 1992
Summer Group Exhibition, Ginny Williams Gallery, Denver (5/14 - 6/30/92)
Painters, Trenkmann Gallery, New York
Paint, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
Paths to Discovery The New York School: Works on Paper from the 1950s and
1960s, curated by Ellen Russotto, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College,
City University of New York
Al Held and Milton Resnick 1955 - 1965, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles
Painting, Galerie Lelong, New York 1991
The New York School: Works on Paper from the Fifties & Sixties, Elston Fine Arts, New York
Contemporary Abstract Paintings: Resnick, Reed, Laufer & Moore, Muscarelle
Museum of Art, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Line & Action, Tavelli Gallery, Aspen, CO 1990
Group Exhibition, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles Changing Perceptions: The Evolutions of Twentieth Century American Art, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
Forty-second Annual Academy-Institute Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
Some Seventies Works, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
The Figure in the 20th Century, Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX
Works by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Awards, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
Academy-Institute Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
The Image of Abstract Paintings in the 1980s, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Envoys, New York Studio School 1989
Forty-first Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York
The Gestural Impulse 1945 - 1960, Whitney Museum of American Art (Federal Reserve Plaza), New York
Exhibition of Masterworks, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
A Decade of American Drawing 1980 - 1989, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles
Selections from the Collection of Marc and Livia Strauss, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Abstraction as Landscape, Gallery Urban, New York 1988
Recent Painterly Paintings, Schreiber/Cutler, Inc., New York
Works on Paper, Beijing Art Institute, Beijing, China (traveled to Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China; Alisan Gallery, Hong Kong; Newhouse Center For Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY; Nielsen Gallery,
Boston, MA
The Presence of Nature: Some American Paintings, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
After Pollock: Three Decades of Diversity, Iannetti Lanzone Gallery, San Francisco
Black, Siegeltuch Gallery, New York
American Still Life, 1980 - 87, Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX
Post Abstract Expressionism, Vanderwonde Tananbaum Gallery, New York
Modern: Contemporary Masters, Lever/Meyerson Galleries, New York
Inner Worlds, Sarah Lawrence College Art Gallery, Bronxville, NY
Portraits, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York 1986
The 1950s American Artists in Paris, Part III, Denise Cade Gallery, New York
Monotypes, Oscarsson Siegeltuch, New York
Summer Group Show, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Absolutes Defined: Line, Light and Surface, Oscarsson Siegeltuch, New York
Portraits and Self-Portraits, Sorkin Gallery, New York
Heads, Mokotoff Gallery, New York
Naked Paint, Newhouse Gallery, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY
The Gathering of the Avant Garde: The Lower East Side, 1950 - 70, Kenkelba House, Inc., New York 1985
Group Show, Art Galaxy, New York
Masters of the Fifties American Abstract Painting from Pollock to Stella, Marisa Del Re Gallery, New York
Group Show, Hand in Hand Galleries, New York 1984
Salvo, Siegel Contemporary Art, New York
Summer Group Show, Robert Miller Gallery, New York
1 + 1 = 2, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York
Summer Group Show, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Group Show, Art Galaxy, New York
Beauties & Beasts, Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery, Pratt Institute, New York
New York to Bennington, Bennington College, NY 1983
Paintings of the 1970s, Queens College, New York
Summer Group Show, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Purism, Segal Gallery, New York
Vintage New York, Contemporary Art at One Penn Plaza, One Penn Plaza, New York
Paint as Image, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Four Painters, Art Galaxy, New York 1982
Synergy/Artists 1+1=3, Thorpe Intermedia Gallery, Sparkhill, NY
Tenth Anniversary Exhibition of major Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Gruenebaum Gallery, New York 1981
1981 Painting Invitational, Oscarsson-Hood Gallery, New York
Art for Your Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Abstract Expressionism From the Michener Collection, Abilene Fine Arts Museum, Abilene, TX
For Love and Money: Dealers Choose I, Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery, Pratt Institute, New York (traveled to Hartwick College Museums, Oneonta, NY)
CIBA-GEIGY Collects: Aspects of Abstraction, Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX
An American Choice: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Luminosity in Paint, Landmark Gallery, New York 1980
American Painting of the 1970s, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (traveled) 1978
Recent Works on Paper by Contemporary American Artists, Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
In the Realm of the Monochromatic: 17 Painters, Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York
Critic's Choice: A Loan Exhibition from the New York Gallery Season, 1976 - 77,
The Joe & Emily Lowe Art Gallery, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 1977
New York - The State of the Art, New York State Museum, Albany, NY
1976 Works on Paper from the CIBA-GEIGY Collection, Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, Wichita Falls, KS
Around 10th Street: Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s, Young-Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
From Foreign Born American Masters, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI
Abstract Expressionists and Imagists: A Retrospective View and Exhibition of Paintings from the Michener Collection, Archer M. Huntington Gallery, The University at Austin, Austin, TX
1974 Works on Paper from CIBA-GEIGY Collection, Summit Art Center, Summit, NJ
The 1960s: Color Painting in the United States from the Michener Collection,
University Art Museum, The University of Texas at Austin, TX
Frank O'Hara, A Poet Among Painters, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Five American Painter's Recent Work: De Kooning, Mitchell, Motherwell, Resnick, Tworkov, The Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara
Group Show, Gallery A, Sydney, Australia 1973
Works on Paper, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York
Group Show, Landmark Gallery, New York
American Art at Mid-Century I, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Abstract Expressionism: The First and Second Generations, Selected from Paintings in the Michener Collection, University Art Museum, University of
Texas at Austin, TX
Visual R&D: A Corporation Collects: The CIBA-GEIGYCollection of Contemporary
Paintings, University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, TX
Selections from the New York University Collection, William Benton Museum, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
1973 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The Michener Collection: American Paintings of the 20th 1972
Century Inaugural Exhibition in the Michener Galleries, University of Texas at Austin, TX
A New Consciousness: The CIBA-GEIGY Collection, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY 1971
American Paintings of the Sixties from the Michener Collection, Tyler Museum of Art, University of Texas, TX
20th Century Painting and Sculpture from the New York University Art Collection, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
American Social Realism Between the Wars from the Michener Collection, University of Texas Art Galleries, Austin, TX
Selections from the Vincent Melzac Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 1970
The New American Painting and Sculpture: The First Generation, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Group Show, Bundy Gallery, Waitsfield, VT
American Paintings: The 1950s, Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA (traveled to Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS; 1968
Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Roberson Memorial Center for the Arts & Sciences, Binghamton, NY; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Huntington National Bank, Columbus, OH; Edmonton Art Gallery)
American Abstract Expressionists from the Michener Foundation Collection, Millersville State College, PA
The Neuberger Collection: An American Collection of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture I, (traveled to National Gallery of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC) The Neuberger Collection: An American Collection of Paintings, Drawings and
Sculpture I, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, and Annmary Brown Memorial, Brown University, Providence, RI
Painting as Painting, University Art Museum, The University of Texas at Austin, TX
1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1967
Contemporary Paintings from the Michener Foundation Collection, Old Dominion College, Norfolk, VA
Selections from the Michener Foundation Collection, Perkiomen School, Pittsburgh, PA
Large Scale American Paintings, Jewish Museum, New York
Twentieth Century American Painters from the Michener 1966
Foundation Collection, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
New Acquisitions 1963-66, The James A. Michener Foundation Collection, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
One Hundred and Sixty First Annual Exhibition of American Painting and Sculpture, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Expressionism of the Fifties, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO 1965
79Painters Who Paint, Poindexter Gallery; Graham Gallery; Martha Jackson Gallery; Kornblee Gallery; Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York (simultaneous exhibitions)
1964 Group Show, The Gallery of Modern Art, Scottsdale, AZ
New Accessions, U.S.A., Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO
Recent American Paintings, University Art Museum, the University of Texas at Austin, TX
Annual Exhibition 1963, Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1963
American Impressionists: Two Generations, Fort Lauderdale Art Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Directions - American Paintings, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco
The Closing Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1962
Art: USA Now - The Johnson Collection of Contemporary American Paintings,
Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI
Contemporary Art in Cleveland Collections, Cleveland museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Art Since 1950: America and International, Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, WA
Tenth Street, 1952, Tanager Gallery, New York
One Hundred and Fifty Seventh Annual Exhibition of American Painting and
Sculpture, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
65th American Exhibition: Some Directions in Contemporary Painting and
Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Pan American Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, United States Information Agency (traveling exhibition) 1961
American Vanguard Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, United States Information Agency (traveling exhibition)
Group Show, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Annual Exhibition of 1961, Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Contemporary Paintings Selected from 1960 - 1961 New York Gallery Exhibitions, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
American Abstract Expressionists and Imagists, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The Face of the Fifties, Recent Painting and Sculpture From the Collection of the Whitney Museum of Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Group Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1960
An Exhibition of Modern American Painting and Sculpture, Kroeber Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA
The Horace Richter Collection: Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
60 American Painters - Abstract Expressionists Painting of the Fifties, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Contemporary American Painting, Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, OH
1959 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Paintings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1959
Milton Resnick/Edward Dugmore, Allyn Gallery, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
Milton Resnick Paintings and Aaron Siskind Photographs, Holland-Goldosky Gallery, Chicago, IL
Project I, Longview Foundation Purchases in Modern American Painting and Sculpture for the Union Sanatorium Association of the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1958
Painting and Sculpture Acquisitions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The 30s: Painting in New York, Poindexter Gallery, New York
1957 Annual Exhibition: Sculpture, Paintings and Watercolor, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1957
Group Show, March Gallery, New York
Museum Purchase Fund Collection, Syracuse Museum, Syracuse, New York (traveled)
U.S. Representation: Fourth International Art Exhibition, Metropolitan Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Group Show, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
Artists of the New York School: Second Generation Paintings by Twenty-Three Artists, Jewish Museum, New York
Group Show, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
Group Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1956
Mid-Season Salon, Camino Gallery, New York
Fifth Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The Stable Gallery, New York
Group Show, March Gallery, New York
Paintings, Sculpture, Tanager Gallery, New York 1955
Group Show, Poindexter Gallery, New York
The Stable Show, The Stable Gallery, New York
Third Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The Stable Gallery, New York 1954
Group Show, Tanager Gallery, New York 1953
Second Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The Stable Gallery, New York
Paintings - Sculpture, Tanager Gallery, New York 1952
9th Street Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 60 East 9th Street, New York 1951
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princetown, NJ
Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta, India
Carlson Gallery, University of Bridgeport College of Fine Arts, Bridgeport, CT
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
College Union Collection, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
The Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University, New York
Hampton University Museum, Hampton University, Hampton, VA
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Jonson Gallery, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
Malmö Konsthall, Stockhom, Sweden
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery, Ottawa, Canada
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
University of Nebraska; Lincoln/Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln, NE
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley, CA
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IO
Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Hans Richter Hans Richter was a German painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, experimental filmmaker and producer. Richter's first contacts with modern art were in 1912 through the "Blaue Reiter" and in 1913 through the "Erster Deutsche Herbstsalon" gallery "Der Sturm", in Berlin. He was influenced by aesthetic movements of the time, including Cubism. In 1916 he went to Zürich to join the Dadaists.
Richter believed that the artist's duty was to be actively political, opposing war and supporting the revolution. His first abstract works were made in 1917. Richter was co-founder of the Association of Revolutionary Artists ("Artistes Radicaux") at Zürich. Richter moved from Switzerland to the United States in 1940 and became an American citizen. He taught in the Institute of Film Techniques at the City College of New York. While living in New York, Richter directed two feature films in collaboration with Max Ernst, Jean Cocteau, Paul Bowles, Fernand Léger, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, and others.
Hans Richter's work may be found in the collections of The National Gallery, Berlin; Museum 20 Jahrhunderts, Vienna; Galeria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome; Musée National d'Arte Moderne, Paris; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.
Richter believed that the artist's duty was to be actively political, opposing war and supporting the revolution. His first abstract works were made in 1917. Richter was co-founder of the Association of Revolutionary Artists ("Artistes Radicaux") at Zürich. Richter moved from Switzerland to the United States in 1940 and became an American citizen. He taught in the Institute of Film Techniques at the City College of New York. While living in New York, Richter directed two feature films in collaboration with Max Ernst, Jean Cocteau, Paul Bowles, Fernand Léger, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, and others.
Hans Richter's work may be found in the collections of The National Gallery, Berlin; Museum 20 Jahrhunderts, Vienna; Galeria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome; Musée National d'Arte Moderne, Paris; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.
Horacio Rentería Rocha Horacio Rentería Rocha was born on the 21st of October 1912, under poor conditions, in the district of Analco of the Mexican city Victoria de Durango, where he later completed elementary and middle school. Already as a child, Horacio Rentería Rocha has painted rustic landscapes and faces on faded house facades of his hometown. Preferably, he painted in his infantile creative period with clay, lime, and pieces of burnt coal.
As a young artist Horacio Rentería Rocha became a student of the famous painter William de Lourdes. From his teacher he learned how to prepare the materials for wall paintings/murals and how to make use of these special diluted colors. When the depictions/ murals in the Government Palace of Durango were designed in 1935, Horacio Rentería Rocha was the main assistant to his famous teacher. The wonderful wall painting/mural on the first floor of the Palace with the title 'With open arms the country protects the people' was painted by Horacio Rentería Rocha along with William de Lourdes.
In 1936 Horacio Rentería Rocha was commissioned to upgrade the artistic value of the inner courtyard at the majestic Palace of Government in Durango. On each pillar, he designed a coat of arms from municipalities of the State of Durango. In addition, he painted at this time with the support of his loyal way companion Rodrigo D'avalos, draughtsman and watercolorist from Durango, a mural in the children's school "Challito Perez Gavilin" in Durango. A year later he was authorized to paint a mural under application of the style which he learned from his teacher and well-known painter William de Lourdes, in the garden of the children's School of the 18th of March in the town of Gomez Palacio. During his occupation as a teacher, he produced several murals in this institution. He created frescoes of unique beauty - some of them with legendary themes such as 'Red Riding Hood' based on the story by Charles Perrault, Miguel des Cervantes's "Don Quixote" and others of children and their surrounding environments. The children and their lifestyles were thematic precursors of what later labelled him and made the famous Latin American artist.
Horacio Rentería Rocha exhibited his paintings 1943 in the town of Gomez in the gallery for art decoration. His oil paintings are mostly small panels representing idealized and magnificently dressed children. Typically, these are surrounded by beautiful Mexican cultural objects such as for example Piñatas. Pets, especially dogs and cats, are also frequently depicted with the children in the oil paintings. This is shown in his works with the children at their most beautiful moments of the game. Often, the magnificently dressed children are embedded in romantic landscapes. The composition of human figures within beautiful regional landscapes often occurs and gives his paintings a homely touch/soul. Especially mountains, hills, volcanoes, striking buildings such as churches and streets of his domestic surroundings/life were artistically included. The traditional customs of the people play a special role in his paintings and convey unity between tradition, social customs and human beings. Horacio Rentería Rocha had a passion for light, clean lines and shapes which are mirrored in his landscape paintings. His vision of a pure nature with children in magnificent costumes from their cultural heritage away from the constraints of modern civilization with its excitement and joy, is reflected by the high-contrast clarity in his paintings.
In 1948 Horacio Rentería Rocha met an art dealer who bought all of his existing and later created works of art. These were offered abroad as works of the 19th century. The art dealer honored Horacio Rentería Rocha's works with hardly a peso and made sure to include the specific clause, that Horacio Rentería Rocha has to stay anonymous as a painter of such works by making his signature illegible. The works, which were sold by the dealer at very high prices, were soon appreciated worldwide. Horacio Rentería Rocha did not benefit at all from this, but was fobbed off with some few pesos and exploited in the truest sense of the word. Especially in New York and Paris the works of Horacio Rentería Rocha became well known and famous as "The children of Horacio".
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As a young artist Horacio Rentería Rocha became a student of the famous painter William de Lourdes. From his teacher he learned how to prepare the materials for wall paintings/murals and how to make use of these special diluted colors. When the depictions/ murals in the Government Palace of Durango were designed in 1935, Horacio Rentería Rocha was the main assistant to his famous teacher. The wonderful wall painting/mural on the first floor of the Palace with the title 'With open arms the country protects the people' was painted by Horacio Rentería Rocha along with William de Lourdes.
In 1936 Horacio Rentería Rocha was commissioned to upgrade the artistic value of the inner courtyard at the majestic Palace of Government in Durango. On each pillar, he designed a coat of arms from municipalities of the State of Durango. In addition, he painted at this time with the support of his loyal way companion Rodrigo D'avalos, draughtsman and watercolorist from Durango, a mural in the children's school "Challito Perez Gavilin" in Durango. A year later he was authorized to paint a mural under application of the style which he learned from his teacher and well-known painter William de Lourdes, in the garden of the children's School of the 18th of March in the town of Gomez Palacio. During his occupation as a teacher, he produced several murals in this institution. He created frescoes of unique beauty - some of them with legendary themes such as 'Red Riding Hood' based on the story by Charles Perrault, Miguel des Cervantes's "Don Quixote" and others of children and their surrounding environments. The children and their lifestyles were thematic precursors of what later labelled him and made the famous Latin American artist.
Horacio Rentería Rocha exhibited his paintings 1943 in the town of Gomez in the gallery for art decoration. His oil paintings are mostly small panels representing idealized and magnificently dressed children. Typically, these are surrounded by beautiful Mexican cultural objects such as for example Piñatas. Pets, especially dogs and cats, are also frequently depicted with the children in the oil paintings. This is shown in his works with the children at their most beautiful moments of the game. Often, the magnificently dressed children are embedded in romantic landscapes. The composition of human figures within beautiful regional landscapes often occurs and gives his paintings a homely touch/soul. Especially mountains, hills, volcanoes, striking buildings such as churches and streets of his domestic surroundings/life were artistically included. The traditional customs of the people play a special role in his paintings and convey unity between tradition, social customs and human beings. Horacio Rentería Rocha had a passion for light, clean lines and shapes which are mirrored in his landscape paintings. His vision of a pure nature with children in magnificent costumes from their cultural heritage away from the constraints of modern civilization with its excitement and joy, is reflected by the high-contrast clarity in his paintings.
In 1948 Horacio Rentería Rocha met an art dealer who bought all of his existing and later created works of art. These were offered abroad as works of the 19th century. The art dealer honored Horacio Rentería Rocha's works with hardly a peso and made sure to include the specific clause, that Horacio Rentería Rocha has to stay anonymous as a painter of such works by making his signature illegible. The works, which were sold by the dealer at very high prices, were soon appreciated worldwide. Horacio Rentería Rocha did not benefit at all from this, but was fobbed off with some few pesos and exploited in the truest sense of the word. Especially in New York and Paris the works of Horacio Rentería Rocha became well known and famous as "The children of Horacio".
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Paula Rodriguez bio pending
Johnnie Winona Ross Johnnie Winona Ross is inspired by the landscape of northern New Mexico, where he has lived and worked for the last twenty years.
At first glance his paintings and works on paper appear to be largely absent of color, but looking more closely the layers upon layers of subtle earthen colors reveal themselves, knocked back by opaque washes of white. This interspersed layering of color, melding opacity and transparency, and building depth through repetition, are the integral elements of his work.
As artist and writer Kate Beck notes,
"This process of painting, scraping and repainting establishes a subliminal dynamic between counteractive elements - presence/absence, structure/freedom, resistance/release, richness/ austerity-that ultimately allows an elegant integration of romantic irony to permeate his surfaces. The viewer is quietly entranced by his purity of form, light and the suggestion of what lies beneath. This is the artist's process, his hand."
In 1999, following a long teaching career, he resigned his post as chair of the Art Department at The Maine College of Art in Portland, and moved to Taos. From his New Mexico studio he explores the vocabulary of minimalism and the complexity of rendering the experience of the high desert in pure abstraction. He now exhibits regularly in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, and throughout Northern New Mexico. He has been the recipient of many grants and awards, including a Fulbright Artist in Residence and a Gottlieb Foundation Support Grant.
Among the many public collections holding work by Ross are the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do, Jeonbuk, Korea; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM; the Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM; the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM; the Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM; the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; and the Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, NM.
Biographical sources: Tamarind Institute, Lannan
At first glance his paintings and works on paper appear to be largely absent of color, but looking more closely the layers upon layers of subtle earthen colors reveal themselves, knocked back by opaque washes of white. This interspersed layering of color, melding opacity and transparency, and building depth through repetition, are the integral elements of his work.
As artist and writer Kate Beck notes,
"This process of painting, scraping and repainting establishes a subliminal dynamic between counteractive elements - presence/absence, structure/freedom, resistance/release, richness/ austerity-that ultimately allows an elegant integration of romantic irony to permeate his surfaces. The viewer is quietly entranced by his purity of form, light and the suggestion of what lies beneath. This is the artist's process, his hand."
In 1999, following a long teaching career, he resigned his post as chair of the Art Department at The Maine College of Art in Portland, and moved to Taos. From his New Mexico studio he explores the vocabulary of minimalism and the complexity of rendering the experience of the high desert in pure abstraction. He now exhibits regularly in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, and throughout Northern New Mexico. He has been the recipient of many grants and awards, including a Fulbright Artist in Residence and a Gottlieb Foundation Support Grant.
Among the many public collections holding work by Ross are the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do, Jeonbuk, Korea; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM; the Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM; the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM; the Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM; the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; and the Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, NM.
Biographical sources: Tamarind Institute, Lannan
Dane Rudhyar Dane Rudhyar (March 23, 1895 – September 13, 1985), born Daniel Chennevière, was a French-born American author, modernist composer and humanistic astrologer. He was a pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology.
An astrologer, composer and significant figure in promoting the goals of the New Mexico Transcendental Painting Group (TPG), Dane Rudhyar began his career in France but lived most of his professional life in the United States. His lasting reputation is for being the pioneer of modern trans-personal astrology.
With his extensive writing, he formalized theories behind the non-objective and symbolic expression of the TPG painters. Referencing his relationship to the Transcendental group, he wrote in the preface to his book, "Astrological Insights into the Spiritual Life":
"During the Summer, 1938, while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I found myself close to several painters who had felt the need of forming an officially recognized group because they were all sharing an approach to Art definitely different from the more fashionable trends highly publicized in the big cities of the East Coast. I participated in their discussion and their search for a name, and they finally adopted my suggestions, calling their group the Transcendental Painting Group. I did not belong to the Transcendental Painting Group itself because at the time I had done no painting or drawing, but for a number of years, my musical career had been blocked by the antagonism of Neo-Classicists who since the late Twenties had come to control all openings in the music world, and being stimulated by my painter friends and that summer living in favorable conditions in Santa Fe, I felt the urge to draw and eventually to paint. This I felt would somewhat take the place of music in my creative life." (Parker/Pasquine)
Rudhyar was born in Paris and raised in a middle class family with the last name of Chenneviére. At age twelve, a severe illness and surgery disabled him and he turned to music and intellectual development to compensate for his lack of physical agility. He studied at the Sorbonne, University of Paris (graduating at age 16) and at the Paris Conservatoire. His early ventures into philosophy and association with the artistic community in Paris led to his conviction that all existence is cyclical in character.
His music led him to New York City in 1916, where he composed some of the first polytonal music performed in the United States.
In 1916, when he was age twenty-one, he moved to New York City where he oversaw a radical, experimental multi-media performance, Metachory, at the Metropolitan Opera. In New York, he became immersed in Zen Buddhist studies and western occult subjects including astrology mixed with psychology. With the destination of Krotona, headquarters of the American division of Theosophical Society, he went to California in 1920. He wrote articles for the magazine, American Astrology and began a publishing career with his 1936 book, The Astrology of Personality, establishing his reputation.
Spending time in Taos and Santa Fe in 1933, he met Raymond Jonson, organizer of the Transcendental Painting Group, and the two men found they had much in common intellectually and emotionally. Not yet painting himself, Rudhyar gave Jonson a copy of seven of his published essays titled Art as Release of Power. Future trips to New Mexico involved Rudhyar in the American Foundation of Transcendental Painting, the fundraising entity of the Transcendental Painting Group. Rudhyar wrote many supportive articles, and his canvases reflected their ideas.
He died in San Francisco in 1985.
Biographical Sources, via AskArt: Tiska Blankenship, Vision and Spirit: The Transcendental Painting Group, Exhibition Catalogue of the Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, 1997; Paul Parker, Collector and Scholar of the Transcendental Painting Group (Among his sources are: Ruth Pasquine: 3 volume PhD (1000 pages) dissertation: Dynamic Symmetry and Theosophy in the Art of Emil Bisttram); Wikipedia
Additional material: American Composers Alliance
An astrologer, composer and significant figure in promoting the goals of the New Mexico Transcendental Painting Group (TPG), Dane Rudhyar began his career in France but lived most of his professional life in the United States. His lasting reputation is for being the pioneer of modern trans-personal astrology.
With his extensive writing, he formalized theories behind the non-objective and symbolic expression of the TPG painters. Referencing his relationship to the Transcendental group, he wrote in the preface to his book, "Astrological Insights into the Spiritual Life":
"During the Summer, 1938, while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I found myself close to several painters who had felt the need of forming an officially recognized group because they were all sharing an approach to Art definitely different from the more fashionable trends highly publicized in the big cities of the East Coast. I participated in their discussion and their search for a name, and they finally adopted my suggestions, calling their group the Transcendental Painting Group. I did not belong to the Transcendental Painting Group itself because at the time I had done no painting or drawing, but for a number of years, my musical career had been blocked by the antagonism of Neo-Classicists who since the late Twenties had come to control all openings in the music world, and being stimulated by my painter friends and that summer living in favorable conditions in Santa Fe, I felt the urge to draw and eventually to paint. This I felt would somewhat take the place of music in my creative life." (Parker/Pasquine)
Rudhyar was born in Paris and raised in a middle class family with the last name of Chenneviére. At age twelve, a severe illness and surgery disabled him and he turned to music and intellectual development to compensate for his lack of physical agility. He studied at the Sorbonne, University of Paris (graduating at age 16) and at the Paris Conservatoire. His early ventures into philosophy and association with the artistic community in Paris led to his conviction that all existence is cyclical in character.
His music led him to New York City in 1916, where he composed some of the first polytonal music performed in the United States.
In 1916, when he was age twenty-one, he moved to New York City where he oversaw a radical, experimental multi-media performance, Metachory, at the Metropolitan Opera. In New York, he became immersed in Zen Buddhist studies and western occult subjects including astrology mixed with psychology. With the destination of Krotona, headquarters of the American division of Theosophical Society, he went to California in 1920. He wrote articles for the magazine, American Astrology and began a publishing career with his 1936 book, The Astrology of Personality, establishing his reputation.
Spending time in Taos and Santa Fe in 1933, he met Raymond Jonson, organizer of the Transcendental Painting Group, and the two men found they had much in common intellectually and emotionally. Not yet painting himself, Rudhyar gave Jonson a copy of seven of his published essays titled Art as Release of Power. Future trips to New Mexico involved Rudhyar in the American Foundation of Transcendental Painting, the fundraising entity of the Transcendental Painting Group. Rudhyar wrote many supportive articles, and his canvases reflected their ideas.
He died in San Francisco in 1985.
Biographical Sources, via AskArt: Tiska Blankenship, Vision and Spirit: The Transcendental Painting Group, Exhibition Catalogue of the Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, 1997; Paul Parker, Collector and Scholar of the Transcendental Painting Group (Among his sources are: Ruth Pasquine: 3 volume PhD (1000 pages) dissertation: Dynamic Symmetry and Theosophy in the Art of Emil Bisttram); Wikipedia
Additional material: American Composers Alliance
Attilio Salemme
An artist who died too young – a heart attack at age forty-three – Attilio Salemme's paintings juxtapose elongated vertical rectangles in complex relationships that suggest groups of "presences," near human beings lonely in their inability to break through the artist's geometric overlay to attain human status.
Salemme was born in 1911 in Boston of a father who also died as a young man. Called upon to help support his mother and sister, Salemme left school, eventually joining the Marines at age sixteen in 1927.
Back in New York City in 1930 in the first years of the Depression, Salemme found assorted jobs to support himself, his mother and sister. He started to think seriously of art as a career while living in the artistic milieu of Greenwich Village, though he had a conflicting interest in science.
He met his wife and other artists when he got a job as a framer in 1942 at the precursor of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Guggenheim Museum of Non-Objective Art.
Salemme died in 1955, and while not a major artist, his paintings were acknowledged for their surreal and metaphysical uniqueness. They may be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
An artist who died too young – a heart attack at age forty-three – Attilio Salemme's paintings juxtapose elongated vertical rectangles in complex relationships that suggest groups of "presences," near human beings lonely in their inability to break through the artist's geometric overlay to attain human status.
Salemme was born in 1911 in Boston of a father who also died as a young man. Called upon to help support his mother and sister, Salemme left school, eventually joining the Marines at age sixteen in 1927.
Back in New York City in 1930 in the first years of the Depression, Salemme found assorted jobs to support himself, his mother and sister. He started to think seriously of art as a career while living in the artistic milieu of Greenwich Village, though he had a conflicting interest in science.
He met his wife and other artists when he got a job as a framer in 1942 at the precursor of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Guggenheim Museum of Non-Objective Art.
Salemme died in 1955, and while not a major artist, his paintings were acknowledged for their surreal and metaphysical uniqueness. They may be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
Jorge Sanchez A New Mexican, Jorge Sanchez of Albuquerque is believed to have worked under the sponsorship of artist Cady Wells in the New Deal programs administered throughout the country in the 1930s.
The New Deal programs administered throughout the country were especially needed in New Mexico and particularly in rural villages. Perhaps the best known of the back-to-work projects was New Mexico's various arts and crafts projects. The most ambitious of these in New Mexico was the Federal Art Project (FAP) under the direction of Russell Vernon Hunter, who also supported New Mexico artist Patrocino Barela.
The New Deal programs administered throughout the country were especially needed in New Mexico and particularly in rural villages. Perhaps the best known of the back-to-work projects was New Mexico's various arts and crafts projects. The most ambitious of these in New Mexico was the Federal Art Project (FAP) under the direction of Russell Vernon Hunter, who also supported New Mexico artist Patrocino Barela.
Ludwig Sander The son of a musician, Ludwig Sander was a painter and printmaker best known for his austere, highly controlled geometric abstractions incorporating elements of color field theory.
At the beginning of his career, Sander studied with Alexander Archipenko and Hans Hofmann, the latter of whom encouraged his move away from figuration to a more abstract approach.
In 1949 he co-founded The Club, an association and discussion group for artists in New York whose sixteen members included Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Al Reinhardt, Conrad Marca Reilli and Jack Tworkov. Among its several non-artist members was Leo Castelli, whose New York gallery showcased cutting contemporary art for five decades beginning in 1957. In 1951 Castelli hung the now-famous Ninth Street Show in which Sander participated, the first public presentation of the group of abstract artists that soon became known as the New York School. Sander also belonged to the 10th Street Artists Group, a loose confederation of abstract artists based in New York.
Sander’s signature style is characterized by flat planes of complementary colors traversed by horizontal and vertical lines and constructed by building up opaque layers of paint within each section of the canvas. The resulting effect is calming and contemplative, radiating a cool and muted lyricism.
Group Exhibitions: Leo Castelli Gallery, New York (1959, with Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly and Norman Bluhm); “Abstract Expressionists,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1961); Venice Biennale (1964); “Post-Painterly Abstraction,” Los Angeles County Museum (1964); “Responsive Eye,” Museum of Modern Art, New York; Corcoran Biennials, Washington, DC (1967, 1975; “Neue-Kunst, U.S.A.,” Modern Art Museum, Munich, Germany (1968); “Plus by Minus, Today’s Half Century,” Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York (1968); “Salon des Realities Novelles,” Paris, France (1968); “A Contemporary Selection 1968,” Dayton Art Institute, Ohio (1968); “Form of Color,” Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio (1970); “Whitney Biennial,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1973); “Two Decades of American Painting,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1973); “Less is More: The Influence of the Bauhaus on American Art,” Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Florida (1974); and “17 Abstract Artists of East Hampton: The Pollock Years, 1946-56,” Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York (1980); “Geometric Forms in Abstraction,” American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich, Germany (2001); “Painting Exposition: 1958-1963,” Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas (2003); “Geometric Abstraction and Color Function: Two Generations,” D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York (2006); “Raymond Hendler and Artists from His ‘Avant Garde’ Circle,” Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York (2008); “Abstract Ensemble,” ACA Galleries, New York (2009).
Museum Collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, all in New York City; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; M.I.T. Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Rose Art Museum Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; James A. Michener Foundation, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Corcoran Gallery of Art (now, National Gallery of Art), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Art Institute of Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Art Institute of Chicago; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; James A. Michener Foundation, University of Texas, Austin; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in California.
(Biographical information from Artsy, Modernist West)
At the beginning of his career, Sander studied with Alexander Archipenko and Hans Hofmann, the latter of whom encouraged his move away from figuration to a more abstract approach.
In 1949 he co-founded The Club, an association and discussion group for artists in New York whose sixteen members included Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Al Reinhardt, Conrad Marca Reilli and Jack Tworkov. Among its several non-artist members was Leo Castelli, whose New York gallery showcased cutting contemporary art for five decades beginning in 1957. In 1951 Castelli hung the now-famous Ninth Street Show in which Sander participated, the first public presentation of the group of abstract artists that soon became known as the New York School. Sander also belonged to the 10th Street Artists Group, a loose confederation of abstract artists based in New York.
Sander’s signature style is characterized by flat planes of complementary colors traversed by horizontal and vertical lines and constructed by building up opaque layers of paint within each section of the canvas. The resulting effect is calming and contemplative, radiating a cool and muted lyricism.
Group Exhibitions: Leo Castelli Gallery, New York (1959, with Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly and Norman Bluhm); “Abstract Expressionists,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1961); Venice Biennale (1964); “Post-Painterly Abstraction,” Los Angeles County Museum (1964); “Responsive Eye,” Museum of Modern Art, New York; Corcoran Biennials, Washington, DC (1967, 1975; “Neue-Kunst, U.S.A.,” Modern Art Museum, Munich, Germany (1968); “Plus by Minus, Today’s Half Century,” Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York (1968); “Salon des Realities Novelles,” Paris, France (1968); “A Contemporary Selection 1968,” Dayton Art Institute, Ohio (1968); “Form of Color,” Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio (1970); “Whitney Biennial,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1973); “Two Decades of American Painting,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1973); “Less is More: The Influence of the Bauhaus on American Art,” Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Florida (1974); and “17 Abstract Artists of East Hampton: The Pollock Years, 1946-56,” Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York (1980); “Geometric Forms in Abstraction,” American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich, Germany (2001); “Painting Exposition: 1958-1963,” Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas (2003); “Geometric Abstraction and Color Function: Two Generations,” D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York (2006); “Raymond Hendler and Artists from His ‘Avant Garde’ Circle,” Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York (2008); “Abstract Ensemble,” ACA Galleries, New York (2009).
Museum Collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, all in New York City; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; M.I.T. Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Rose Art Museum Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; James A. Michener Foundation, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Corcoran Gallery of Art (now, National Gallery of Art), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Art Institute of Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Art Institute of Chicago; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; James A. Michener Foundation, University of Texas, Austin; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in California.
(Biographical information from Artsy, Modernist West)
Naomi Savage Naomi Savage was a highly innovative photographer, who regarded the darkroom as a laboratory where she could invent new and exciting techniques that began with photography but which expanded the capability of the medium to new and previously unexplored limits. She was the niece of Man Ray and studied with him for a brief period in Hollywood, California. It was he who taught her that photography had no boundaries. “The darkroom,” he told her, “was a place to make fearless tries at whatever images came to mind.” She followed this advice throughout her career, being the first to display metal-plate photoengravings (customarily used as a means by which to make prints) as finished works of art, thereby causing the very medium of photography to be redefined. She first showed her work in the 1950s and 1960s in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and was represented in the 1970s to mid-1980s by the prestigious gallery of Lee Witkin in New York City. Her work can be found in some of the most distinguished museums in the United States, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Princeton University Art Museum, and The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. When digital photography emerged in the 1990’s, Savage embraced it completely, considering it as a new and revolutionary means by which to engage in an even greater diversity of experimentation. The influence of Man ray appears throughout her work, both formally, thematically, and conceptually, as she fully adopted his position that art follows no rules and is without limitation, thereby, in the case of Naomi Savage, resulting in a range of works that stretched the limits of photography.
Rolph Scarlett Canadian artist Rolph Scarlett had a remarkable career, as a painter, designer and creator of unique jewelry. He was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1889. When he moved to the United States in 1918, he had gained experience in the techniques of painting, execution of jewelry settings and designing for the stage. Each of these interests helped shape his career.
Scarlett's dedication to Modernism was expressed in his art and design work. Although Scarlett also created action paintings and surrealist works, he especially loved and was devoted to geometric abstract non-objective painting. Before the end of his nearly 75-year career, Scarlett had returned to geometric abstraction with a greatly brightened palette and a denser composition than used in his earlier work. His commitment to abstraction never wavered and he continued to explore it, until his death at age 94.
Scarlett's dedication to Modernism was expressed in his art and design work. Although Scarlett also created action paintings and surrealist works, he especially loved and was devoted to geometric abstract non-objective painting. Before the end of his nearly 75-year career, Scarlett had returned to geometric abstraction with a greatly brightened palette and a denser composition than used in his earlier work. His commitment to abstraction never wavered and he continued to explore it, until his death at age 94.
Alice Schille Alice Schille, an American watercolorist and painter, was born in Columbus, Ohio and attended the Columbus Art School beginning in 1891, and studied at the Art Students League of New York on a scholarship under William Merritt Chase. There she studied figure drawing with Kenyon Cox. In 1894 she went to Europe and remained there until 1900, later traveling extensively in the United States, Morocco, Egypt and abroad. For years she taught at the Columbus Art School, retiring in 1948.
Schille won the gold medal at the 1915 annual watercolor exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, along with many other honors throughout her lifetime. Scholar James Keny notes in his excerpt on Schille in the Encyclopedia of the Midwest that in 1909 "Schille exhibited some of the first examples of Pointillism by an American artists at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts."
Schille won the gold medal at the 1915 annual watercolor exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, along with many other honors throughout her lifetime. Scholar James Keny notes in his excerpt on Schille in the Encyclopedia of the Midwest that in 1909 "Schille exhibited some of the first examples of Pointillism by an American artists at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts."
Howard Behling Schleeter Howard Schleeter was born in 1903; the son of a commercial artist. He studied formally at the Albright Art School in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. However, his studies at Albright were brief and the artist considered himself to be primarily self-taught. He later met Charles Lindbergh while working as an airplane mechanic. However, he soon chose to make his living entirely as an artist and, in 1929, he traveled to New Mexico. The following year he married and the couple made New Mexico their permanent home.
Schleeter studied under Brooks Willis during the 1930s and worked in several mediums including gouache, watercolor, oil, scratchboard and engraving. The Great Depression took its toll on Schleeter who occasionally found work digging ditches to make ends meet.
In 1936, his financial status greatly improved when he received the first of several commissions from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Though he worked primarily in abstraction, the five murals he completed for a WPA commission in the Melrose Public School library are realistic depictions of the West. He worked on several more New Deal commissions during the years of 1936 and 1942 in locations including Santa Fe, Clayton, and Washington D.C. During this time, Schleeter furthered his income by teaching at a Las Vegas, New Mexico art gallery during 1938 and 1939.
In 1945, the Encyclopedia Britannica referred to Schleeter as “an artist’s artist.” He also received local attention when he became one of the first artists chosen by Peter Hurd and Jane Mabry for his significant contributions to New Mexico’s art. Schleeter taught at the University of New Mexico during 1950-1951 and 1954.
Exhibited: Kansas Art Institute, 1936-1938; New Mexico State Fair, 1939 (prize); New Mexico Art League, 1939 (prize); Cedar City, New Mexico, 1941-1946; Philadelphia Artist Alliance, 1945 (solo); deYoung Memorial Museum, 1946; Art Institute of Chicago, 1947; Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, 1951 (purchase prize), 1955 (purchase prize); Vienna, Austria, 1952; Guggenheim Museum, 1954; Karlsruhe Museum, Germany, 1955; Stanford University, 1955 (solo); New Mexico Highlands University, 1957 (purchase prize); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1958; Swope Art Gallery Works Held: A&M College, New Mexico (mural); Art League of New Mexico; Cedar City Institute of Religion; Encyclopedia Britannica; Miners Hospital, Raton, New Mexico (mural); Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe; Research Studio, Maitland, Florida; University of New Mexico.
Schleeter studied under Brooks Willis during the 1930s and worked in several mediums including gouache, watercolor, oil, scratchboard and engraving. The Great Depression took its toll on Schleeter who occasionally found work digging ditches to make ends meet.
In 1936, his financial status greatly improved when he received the first of several commissions from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Though he worked primarily in abstraction, the five murals he completed for a WPA commission in the Melrose Public School library are realistic depictions of the West. He worked on several more New Deal commissions during the years of 1936 and 1942 in locations including Santa Fe, Clayton, and Washington D.C. During this time, Schleeter furthered his income by teaching at a Las Vegas, New Mexico art gallery during 1938 and 1939.
In 1945, the Encyclopedia Britannica referred to Schleeter as “an artist’s artist.” He also received local attention when he became one of the first artists chosen by Peter Hurd and Jane Mabry for his significant contributions to New Mexico’s art. Schleeter taught at the University of New Mexico during 1950-1951 and 1954.
Exhibited: Kansas Art Institute, 1936-1938; New Mexico State Fair, 1939 (prize); New Mexico Art League, 1939 (prize); Cedar City, New Mexico, 1941-1946; Philadelphia Artist Alliance, 1945 (solo); deYoung Memorial Museum, 1946; Art Institute of Chicago, 1947; Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, 1951 (purchase prize), 1955 (purchase prize); Vienna, Austria, 1952; Guggenheim Museum, 1954; Karlsruhe Museum, Germany, 1955; Stanford University, 1955 (solo); New Mexico Highlands University, 1957 (purchase prize); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1958; Swope Art Gallery Works Held: A&M College, New Mexico (mural); Art League of New Mexico; Cedar City Institute of Religion; Encyclopedia Britannica; Miners Hospital, Raton, New Mexico (mural); Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe; Research Studio, Maitland, Florida; University of New Mexico.
Elmer “Skinny” Schooley Elmer Wayne "Skinny" Schooley (1916-2007) - painter, printmaker, and teacher - is described as a "painter's painter" and is nationally recognized for his landscape paintings. His oils have been compared to those of Renaissance masters because of their luminosity and his minute attention to detail and patient layering of paint.
Schooley was born in Lawrence, Kansas on February 20, 1916. His childhood was spent in rural Oklahoma before the family moved to Colorado during the Great Depression.
He received his BFA in 1938 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. While an undergraduate he meet fellow art student Gussie Du Jardin of Westcliffe, Colorado; they were married and went together to the State University of Iowa to continue their studies. He received his M.A. in 1942 and enlisted in the Air Force as a private, served with distinction in the South Pacific, and was discharged as a Captain in 1946.
Schooley was an assistant professor at the New Mexico Western College in Silver City from 1946 to 1947. In 1947 he joined the faculty of the New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas and taught there for thirty years. During most of those years he was head of the department of Arts and Crafts and was a moving force in the arts in northern New Mexico. He established the University's art library and its Graphics Department.
Schooley founded the lithography workshop — one of the first of its kind in the state — at Highlands. He made prints for such artist as Kenneth Adams and Theodore van Soelen, as well as his own works, and exhibited them in major shows. His prints are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum, the Philadelphia Print Club and the Library of Congress.
While more a printmaker than a painter in the 1940s and 50s, Schooley eventually settled on oil painting as his preferred medium. At the age of 54, he initiated his “Wilderness Series,” working directly on the canvas with no preliminary drawing, in which all elements were treated equally without focus or framing. Without a point of convergence, Schooley‘s fabric-like designs provide a view of nature separate from our domination.
“I don’t paint the picturesque,” Schooley said emphatically.
After he retired from teaching, he turned his full attention to painting. After his retirement in 1977, the Schooleys spent a year in joint residency at the Roswell Museum and Art Center. They lived in Roswell the rest of their lives, and he turned his full attention to painting.
Over the years Elmer Schooley's work has garnered numerous awards and prizes, including the Museum of New Mexico's Biennials in 1970, '72 and '74; a Ford Foundation purchase prize in 1962; a Hallmark Purchase Award in 1964 and the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts in 1986.
His paintings are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Albuquerque Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Roswell Museum and Art Center, the New Mexico Highlands University, the Hallmark Collection, Pacific University, the Kathryn Cawein Gallery of Art, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Fine Art , the University of Oklahoma, the Tucson Museum of Art.the Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
"Skinny" Schooley died at the age of 91 years old on 25 April 2007 in Roswell, New Mexico.
sources: Susan Craig, Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945); Who’s Who in American Art; AskART; Annex Galleries; CSA Journal
"And it's—perhaps corny phrasing—an instant of ecstasy and an ecstatic experience I have. And maybe these ecstatic experiences are unique to me. I don’t know anybody else that goes out and gets that same wallop I do of seeing some simple, little thing like this. Most people drive by and say, 'Well, they're trees. After seeing one tree, you've seen them all.' But—I believe I see everything in it. I see the forest, I see the clumps of foliage, I see the individual needles, I see the branches, I see the trunk, I see the whole damn thing."
Interview with Elmer Schooley by Sharyn Udall , October 1983, Roswell, NM
Schooley was born in Lawrence, Kansas on February 20, 1916. His childhood was spent in rural Oklahoma before the family moved to Colorado during the Great Depression.
He received his BFA in 1938 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. While an undergraduate he meet fellow art student Gussie Du Jardin of Westcliffe, Colorado; they were married and went together to the State University of Iowa to continue their studies. He received his M.A. in 1942 and enlisted in the Air Force as a private, served with distinction in the South Pacific, and was discharged as a Captain in 1946.
Schooley was an assistant professor at the New Mexico Western College in Silver City from 1946 to 1947. In 1947 he joined the faculty of the New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas and taught there for thirty years. During most of those years he was head of the department of Arts and Crafts and was a moving force in the arts in northern New Mexico. He established the University's art library and its Graphics Department.
Schooley founded the lithography workshop — one of the first of its kind in the state — at Highlands. He made prints for such artist as Kenneth Adams and Theodore van Soelen, as well as his own works, and exhibited them in major shows. His prints are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum, the Philadelphia Print Club and the Library of Congress.
While more a printmaker than a painter in the 1940s and 50s, Schooley eventually settled on oil painting as his preferred medium. At the age of 54, he initiated his “Wilderness Series,” working directly on the canvas with no preliminary drawing, in which all elements were treated equally without focus or framing. Without a point of convergence, Schooley‘s fabric-like designs provide a view of nature separate from our domination.
“I don’t paint the picturesque,” Schooley said emphatically.
After he retired from teaching, he turned his full attention to painting. After his retirement in 1977, the Schooleys spent a year in joint residency at the Roswell Museum and Art Center. They lived in Roswell the rest of their lives, and he turned his full attention to painting.
Over the years Elmer Schooley's work has garnered numerous awards and prizes, including the Museum of New Mexico's Biennials in 1970, '72 and '74; a Ford Foundation purchase prize in 1962; a Hallmark Purchase Award in 1964 and the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts in 1986.
His paintings are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Albuquerque Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Roswell Museum and Art Center, the New Mexico Highlands University, the Hallmark Collection, Pacific University, the Kathryn Cawein Gallery of Art, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Fine Art , the University of Oklahoma, the Tucson Museum of Art.the Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
"Skinny" Schooley died at the age of 91 years old on 25 April 2007 in Roswell, New Mexico.
sources: Susan Craig, Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945); Who’s Who in American Art; AskART; Annex Galleries; CSA Journal
"And it's—perhaps corny phrasing—an instant of ecstasy and an ecstatic experience I have. And maybe these ecstatic experiences are unique to me. I don’t know anybody else that goes out and gets that same wallop I do of seeing some simple, little thing like this. Most people drive by and say, 'Well, they're trees. After seeing one tree, you've seen them all.' But—I believe I see everything in it. I see the forest, I see the clumps of foliage, I see the individual needles, I see the branches, I see the trunk, I see the whole damn thing."
Interview with Elmer Schooley by Sharyn Udall , October 1983, Roswell, NM
Jon Schueler The American painter Jon Schueler was often grouped with the second generation of Abstract Expressionists, although as a survey of his paintings from the mid-1950s makes clear, his body of work is much broader in its affiliations. If anything, his painting reaches back to Monet and the French Impressionists, while leaning toward the mystical realism of J. M. W. Turner, who was a lasting influence on Schueler during his last prolific decades, when he lived part-time in Scotland and often painted visions of the sea and sky in eerie contention. A leading figure among the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, Schueler’s earliest paintings often contained zigzag lightning bolts, vivid displays of color, and palette-knife gestures that gave to the paintings a thickly textured aura.
Charles Green Shaw During his successful painting career, which spanned four decades of modernism, Charles Green Shaw skillfully explored several abstract idioms. A native New Yorker, Shaw’s early work was in writing; in the 1920s he contributed to publications including the New Yorker and Vanity Fair. During travels to Europe from 1929 to 1932, he gained first-hand experience with new developments in modern art, and began to devote himself to painting. By 1940, Shaw had developed the idea of the “plastic polygon,” a pictorial structure based on simplified architectonic and organic shapes combined with a Cubist grid. Shaw worked with variants of this concept in painting and in wood relief constructions. With the exception of a few depictions of simplified, angular figures in the late 1940s, Shaw’s work remained essentially nonrepresentational for the rest of his career.
Millard Sheets Millard Sheets was a native California artist and grew up in the Pomona Valley near Los Angeles. He attended the Chouinard Art Institute and studied with F. Tolles Chamberlin and Clarence Hinkle. While still a teenager, his watercolors were accepted for exhibition in the annual California Water Color Society shows and by nineteen years of age, he was elected into membership. At twenty, even before he graduated from Chouinard, they hired him to teach watercolor painting while completing other aspects of his art education.
James Sicner James Sicner was born July 9, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois (though most other sources date his birth in 1940). He studied at the National University of Mexico in Mexico City and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Sicner was a very successful artist, having exhibits of his work displayed in places such as New York, Paris, Rome, London, and Mexico City.
One of his largest projects was the America’s Bicentennial Collection, which was displayed in both Washington D.C. and the Denver State Capitol Rotunda in 1976.
(Above information via Trinity University Coates Library, source: Library Hour Program on KSYM 90.1 FM, Host Irma Dee Everts, Interviewees Katherine D. Pettit and James Sicner, January 30th, 1980).
EXHIBITIONS:
Galeria Copenhague, Mexico City, 1962
Denver Art Museum, 1962, 1967 (purchase prize)
Galeria Mendelhson, Mexico City, 1963
Graham Gallery, New York City, 1964, 1968
Galeria Von Bovenkamp, New York City, 1965
Galeria de Antonio Souza, Mexico City, 1966, 1968
Galeria Orlando, Los Angeles, 1966-67
Galeria de la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, 1966
Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles, 1966, 1969-70, 1972, 1975
The Gallery, Denver, 1967
The Contemporaries Gallery, New York City, 1967
Instituto Frances de America Latina, Mexico City, 1968
Square Frames Gallery, Denver, 1968, 1972
19th Olympiad, Mexico City, 1968
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1968
La Palapa Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, 1969
Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, Spoleto, Italy, 1969
Iris Clert Gallery, Paris, France, 1969
Galeria 88, Rome, 1969, 1975
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1969-72
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1970
Galeria Avril, Mexico City, 1970-72, 1974-75
Norma Clark Gallery, London, England, 1970
David Gallery, Houston, 1970
Galerie Henriette Gomes, Paris, France, 1971, 1974
Tacoma Art Museum, 1972
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California, 1973
Museo Nacional de Anthropologia e Historia, Mexico City, 1973; Edan Gallery, Acapulco, Mexico, 1974
Galerie Helliggejst, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1974-75;
Indianapolis Museum of Modern Art, 1975 (purchase prize)
American Bicentennial Collection, Law House, Washington, D.C., 1976
American Bicentennial Collection, State Capitol Rotunda, Denver, 1977
Central City Opera House Association, Central City, Colorado, 1978
Print for Colorado Centennial, Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1976, 1978
MURAL COMMISSIONS:
Industrial Club de Mexico, Camino Real Hotel, Mexico City, 1968
Israel Sports Club, Mexico City, 1970
Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, 1977-81
Exhibition and commission history: Jeff Jeremias Fine Arts, via Askart
One of his largest projects was the America’s Bicentennial Collection, which was displayed in both Washington D.C. and the Denver State Capitol Rotunda in 1976.
(Above information via Trinity University Coates Library, source: Library Hour Program on KSYM 90.1 FM, Host Irma Dee Everts, Interviewees Katherine D. Pettit and James Sicner, January 30th, 1980).
EXHIBITIONS:
Galeria Copenhague, Mexico City, 1962
Denver Art Museum, 1962, 1967 (purchase prize)
Galeria Mendelhson, Mexico City, 1963
Graham Gallery, New York City, 1964, 1968
Galeria Von Bovenkamp, New York City, 1965
Galeria de Antonio Souza, Mexico City, 1966, 1968
Galeria Orlando, Los Angeles, 1966-67
Galeria de la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, 1966
Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles, 1966, 1969-70, 1972, 1975
The Gallery, Denver, 1967
The Contemporaries Gallery, New York City, 1967
Instituto Frances de America Latina, Mexico City, 1968
Square Frames Gallery, Denver, 1968, 1972
19th Olympiad, Mexico City, 1968
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1968
La Palapa Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, 1969
Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, Spoleto, Italy, 1969
Iris Clert Gallery, Paris, France, 1969
Galeria 88, Rome, 1969, 1975
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 1969-72
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1970
Galeria Avril, Mexico City, 1970-72, 1974-75
Norma Clark Gallery, London, England, 1970
David Gallery, Houston, 1970
Galerie Henriette Gomes, Paris, France, 1971, 1974
Tacoma Art Museum, 1972
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California, 1973
Museo Nacional de Anthropologia e Historia, Mexico City, 1973; Edan Gallery, Acapulco, Mexico, 1974
Galerie Helliggejst, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1974-75;
Indianapolis Museum of Modern Art, 1975 (purchase prize)
American Bicentennial Collection, Law House, Washington, D.C., 1976
American Bicentennial Collection, State Capitol Rotunda, Denver, 1977
Central City Opera House Association, Central City, Colorado, 1978
Print for Colorado Centennial, Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1976, 1978
MURAL COMMISSIONS:
Industrial Club de Mexico, Camino Real Hotel, Mexico City, 1968
Israel Sports Club, Mexico City, 1970
Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, 1977-81
Exhibition and commission history: Jeff Jeremias Fine Arts, via Askart
Sewell Sillman A student and protégé of Josef Albers, the leading light of Black Mountain College, Sewell Sillman was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1924. He attended high school in Atlanta, where, in 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Force Reserve. Simultaneously, he enrolled in evening classes at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and studied civil engineering there the first semester the following year.
He spent fall and winter of 1943 at the Johns Hopkins University in the Army Student Training program, before being sent abroad, where he was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. After his discharge, he returned to Georgia Tech in early 1946, where an instructor called him a “misfit.”
Sillman’s affiliation with Black Mountain and Albers began in January 1948. His intention was to study architecture, but he became disenchanted during the summer session, when Buckminster Fuller oversaw the unsuccessful construction of the first geodesic dome. Stimulated instead by Albers’ design and drawing courses and Pete Jennerjahn’s printing classes, Sillman shifted his focus.
He remained at the college through the following summer, and later revealed how the experience “gave me a chance to get rid of absolutely every standard that I had grown up with… It was like a snake that loses its skin… What was left was someone who had absolutely no idea in the world what to do… It was marvelous.” He soon discovered, however, after a semester at Windsor Mountain School, in Lenox, Massachusetts, that he enjoyed teaching.
In 1950, Sillman entered the bachelor of fine arts program at Yale University where Albers had become the director of the design department. Already well versed in art studio practices, Sillman obtained his degree quickly, and went on to pursue a master’s degree. He served as a teaching assistant to Albers, and in 1954 became a regular faculty member, a position he held until 1966.
In 1952, he returned to Black Mountain for the summer, but, without Albers, found the place changed and dominated by abstract expressionism in the guise of fellow teachers Franz Kline and Jack Tworkov. “When Albers left it was just so empty… It was death warmed over.”
In his own work Sillman continued to examine basic design and drawing concerns, such as the relationships of colors and shapes, and the use of line, which evolved from his teaching regimen. His oil paintings are formal exercises with hues that are far from primary applied with a palette knife to create bold geometric compositions. In contrast his series of “wave drawings,” artfully filled with curving lines, are organic and reminiscent of forms in nature.
In 1956, Sillman organized an exhibition of Albers’ work for Yale’s new art gallery and in the catalogue used two original screenprints from his mentor’s Homage to the Square series. From this experience grew a collaboration, not only with Albers, but with fellow faculty member and graphic designer, Norman Ives; jointly they issued Interaction of Color—1800 portfolios of eighty screenprints by Albers which became a seminal thesis on color theory. Established in 1962, the firm of Ives-Sillman produced portfolios and prints for other artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Roy Lichtenstein, and Walker Evans.
Between 1963 and 1965 Sillman taught at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and after his departure from Yale in 1966, he held positions at the Rhode Island School of Design, the State University of New York at Purchase, and Ohio State University, and he returned to Yale between 1973 and 1978 to teach advanced seminars.
He spent fall and winter of 1943 at the Johns Hopkins University in the Army Student Training program, before being sent abroad, where he was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. After his discharge, he returned to Georgia Tech in early 1946, where an instructor called him a “misfit.”
Sillman’s affiliation with Black Mountain and Albers began in January 1948. His intention was to study architecture, but he became disenchanted during the summer session, when Buckminster Fuller oversaw the unsuccessful construction of the first geodesic dome. Stimulated instead by Albers’ design and drawing courses and Pete Jennerjahn’s printing classes, Sillman shifted his focus.
He remained at the college through the following summer, and later revealed how the experience “gave me a chance to get rid of absolutely every standard that I had grown up with… It was like a snake that loses its skin… What was left was someone who had absolutely no idea in the world what to do… It was marvelous.” He soon discovered, however, after a semester at Windsor Mountain School, in Lenox, Massachusetts, that he enjoyed teaching.
In 1950, Sillman entered the bachelor of fine arts program at Yale University where Albers had become the director of the design department. Already well versed in art studio practices, Sillman obtained his degree quickly, and went on to pursue a master’s degree. He served as a teaching assistant to Albers, and in 1954 became a regular faculty member, a position he held until 1966.
In 1952, he returned to Black Mountain for the summer, but, without Albers, found the place changed and dominated by abstract expressionism in the guise of fellow teachers Franz Kline and Jack Tworkov. “When Albers left it was just so empty… It was death warmed over.”
In his own work Sillman continued to examine basic design and drawing concerns, such as the relationships of colors and shapes, and the use of line, which evolved from his teaching regimen. His oil paintings are formal exercises with hues that are far from primary applied with a palette knife to create bold geometric compositions. In contrast his series of “wave drawings,” artfully filled with curving lines, are organic and reminiscent of forms in nature.
In 1956, Sillman organized an exhibition of Albers’ work for Yale’s new art gallery and in the catalogue used two original screenprints from his mentor’s Homage to the Square series. From this experience grew a collaboration, not only with Albers, but with fellow faculty member and graphic designer, Norman Ives; jointly they issued Interaction of Color—1800 portfolios of eighty screenprints by Albers which became a seminal thesis on color theory. Established in 1962, the firm of Ives-Sillman produced portfolios and prints for other artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Roy Lichtenstein, and Walker Evans.
Between 1963 and 1965 Sillman taught at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and after his departure from Yale in 1966, he held positions at the Rhode Island School of Design, the State University of New York at Purchase, and Ohio State University, and he returned to Yale between 1973 and 1978 to teach advanced seminars.
David Simpson Pasadena, California-born abstract painter David Simpson uses meticulous arrangements of color and form to elevate his meditatively abstract compositions. Simpson has said "I want my paintings to create space: to find room. I want them to create space without taking it, and to be contemplative in the process. Hence their apparent simplicity and openness."
His stripe paintings were included in critic Clement Greenberg's Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition, "Post Painterly Abstraction," along with work by Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Ellsworth Kelly. Critic Kenneth Baker, speaking of a recent exhibition of David Simpson works in San Francisco, noted 1that “Simpson's uncompromising abstractions may look almost as radical today as when he made them [in the 1970s.] He invites us to enjoy the materials of illusionism and its invitation of fantasy, without forgetting ourselves.”
For years, David Simpson was on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley. His work is in major museums throughout the world including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was amongst fifteen artists exhibited at the MOMA in 1963 in one of Dorothy Miller's last exhibitions entitled "Americans".
His works are found in numerous public and private collections around the world, including Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, Il; Museum of Contemporary Art (MART), Roverato, Italy; Museo di Arte Cantonale, Lugano, Switzerland; Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Trento, Italy; Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC.
His stripe paintings were included in critic Clement Greenberg's Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition, "Post Painterly Abstraction," along with work by Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Ellsworth Kelly. Critic Kenneth Baker, speaking of a recent exhibition of David Simpson works in San Francisco, noted 1that “Simpson's uncompromising abstractions may look almost as radical today as when he made them [in the 1970s.] He invites us to enjoy the materials of illusionism and its invitation of fantasy, without forgetting ourselves.”
For years, David Simpson was on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley. His work is in major museums throughout the world including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was amongst fifteen artists exhibited at the MOMA in 1963 in one of Dorothy Miller's last exhibitions entitled "Americans".
His works are found in numerous public and private collections around the world, including Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, Il; Museum of Contemporary Art (MART), Roverato, Italy; Museo di Arte Cantonale, Lugano, Switzerland; Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Trento, Italy; Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC.
Agnes Sims Agnes Sims is known for paintings and sculptures inspired by prehistoric rock art of New Mexico. After a visit to New Mexico in 1938, Sims returned to Philadelphia, packed her belongings, and returned to make Santa Fe her permanent home.
Shortly after her arrival, a friend introduced Sims to the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe which was dotted with the ruins of prehistoric Indian Pueblos, and home to tens of thousands of ancient petroglyphs. The rock art captivated Sims and became her primary inspiration for the rest of her career. Over the next decade she recorded 3000 petroglyphs in drawings and thousands more in photographs. In 1949 she received a grant from the American Philosophical Society to further her research, and in 1950 she published a portfolio of selected rock at drawings in her monograph, San Cristobal Petroglyphs.
Most of Sims' paintings and sculptures were inspired by petroglyphs, but unlike her documentary drawings, they never were literal copies; rather, she adopted and adapted the two-dimensional representations of people and animal into an art that fit comfortably into the larger world of mid-century modernism. She used simple, idiosyncratic figures to create her own symbolism, the original meanings of the ancient art being mostly lost to the past.
Shortly after her arrival, a friend introduced Sims to the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe which was dotted with the ruins of prehistoric Indian Pueblos, and home to tens of thousands of ancient petroglyphs. The rock art captivated Sims and became her primary inspiration for the rest of her career. Over the next decade she recorded 3000 petroglyphs in drawings and thousands more in photographs. In 1949 she received a grant from the American Philosophical Society to further her research, and in 1950 she published a portfolio of selected rock at drawings in her monograph, San Cristobal Petroglyphs.
Most of Sims' paintings and sculptures were inspired by petroglyphs, but unlike her documentary drawings, they never were literal copies; rather, she adopted and adapted the two-dimensional representations of people and animal into an art that fit comfortably into the larger world of mid-century modernism. She used simple, idiosyncratic figures to create her own symbolism, the original meanings of the ancient art being mostly lost to the past.
Robert Slutzky A painter and also an art educator who explored connections between painting and architecture, Robert Slutzky was keenly interested in questions of visual perception and poetics. For many years, he was a professor of art and architecture at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. In later years he taught at the University of Pennsylvania.
Anthony Vidler, former dean of Cooper Union's architecture school, said of him: "Slutzky was a natural person to teach art and concepts of color and concepts of space to architects, because he could read them in painting." In his abstract geometric paintings, he focused on relationships between color and form, proportion and composition.
Robert Slutzky was born in Brooklyn. After earning a certificate of art in 1951 from Cooper Union, he studied with Josef Albers at Yale University, where he earned an M.F.A. in 1954. His first job after art school was teaching architecture at the University of Texas, where he co-authored two seminal essays entitled "Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal" with the architectural historian Colin Rowe. Initially published in 1964 and subsequently translated into several foreign languages, the essays challenged the bland and formulaic glass boxes of the International Style, calling for a richer and more complex visual language of modern architecture.
As a painter, Mr. Slutzky was intimately concerned with color and structure, and with the contrapuntal, almost musical, relation between the two. His abstract compositions of vividly colored squares, grids and lines arranged in perfect geometric balance were a kind of two-dimensional architecture, reflecting the influence of both Mondrian and Albers.
Reviewing an exhibition of Mr. Slutzky's work in The New York Times in 1975, Hilton Kramer wrote: "Mr. Slutzky works within the strict pictorial conventions of geometrical abstraction, which, in his hands, is a medium of lyric improvisation. Everything here depends on proportion and placement, on the weight and intensity of color, and thus on delicacy of feeling."
In Mr. Slutzky's later work, hard edges at times gave way to looser brushwork, but the dialogue between color and structure remained paramount. His paintings are found in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Anthony Vidler, former dean of Cooper Union's architecture school, said of him: "Slutzky was a natural person to teach art and concepts of color and concepts of space to architects, because he could read them in painting." In his abstract geometric paintings, he focused on relationships between color and form, proportion and composition.
Robert Slutzky was born in Brooklyn. After earning a certificate of art in 1951 from Cooper Union, he studied with Josef Albers at Yale University, where he earned an M.F.A. in 1954. His first job after art school was teaching architecture at the University of Texas, where he co-authored two seminal essays entitled "Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal" with the architectural historian Colin Rowe. Initially published in 1964 and subsequently translated into several foreign languages, the essays challenged the bland and formulaic glass boxes of the International Style, calling for a richer and more complex visual language of modern architecture.
As a painter, Mr. Slutzky was intimately concerned with color and structure, and with the contrapuntal, almost musical, relation between the two. His abstract compositions of vividly colored squares, grids and lines arranged in perfect geometric balance were a kind of two-dimensional architecture, reflecting the influence of both Mondrian and Albers.
Reviewing an exhibition of Mr. Slutzky's work in The New York Times in 1975, Hilton Kramer wrote: "Mr. Slutzky works within the strict pictorial conventions of geometrical abstraction, which, in his hands, is a medium of lyric improvisation. Everything here depends on proportion and placement, on the weight and intensity of color, and thus on delicacy of feeling."
In Mr. Slutzky's later work, hard edges at times gave way to looser brushwork, but the dialogue between color and structure remained paramount. His paintings are found in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
David Smith David Smith was an early Abstract Expressionist American sculptor whose pioneering welded metal sculpture and massive painted geometric forms made him one of the most original American sculptors in the decades after World War II.
Throughout Smith’s career, he also created paintings and drawings that utilized Abstract Expressionist techniques.
“Art is a paradox that has no laws to bind it,” the artist once mused. “When art exists it becomes tradition. When it is created, it represents a unity that did not exist before.”
Born on March 9, 1906 in Decatur, Indiana, Smith grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio University in Athens, but then transferred to the University of Notre Dame. The summer in between, the artist worked at the Studebaker automobile plant in South Bend, Indiana, where he learned welding - a skill he would later use for his art.
Smith moved to New York in 1926 and enrolled in classes at the Art Students League, where he met Jan Matulka, a Czech abstractionist. Through Matulka, Smith became familiar with the work of Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, and the cubists. By the early 1930s, Smith had begun to incorporate found objects such as shells, bones, wood, and wire into his paintings, adding depth and transforming them into sculptural reliefs. Soon thereafter he began constructing welded steel sculptures, and it is for these works that Smith is best known.
Smith developed friendships with other avant-garde artists, including Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, and John Graham.
Graham, a painter and critic, introduced Smith to the welded sculptures of Julio Gonzáles and Pablo Picasso, which made a tremendous impression on the artist. Following their example, Smith became the first American artist to make welded metal sculpture. He found a creative freedom in this technique that, combined with the liberating influence of the Surrealist doctrine that art springs from the spontaneous expression of the unconscious mind, allowed him soon to produce a large body of abstract biomorphic forms remarkable for their erratic inventiveness, their stylistic diversity, and their high aesthetic quality.
In 1940 Smith moved to Bolton Landing, New York, where he made sculpture during World War II when not assembling locomotives and tanks in a defense plant. For a time after the war, he continued to work in a bewildering profusion of styles, but toward the end of the decade he disciplined his exuberant imagination by making pieces in stylistically unified series. Such series of sculptures were often continued over a period of years concurrently with other series of radically different styles.
With the Albany series (begun in 1959) and the Zig series the following year, Smith’s work became more geometric and monumental. In Zigs, his most successful Cubist works, he used paint to emphasize the relationships of planes, but in his Cubi (begun in 1963), his last great series, Smith relied instead on the light of the sculptures’ outdoor surroundings to bring their burnished stainless-steel surfaces to life. These pieces abandon two-dimensional planes for cylinders and rectilinear solids that achieve a sense of massive volume. Smith joined these cubiform elements at odd and seemingly haphazard angles, in dynamically unstable arrangements that communicate an effect of weightlessness and freedom.
Smith died in a car accident near Bennington, VT on May 23, 1965 at the age of 59.
Today, his works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, among others.
Biographical sources: artnet, nga.gov, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Throughout Smith’s career, he also created paintings and drawings that utilized Abstract Expressionist techniques.
“Art is a paradox that has no laws to bind it,” the artist once mused. “When art exists it becomes tradition. When it is created, it represents a unity that did not exist before.”
Born on March 9, 1906 in Decatur, Indiana, Smith grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio University in Athens, but then transferred to the University of Notre Dame. The summer in between, the artist worked at the Studebaker automobile plant in South Bend, Indiana, where he learned welding - a skill he would later use for his art.
Smith moved to New York in 1926 and enrolled in classes at the Art Students League, where he met Jan Matulka, a Czech abstractionist. Through Matulka, Smith became familiar with the work of Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, and the cubists. By the early 1930s, Smith had begun to incorporate found objects such as shells, bones, wood, and wire into his paintings, adding depth and transforming them into sculptural reliefs. Soon thereafter he began constructing welded steel sculptures, and it is for these works that Smith is best known.
Smith developed friendships with other avant-garde artists, including Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, and John Graham.
Graham, a painter and critic, introduced Smith to the welded sculptures of Julio Gonzáles and Pablo Picasso, which made a tremendous impression on the artist. Following their example, Smith became the first American artist to make welded metal sculpture. He found a creative freedom in this technique that, combined with the liberating influence of the Surrealist doctrine that art springs from the spontaneous expression of the unconscious mind, allowed him soon to produce a large body of abstract biomorphic forms remarkable for their erratic inventiveness, their stylistic diversity, and their high aesthetic quality.
In 1940 Smith moved to Bolton Landing, New York, where he made sculpture during World War II when not assembling locomotives and tanks in a defense plant. For a time after the war, he continued to work in a bewildering profusion of styles, but toward the end of the decade he disciplined his exuberant imagination by making pieces in stylistically unified series. Such series of sculptures were often continued over a period of years concurrently with other series of radically different styles.
With the Albany series (begun in 1959) and the Zig series the following year, Smith’s work became more geometric and monumental. In Zigs, his most successful Cubist works, he used paint to emphasize the relationships of planes, but in his Cubi (begun in 1963), his last great series, Smith relied instead on the light of the sculptures’ outdoor surroundings to bring their burnished stainless-steel surfaces to life. These pieces abandon two-dimensional planes for cylinders and rectilinear solids that achieve a sense of massive volume. Smith joined these cubiform elements at odd and seemingly haphazard angles, in dynamically unstable arrangements that communicate an effect of weightlessness and freedom.
Smith died in a car accident near Bennington, VT on May 23, 1965 at the age of 59.
Today, his works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, among others.
Biographical sources: artnet, nga.gov, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Georges Spiro Georges Spiro was a Polish-French painter, who worked primarily in gouache. His surrealist works were shown in Germany, France, England, and New York. In 1952 Dior de la Souchère, curator of the Musée Grimaldi in Antibes, bought some of works Spiro's paintings at the Revue Surrealiste. Six years later, at the Biennale de Menton, Spiro was awarded the third prize.
Vivian Springford Vivian Springford was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and educated at the Spence School in New York City, and then the Art Students League. Born to a prominent family (her father was the former president and chairman of the board of Sevel, Inc, an early maker of refrigerators), she was pictured in The New York Times “Debutantes of the Winter Season in New York” in 1932.
Originally a portrait artist, she illustrated Albert Carr’s 1938 book Juggernaut with portraits of twenty political dictators from the Napoleanic era to the early twentieth century.
She was championed in the late 1950s by Howard DeVree, the New York Times art critic, and Harold Rosenberg helped Springford get her first show at Great Jones Gallery in 1960.
Springford provides a fascinating case study of a mid-century American woman artist. Working first in an Abstract Expressionist and then in a Color Field vocabulary, she was active in multiple facets of the New York art world from the 1950s to 1970s, during which time she had solo and group exhibitions at the Great Jones Gallery, the Preston Gallery, Women in the Arts, and the Visual Arts Coalition.
With an emphasis on gesture, dripping, and splattering, Springford’s works of the 1950s bore a clear connection to Abstract Expressionism. The primary influence of her early work came from East Asian arts and letters, particularly Chinese calligraphy, Taoism and Confucianism. She credited the Chinese-American painter Walasse Ting, whom she met in the mid-1950s, with introducing her to Asian culture. Part of what attracted her about calligraphy as a technique was the fact that it cannot be altered once a mark is made. Her use of this technique resulted in “one-shot” paintings: virtuosic works made in a single go, without alteration or revision.
By 1970 Springford had developed a manner of stain painting that was distinctively her own. Her use of thinned paint on raw or thinly-primed canvas, which she developed with her calligraphic paintings of the late 1950s, developed into more abstract and wash-like marks, with stained colored lines expanding into floods of color. This stylistic approach aligns with the Color Field painters’ exploration of stain painting as a primary mode of mark-making.
Springford once remarked that, for her, the act of painting was an “attempt to identify with the universal whole…. I want to find my own small plot or pattern of energy that will express the inner me in terms of rhythmic movement and color. The expansive center of the universe, of the stars, and of nature is my constant challenge in abstract terms.” With her technical inventiveness, formal originality, and seductive use of color, her work deserves a place in the annals of postwar American art, particularly in relation to the histories of Abstract Expressionist and Color Field painting. Following her inclusion in the Denver Art Museum's exhibition catalogue, Women of Abstract Expressionism (Joan Marter 2016), the time is right for a critical revision and appreciation of Springford’s abundant talent and tireless persistence—a story that mirrors those of so many women artists, past and present.
Originally a portrait artist, she illustrated Albert Carr’s 1938 book Juggernaut with portraits of twenty political dictators from the Napoleanic era to the early twentieth century.
She was championed in the late 1950s by Howard DeVree, the New York Times art critic, and Harold Rosenberg helped Springford get her first show at Great Jones Gallery in 1960.
Springford provides a fascinating case study of a mid-century American woman artist. Working first in an Abstract Expressionist and then in a Color Field vocabulary, she was active in multiple facets of the New York art world from the 1950s to 1970s, during which time she had solo and group exhibitions at the Great Jones Gallery, the Preston Gallery, Women in the Arts, and the Visual Arts Coalition.
With an emphasis on gesture, dripping, and splattering, Springford’s works of the 1950s bore a clear connection to Abstract Expressionism. The primary influence of her early work came from East Asian arts and letters, particularly Chinese calligraphy, Taoism and Confucianism. She credited the Chinese-American painter Walasse Ting, whom she met in the mid-1950s, with introducing her to Asian culture. Part of what attracted her about calligraphy as a technique was the fact that it cannot be altered once a mark is made. Her use of this technique resulted in “one-shot” paintings: virtuosic works made in a single go, without alteration or revision.
By 1970 Springford had developed a manner of stain painting that was distinctively her own. Her use of thinned paint on raw or thinly-primed canvas, which she developed with her calligraphic paintings of the late 1950s, developed into more abstract and wash-like marks, with stained colored lines expanding into floods of color. This stylistic approach aligns with the Color Field painters’ exploration of stain painting as a primary mode of mark-making.
Springford once remarked that, for her, the act of painting was an “attempt to identify with the universal whole…. I want to find my own small plot or pattern of energy that will express the inner me in terms of rhythmic movement and color. The expansive center of the universe, of the stars, and of nature is my constant challenge in abstract terms.” With her technical inventiveness, formal originality, and seductive use of color, her work deserves a place in the annals of postwar American art, particularly in relation to the histories of Abstract Expressionist and Color Field painting. Following her inclusion in the Denver Art Museum's exhibition catalogue, Women of Abstract Expressionism (Joan Marter 2016), the time is right for a critical revision and appreciation of Springford’s abundant talent and tireless persistence—a story that mirrors those of so many women artists, past and present.
Joseph Stella Born in Muro Lucano, near Naples, Italy, Joseph Stella is best known for his painting Brooklyn Bridge, 1919 a futurist work that is an icon of the Industrial Age.
Joseph Stella was a Futurist painter known for his association with the American Precisionism movement and his works depicting industrial America. Stella was born in Lucano, Italy. In 1896, he relocated to New York, NY, to study medicine. After becoming interested in art, Stella left his medical studies and began to study art at the Art Students League of New York. While there, he studied under William Merritt Chase. During this time, Stella's early works featured a Rembrandt style and depicted scenes from city slum life.
Between the years of 1905 and 1909, Stella was employed as an illustrator. He was commissioned to paint a series based on industrial Pittsburgh in 1908. While visiting Italy in 1909, Stella was exposed to Modernism for the first time. This exposure would later heavily influence his unique personal style. He also became associated with several Italian Futurist artists during this time. In 1913, Stella returned to New York and painted several works, including Mardi Gras, Battle of Lights, and Coney Island. He also participated in the New York Armory Show of 1913.
During the 1920s, Stella became interested in the geometric lines reflected in the architecture of Lower Manhattan. In the works he produced during this time, Stella combined the elements of Futurism and Cubism. His most famous work, featuring the Brooklyn Bridge, was produced during this time. Another well-known work produced in this period is New York Interpreted. Comprised of five panels, this work depicts various skyscrapers and bridges. The work reflects a popular concept of the time that industry would eventually take the place of religion in modern life. In the 1930s, Stella traveled throughout the world and was inspired by such locations as North Africa and the West Indies. During this time, Stella utilized a variety of styles, including Realism, Surrealism, and Abstraction. These works included religious themes, city themes, nature and botanical studies, and Caribbean landscapes. The artist died on November 5, 1946.
Joseph Stella was a Futurist painter known for his association with the American Precisionism movement and his works depicting industrial America. Stella was born in Lucano, Italy. In 1896, he relocated to New York, NY, to study medicine. After becoming interested in art, Stella left his medical studies and began to study art at the Art Students League of New York. While there, he studied under William Merritt Chase. During this time, Stella's early works featured a Rembrandt style and depicted scenes from city slum life.
Between the years of 1905 and 1909, Stella was employed as an illustrator. He was commissioned to paint a series based on industrial Pittsburgh in 1908. While visiting Italy in 1909, Stella was exposed to Modernism for the first time. This exposure would later heavily influence his unique personal style. He also became associated with several Italian Futurist artists during this time. In 1913, Stella returned to New York and painted several works, including Mardi Gras, Battle of Lights, and Coney Island. He also participated in the New York Armory Show of 1913.
During the 1920s, Stella became interested in the geometric lines reflected in the architecture of Lower Manhattan. In the works he produced during this time, Stella combined the elements of Futurism and Cubism. His most famous work, featuring the Brooklyn Bridge, was produced during this time. Another well-known work produced in this period is New York Interpreted. Comprised of five panels, this work depicts various skyscrapers and bridges. The work reflects a popular concept of the time that industry would eventually take the place of religion in modern life. In the 1930s, Stella traveled throughout the world and was inspired by such locations as North Africa and the West Indies. During this time, Stella utilized a variety of styles, including Realism, Surrealism, and Abstraction. These works included religious themes, city themes, nature and botanical studies, and Caribbean landscapes. The artist died on November 5, 1946.
John Stephan John Stephan (1906-1995) devoted himself exclusively to disc paintings for the last three decades of his artistic career. These nearly square compositions, always just inches taller than they are wide, each comprise a central monochrome circle delineated from its ground by multiple bands of contrasting colors. Depending how the particular colors come alive in relation to one another, the central orb floats or recedes, emanating pulsing energy or enveloping the gaze. Painting after painting, Stephan found within the fixed parameters of this geometric distribution an infinite potential for visual poetry in the juxtaposition of his subtly mixed colors.
The monumental achievement of Stephan's disc paintings stands on the solid foundation of a lifetime of artistic accomplishment. Having painted urban landscapes and worked as a WPA artist through the 1930s, John Stephan truly came of age as an artist after World War II. An important figure in the development of Abstract Expressionism, Stephan showed at the Betty Parsons Gallery and counted among his close associates Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman.
With poet (and then wife) Ruth Stephan, he published The Tiger's Eye, an influential "little magazine" that chronicled the creative ferment of the period. Inspired by William Blake's "Tyger," the title symbolized the editors' faith in the power of creative vision, as did John Stephan's design for the cover which prominently features an abstracted eye. The publication featured European and American Surrealists, members of the Latin American avant garde, and young American painters soon to become known as Abstract Expressionists. The artists, among them Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Adolph Gottlieb, Stanley William Hayter, André Masson, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Anne Ryan, Kay Sage, Kurt Seligmann, Rufino Tamayo, and Mark Tobey, as well as art editor and co-publisher John Stephan himself, range across the cultural forefront of the post-war period.
John Walter Stephan was an early member of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. He was born in Chicago and studied art at the University of Illinois and the Art Institute of Chicago. He created mosaics for a number of buildings in the Chicago area under the auspices of the Work Projects Administration. After World War II, he and his first wife, Ruth Walgreen, moved to New York City, where he had solo exhibitions at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio; the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City and the Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island. His work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Cincinnati Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Loyola University in Chicago and numerous other institutions.
The monumental achievement of Stephan's disc paintings stands on the solid foundation of a lifetime of artistic accomplishment. Having painted urban landscapes and worked as a WPA artist through the 1930s, John Stephan truly came of age as an artist after World War II. An important figure in the development of Abstract Expressionism, Stephan showed at the Betty Parsons Gallery and counted among his close associates Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman.
With poet (and then wife) Ruth Stephan, he published The Tiger's Eye, an influential "little magazine" that chronicled the creative ferment of the period. Inspired by William Blake's "Tyger," the title symbolized the editors' faith in the power of creative vision, as did John Stephan's design for the cover which prominently features an abstracted eye. The publication featured European and American Surrealists, members of the Latin American avant garde, and young American painters soon to become known as Abstract Expressionists. The artists, among them Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Adolph Gottlieb, Stanley William Hayter, André Masson, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Anne Ryan, Kay Sage, Kurt Seligmann, Rufino Tamayo, and Mark Tobey, as well as art editor and co-publisher John Stephan himself, range across the cultural forefront of the post-war period.
John Walter Stephan was an early member of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. He was born in Chicago and studied art at the University of Illinois and the Art Institute of Chicago. He created mosaics for a number of buildings in the Chicago area under the auspices of the Work Projects Administration. After World War II, he and his first wife, Ruth Walgreen, moved to New York City, where he had solo exhibitions at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio; the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City and the Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island. His work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Cincinnati Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Loyola University in Chicago and numerous other institutions.
Lucia Stern Lucia Stern (born Martha Ida Lucia Karker) was an important figure in Wisconsin progressive art. Although her formal education was in music and literature (1918-1922), she was increasingly drawn to visual art. Her early influences were Matisse and Picasso, the two giants who also influenced each other.
In 1930 she married Milwaukee lawyer-politician Erich Stern, with whom she took annual trips to Europe, each time expanding their art connections. She was a friend of many important champions of non-objective art, including eminent Bauhaus artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), who painted a portrait of her, and with whom she exhibited. Moholy-Nagy’s book on art theory, titled Vision in Motion, remained a steady influence on her.
Another friend was of Stern’s was Baroness Hilla Rebay, director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting in New York City (later to become The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum). Baroness Rebay collected and exhibited Lucia Stern's works at the Museum.
By 1935 Stern was working regularly as an artist. Throughout the more than five decades during which she was active, she utilized drawing, painting, sculpting, and decoupage (cut and stitched or glued fabric). She was also an early experimenter with unusual, re-arrangable, sometimes hanging, 3D compositions using cork, plastic, glass, metal foil, cellophane, Lucite, and driftwood. She created stuffed sculptures that could double as toys for children and adults. In the 1960s-1970s she began integrating architecture and projected color-light with music and human voice.
In 1930 she married Milwaukee lawyer-politician Erich Stern, with whom she took annual trips to Europe, each time expanding their art connections. She was a friend of many important champions of non-objective art, including eminent Bauhaus artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), who painted a portrait of her, and with whom she exhibited. Moholy-Nagy’s book on art theory, titled Vision in Motion, remained a steady influence on her.
Another friend was of Stern’s was Baroness Hilla Rebay, director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting in New York City (later to become The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum). Baroness Rebay collected and exhibited Lucia Stern's works at the Museum.
By 1935 Stern was working regularly as an artist. Throughout the more than five decades during which she was active, she utilized drawing, painting, sculpting, and decoupage (cut and stitched or glued fabric). She was also an early experimenter with unusual, re-arrangable, sometimes hanging, 3D compositions using cork, plastic, glass, metal foil, cellophane, Lucite, and driftwood. She created stuffed sculptures that could double as toys for children and adults. In the 1960s-1970s she began integrating architecture and projected color-light with music and human voice.
Beulah Stevenson Beulah Stevenson was born in 1895 in Brooklyn Heights, New York, where she lived and worked until her death. She studied at Pratt Institute, the Art Student's League with John Sloan, and in Provincetown with Hans Hoffman.
Stevenson was a printmaker, painter, illustrator, teacher, as well as a curator at the Brooklyn Museum. She maintained active membership in a range of artist's organizations including the New York Society of Woman Artists (president), National Association of Women Artists (board member from 1949), Brooklyn Society of Artists (vice-president), Art Institute of Chicago, International Graphic Society Inc., Philadelphia Print Club, Provincetown Art Association and the Creative Artist's Association. She was a member of the American Artist Congress which endorsed government support of art unions and promoted the social-realist style of American scene painting. When the Congress' affiliation with the Communist Party increased, Stevenson left it to join the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, established to promote avant-garde art.
Among the solo shows of Stevenson's career were exhibitions at the Fifteen Gallery, Morris Gallery, Laurel Gallery and Santa Fe Museum of Art, as well as abroad in Paris and London. She also participated in numerous group shows including the Art Institute of Chicago; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Print Club of Philadelphia; National Arts Club, New York; and in Paris. She was the receipient of many awards for her work, notably from the Society of Women Artists, American Society of Contemporary Woman Artists, National Association of Woman Artists and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Her work is included in numerous museum and public collections including the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum and the Library of Congress.
Critics described her as "an experimenter in originality" and a "Happy Modernist."
Stevenson was a printmaker, painter, illustrator, teacher, as well as a curator at the Brooklyn Museum. She maintained active membership in a range of artist's organizations including the New York Society of Woman Artists (president), National Association of Women Artists (board member from 1949), Brooklyn Society of Artists (vice-president), Art Institute of Chicago, International Graphic Society Inc., Philadelphia Print Club, Provincetown Art Association and the Creative Artist's Association. She was a member of the American Artist Congress which endorsed government support of art unions and promoted the social-realist style of American scene painting. When the Congress' affiliation with the Communist Party increased, Stevenson left it to join the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, established to promote avant-garde art.
Among the solo shows of Stevenson's career were exhibitions at the Fifteen Gallery, Morris Gallery, Laurel Gallery and Santa Fe Museum of Art, as well as abroad in Paris and London. She also participated in numerous group shows including the Art Institute of Chicago; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Print Club of Philadelphia; National Arts Club, New York; and in Paris. She was the receipient of many awards for her work, notably from the Society of Women Artists, American Society of Contemporary Woman Artists, National Association of Woman Artists and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Her work is included in numerous museum and public collections including the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum and the Library of Congress.
Critics described her as "an experimenter in originality" and a "Happy Modernist."
Lino Tagliapietra Lino Tagliapietra, a prominent glassmaker in the world, was born in Murano, Italy in 1934. When he was 11 years old, he scoured the Venetian lagoon and landed an apprenticeship under the care of Master Archimede Seguso, one of the most respected Muranese glassmakers on the island. After years of learning the trade, Lino Tagliapietra was a master glass blower, yet he was only 21 years old. From there, he continued improving his skills as a glassmaker. He started working with several glass companies in Murano like the Vetreria Galliano Ferro, Venini & Co., and Effetre International.
Lino later taught at the Pilchuck School in Seattle. The relationship worked well for a time, but Lino wanted to express his works without limitation and wasn’t able to focus on his own creativity when tied down with a partner. Thus, although he still continued to teach in the U.S., he decided to leave the partnership and begin creating his own art glass.
At the start of 1990, Lino was practicing his trade without contractual obligations to hamper his creativity and unique ideas. Since he started working as a free artisan, Lino’s notoriety as a glass artist accelerated. Because of his dedication to exploring and experimenting with ideas from different sources of inspiration, he’s now considered as one of the greatest and most talented glass artists of today. His source of motivation comes from personal experiences and his encounters with different types of people and fellow artists.
Today, you can observe his timeless creations all over the world. Lino Tagliapietra glass is in museums like the De Young Museum of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. In 2009, the Museum of Tacoma held a solo exhibit for Lino’s art glass. The exhibit was hosted by some of the most notable museums in the United States, which included the Chrysler Museum of Art Norfolk, Flint Institute of Arts of Michigan, the Palm Springs Art Museum of California and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington DC.
As Lino’s fame grew, so did Lino Tagliapietra prices and his number of exhibitions. In 2011, there was another solo exhibit in his hometown of Venice by the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts. This gave the people of Venice an opportunity to see Lino’s art glass in the ‘Lino Tagliapietra from Murano to Studio’ exhibit.
The widespread fame of Lino Tagliapietra led him to receive several awards throughout his career as a glassmaker. In 2006, the James Renwick Alliance of Washington D.C. gave him the title ’Distinguished Educator Award’. In 2011, he received a second Honorary Degree and received the title ‘Doctor of Fine Arts’ from Ohio State University. Then in 2012 it was the ‘Phoenix Award’ in Venice, Italy for his contribution in the glassmaking industry. Lino got the ‘Visionary Award’ in 2013 at the Art Palm Beach in Florida, the ‘Career Award’ in 2014 by the ‘Instituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti’, and the ‘Best Glass Work Award’ in 2015 at the Masterpiece Exhibition held in London.
Lino continues to enhance his skills as a glassmaker even though he’s already considered a genius by many of his fellow glass artists. This level of dedication truly makes him a glass artist, teacher and mentor all at the same time. Lino shares his techniques and processes around the world and his influence reaches as far as Australia, China, and Japan. Many of his art glass creations are named after the places he’s visited like Bilbao, Borneo, Maui and Seattle.
Lino later taught at the Pilchuck School in Seattle. The relationship worked well for a time, but Lino wanted to express his works without limitation and wasn’t able to focus on his own creativity when tied down with a partner. Thus, although he still continued to teach in the U.S., he decided to leave the partnership and begin creating his own art glass.
At the start of 1990, Lino was practicing his trade without contractual obligations to hamper his creativity and unique ideas. Since he started working as a free artisan, Lino’s notoriety as a glass artist accelerated. Because of his dedication to exploring and experimenting with ideas from different sources of inspiration, he’s now considered as one of the greatest and most talented glass artists of today. His source of motivation comes from personal experiences and his encounters with different types of people and fellow artists.
Today, you can observe his timeless creations all over the world. Lino Tagliapietra glass is in museums like the De Young Museum of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. In 2009, the Museum of Tacoma held a solo exhibit for Lino’s art glass. The exhibit was hosted by some of the most notable museums in the United States, which included the Chrysler Museum of Art Norfolk, Flint Institute of Arts of Michigan, the Palm Springs Art Museum of California and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington DC.
As Lino’s fame grew, so did Lino Tagliapietra prices and his number of exhibitions. In 2011, there was another solo exhibit in his hometown of Venice by the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts. This gave the people of Venice an opportunity to see Lino’s art glass in the ‘Lino Tagliapietra from Murano to Studio’ exhibit.
The widespread fame of Lino Tagliapietra led him to receive several awards throughout his career as a glassmaker. In 2006, the James Renwick Alliance of Washington D.C. gave him the title ’Distinguished Educator Award’. In 2011, he received a second Honorary Degree and received the title ‘Doctor of Fine Arts’ from Ohio State University. Then in 2012 it was the ‘Phoenix Award’ in Venice, Italy for his contribution in the glassmaking industry. Lino got the ‘Visionary Award’ in 2013 at the Art Palm Beach in Florida, the ‘Career Award’ in 2014 by the ‘Instituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti’, and the ‘Best Glass Work Award’ in 2015 at the Masterpiece Exhibition held in London.
Lino continues to enhance his skills as a glassmaker even though he’s already considered a genius by many of his fellow glass artists. This level of dedication truly makes him a glass artist, teacher and mentor all at the same time. Lino shares his techniques and processes around the world and his influence reaches as far as Australia, China, and Japan. Many of his art glass creations are named after the places he’s visited like Bilbao, Borneo, Maui and Seattle.
E. Oscar Thalinger E. Oscar Thalinger was born on March 20, 1885 in Riquewihr, Alsace-Lorraine, France. His family emigrated to the United States and at age fifteen, Thalinger enrolled in the Art School in St. Louis, which later became the Fine Arts School of Washington University. There he studied painting and drawing during the day and sculpture at night.
Thalinger became known in the late 1920s and early 1930s for his images of “old St. Louis landmarks and dwellings which had lost their former glory”.
Along with other local artists of the twenties and thirties, he sought both inspiration and escape from the city’s problems. During this period he did Regionalist subjects and participated in the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony, a group of painters attracted to the picturesque town of St. Genevieve, Missouri near St. Louis.
In 1933 Thalinger was included in the exhibition Painting and Sculpture from 16 American Cities at the The Museum of Modern Art.
While expanding his subject matter his style remained the same; however he was intrigued by distortion of perspective and abandonment of realism. French-inspired Cubism and German-inspired Abstract Expressionism may have challenged him while studying in both Paris and Munich during the first decade of the twentieth century.
With this influence his work went from the social realism of the twenties and thirties, which was then dominant, to American modernism after the war. Modernism would remain his style and in 1946 the City Art Museum of St. Louis acquired his work for its permanent collection.
Much of Oscar's later work turned from his former more representational / modernist style towards the abstract. He never laid out a sketch before painting, preferring to work directly with his brush on the canvas. His reasoning for this method was that he did not have time to sketch while he observed; rather he preserved his impressions, which he would record later on canvas, “through color sensations”.
Thalinger painted until a stroke impaired his eyesight at the age of 78 and passed away in 1965 after suffering a second stroke. His career spanned half a century.
Thalinger was a member of the Artists’ Guild, the St. Louis Art League, the 2 x 4 Society and was President of Artists Equity. His work is in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Thalinger became known in the late 1920s and early 1930s for his images of “old St. Louis landmarks and dwellings which had lost their former glory”.
Along with other local artists of the twenties and thirties, he sought both inspiration and escape from the city’s problems. During this period he did Regionalist subjects and participated in the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony, a group of painters attracted to the picturesque town of St. Genevieve, Missouri near St. Louis.
In 1933 Thalinger was included in the exhibition Painting and Sculpture from 16 American Cities at the The Museum of Modern Art.
While expanding his subject matter his style remained the same; however he was intrigued by distortion of perspective and abandonment of realism. French-inspired Cubism and German-inspired Abstract Expressionism may have challenged him while studying in both Paris and Munich during the first decade of the twentieth century.
With this influence his work went from the social realism of the twenties and thirties, which was then dominant, to American modernism after the war. Modernism would remain his style and in 1946 the City Art Museum of St. Louis acquired his work for its permanent collection.
Much of Oscar's later work turned from his former more representational / modernist style towards the abstract. He never laid out a sketch before painting, preferring to work directly with his brush on the canvas. His reasoning for this method was that he did not have time to sketch while he observed; rather he preserved his impressions, which he would record later on canvas, “through color sensations”.
Thalinger painted until a stroke impaired his eyesight at the age of 78 and passed away in 1965 after suffering a second stroke. His career spanned half a century.
Thalinger was a member of the Artists’ Guild, the St. Louis Art League, the 2 x 4 Society and was President of Artists Equity. His work is in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Donald Roy Thompson Donald Roy Thompson was born in 1936, in Fowler, California. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Sacramento State University in 1960 and 1962, respectively. His most notable art instructor was Wayne Thiebaud. Among his classmates were Fritz Scholder and Merrill Mahaffey, both successful artists in Santa Fe.
From 1964-2000 Donald was an art instructor at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. Before he settled down to teach, Donald traveled and lived in Mexico City, where he was able to observe closely the murals of Diego Rivera.
Like so many color field painters of his generation, Thompson was influenced by Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, as well as by Matisse and Mondrian.
During an impoverished time in his early art career he was unable to afford good quality paint, so instead he used layers of hand-dyed cheesecloth for a large installation at the Cabrillo College Gallery. It helped form the basis of the ideas of transparency that he later produced in his acrylic color field paintings of 1971-75.
In 1972 Donald began again to use opaque colors on various sizes of canvas, focusing on the illusion of transparency.
By 1974 he began to feel the need for greater physicality and began to employ the use of stretched canvases of a single color bolted together, from large to huge (7.5’ X 10’), now in the Oakland Museum.
In 2013 Thompson settled in Santa Fe. There he began his current series of work, rekindling an aesthetic from four decades previous.
He continues to refine his approach and vision.
“I am habitually focused on the relationship of colors!” he wrote in July of 2022. “I’ve tried, in my paintings during the recent past, to experiment with various forms of pictorial composition - both symmetrical and asymmetrical.
My current challenge is combining the geometric with curvilinear form in an effort to achieve an integrated synthesis of the two, as they are experienced in hard-edge color painting. “
Thompson has exhibited solo and group shows both nationally and internationally. These include solo shows at Larry Evans/Willis Gallery, Foster Goldstrom, and Galeria Carl Van der Voort in San Francisco, and Ibiza, Spain. He had solo shows at Frederick Spratt Gallery in San Jose, California, as well as Shasta College Gallery in Redding, California and Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. His group shows include Leila Taghinia-Milani, New York City, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland and the Second British International Print Biennale, Yorkshire, England.
Thompson’s paintings are found in major collections including The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA.; Seattle First National Bank (Seafirst), Seattle, WA; Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA, Art Museum of Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz, CA.
Watch an interview with Donald Roy Thompson with art historian Kathryn Davis
From 1964-2000 Donald was an art instructor at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. Before he settled down to teach, Donald traveled and lived in Mexico City, where he was able to observe closely the murals of Diego Rivera.
Like so many color field painters of his generation, Thompson was influenced by Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, as well as by Matisse and Mondrian.
During an impoverished time in his early art career he was unable to afford good quality paint, so instead he used layers of hand-dyed cheesecloth for a large installation at the Cabrillo College Gallery. It helped form the basis of the ideas of transparency that he later produced in his acrylic color field paintings of 1971-75.
In 1972 Donald began again to use opaque colors on various sizes of canvas, focusing on the illusion of transparency.
By 1974 he began to feel the need for greater physicality and began to employ the use of stretched canvases of a single color bolted together, from large to huge (7.5’ X 10’), now in the Oakland Museum.
In 2013 Thompson settled in Santa Fe. There he began his current series of work, rekindling an aesthetic from four decades previous.
He continues to refine his approach and vision.
“I am habitually focused on the relationship of colors!” he wrote in July of 2022. “I’ve tried, in my paintings during the recent past, to experiment with various forms of pictorial composition - both symmetrical and asymmetrical.
My current challenge is combining the geometric with curvilinear form in an effort to achieve an integrated synthesis of the two, as they are experienced in hard-edge color painting. “
Thompson has exhibited solo and group shows both nationally and internationally. These include solo shows at Larry Evans/Willis Gallery, Foster Goldstrom, and Galeria Carl Van der Voort in San Francisco, and Ibiza, Spain. He had solo shows at Frederick Spratt Gallery in San Jose, California, as well as Shasta College Gallery in Redding, California and Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. His group shows include Leila Taghinia-Milani, New York City, Basel Art Fair, Switzerland and the Second British International Print Biennale, Yorkshire, England.
Thompson’s paintings are found in major collections including The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA.; Seattle First National Bank (Seafirst), Seattle, WA; Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA, Art Museum of Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz, CA.
Watch an interview with Donald Roy Thompson with art historian Kathryn Davis
Ruth Todd “Art today is not just an expression of Beauty alone, it is an extension of one’s self. It is a fundamental form of human symbolism. My search for Beauty and Truth in Art is in the mind – as well as in the knot in the weathered wood or the knot-hole itself…” –Ruth Todd
Born in 1909 in North Carolina, Ruth Todd, nee Thomas, started painting when she was 10 years old. She evolved into an inventive, Colorado Modernist artist who created abstract paintings using wood chips, sawdust, paint rags, sand, and pebbles. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, Todd was at the forefront of the Colorado avant-garde, shattering the classic perceptions of a woman artist. Developing many styles throughout her long career, Todd garnered high praise from Denver’s artistic community, as well as gaining national attention.
After high school, Ruth Todd attended Anderson College in South Carolina for two years (c.1928-1929), receiving a Certificate of Proficiency in Typewriting in May of 1929. In 1932, she attended the University of Miami for a year, where she met her future husband, Littleton Todd. She moved to New York City in 1933 to model, but her career was cut short when she became ill with Tuberculosis. While in New York, she also attended classes at the Art Students’ League. She moved to Miami and married Littleton in 1934. By 1937, however, her Tuberculosis had progressed and in May 11, 1937 she noted, “I left for [a] New Mexico Sanatorium in Albuquerque on a stretcher—I was bed fast for 2-1/2 years.” Littleton Todd was drafted into the army c.1943 due to World War II and was stationed overseas. Ruth remained in New Mexico until he was discharged in 1945.
In 1946, Ruth and Littleton moved to Colorado due to Ruth’s continuing ill health, resulting in another two and half years of convalescence at Swedish National Sanatorium. After years of Tuberculosis complications, she was finally cured. In 1953 she briefly studied at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center under the tutelage of renowned Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell. Also in 1953, Todd traveled to Europe to study art and to paint. Meanwhile, Mr. Todd opened a design studio in Denver where he manufactured and sold modern furniture. It was in his wood shop that Mrs. Todd would obtain much of the materials for her abstract works.
After her time in Paris, she began to regularly exhibit throughout Colorado. Starting in 1954, she showed at numerous Gilpin County Art Exhibitions, the Denver Art Museum, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Women’s College, the University of Colorado, Boulder, the Colorado State Fair, and the Jewish Community Center. Among the Colorado Modernists that she exhibited with were Vance Kirkland, Frank Vavra, Martha Epp, Ardis Sturdy, Roland Detre, Eve Drewelowe, Rita Derjue, Beverly Rosen, Barbara Locketz, Paul K. Smith, and William Sanderson.
In the mid 1950s, Ruth Todd began to focus her attention on experimentation, creating highly textured paintings. Rather than using paintbrushes, easels, and canvas, Todd’s method consisted of mixing oil paints with sawdust and then manipulating the mixture on a vertical piece of Masonite. Todd believed that texture added richness to her work. During this period she often used combinations of black, white, and red.
Around 1957, Todd was entertaining a large group at her home and she was in immediate need of a large coffee table. Remembering an oversized painting she had made—one too large to hang on her wall—she decided to convert it to a table. Mounted on a wood frame, and covered in glass, her guests were so impressed with her ingenuity that she decided to start building coffee tables out of her abstract paintings. She began framing her Masonite pieces, and setting them in wrought-iron tables. She then attached brass legs to the bottoms, creating a utilitarian piece of art. She and her husband opened Occasional Furniture, Inc., located at 3606 E. Colfax Ave., where she designed, built, and sold her tables. In July of 1958, her tables were featured in Habitat magazine, a Brazilian interior-design publication.
In 1959, five of her abstract works were hung in a courtroom at the District Court in Littleton Colorado. District Judge H.H. Harrison removed portraits of Governor Steve McNichols and President Eisenhower because he “didn’t want political implications in his court room.” He therefore opted to hang Ruth Todd’s abstract paintings in spite of the controversy that such paintings might inspire, which they did. Many of the onlookers were not prepared for the avant-garde nature of her work, especially on view in a public building.
Toward the end of the 1960s and into the 70s, Todd used glue and raw linen, along with her sawdust and oil technique, to create abstracted figural works. In the mid 1970s through 1985, she gave up her art career to care for her ailing husband. After Littleton’s death, she began creating highly texture collages using wood, paneling, bark, and weathered elements. She continued to create art until her death in 2006.
Ruth Todd had twelve, one-woman shows, including two in New York City, as well as the International House in Denver, and the University of Colorado, Boulder. She exhibited in over 24 major museums and art galleries, and her art was featured in The Arts, Art News and, The New York Herald Tribune, among others. She is in the permanent collection of Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, Denver.
© Alisha Geiwitz
courtesy Modernist West .com
Born in 1909 in North Carolina, Ruth Todd, nee Thomas, started painting when she was 10 years old. She evolved into an inventive, Colorado Modernist artist who created abstract paintings using wood chips, sawdust, paint rags, sand, and pebbles. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, Todd was at the forefront of the Colorado avant-garde, shattering the classic perceptions of a woman artist. Developing many styles throughout her long career, Todd garnered high praise from Denver’s artistic community, as well as gaining national attention.
After high school, Ruth Todd attended Anderson College in South Carolina for two years (c.1928-1929), receiving a Certificate of Proficiency in Typewriting in May of 1929. In 1932, she attended the University of Miami for a year, where she met her future husband, Littleton Todd. She moved to New York City in 1933 to model, but her career was cut short when she became ill with Tuberculosis. While in New York, she also attended classes at the Art Students’ League. She moved to Miami and married Littleton in 1934. By 1937, however, her Tuberculosis had progressed and in May 11, 1937 she noted, “I left for [a] New Mexico Sanatorium in Albuquerque on a stretcher—I was bed fast for 2-1/2 years.” Littleton Todd was drafted into the army c.1943 due to World War II and was stationed overseas. Ruth remained in New Mexico until he was discharged in 1945.
In 1946, Ruth and Littleton moved to Colorado due to Ruth’s continuing ill health, resulting in another two and half years of convalescence at Swedish National Sanatorium. After years of Tuberculosis complications, she was finally cured. In 1953 she briefly studied at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center under the tutelage of renowned Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell. Also in 1953, Todd traveled to Europe to study art and to paint. Meanwhile, Mr. Todd opened a design studio in Denver where he manufactured and sold modern furniture. It was in his wood shop that Mrs. Todd would obtain much of the materials for her abstract works.
After her time in Paris, she began to regularly exhibit throughout Colorado. Starting in 1954, she showed at numerous Gilpin County Art Exhibitions, the Denver Art Museum, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Women’s College, the University of Colorado, Boulder, the Colorado State Fair, and the Jewish Community Center. Among the Colorado Modernists that she exhibited with were Vance Kirkland, Frank Vavra, Martha Epp, Ardis Sturdy, Roland Detre, Eve Drewelowe, Rita Derjue, Beverly Rosen, Barbara Locketz, Paul K. Smith, and William Sanderson.
In the mid 1950s, Ruth Todd began to focus her attention on experimentation, creating highly textured paintings. Rather than using paintbrushes, easels, and canvas, Todd’s method consisted of mixing oil paints with sawdust and then manipulating the mixture on a vertical piece of Masonite. Todd believed that texture added richness to her work. During this period she often used combinations of black, white, and red.
Around 1957, Todd was entertaining a large group at her home and she was in immediate need of a large coffee table. Remembering an oversized painting she had made—one too large to hang on her wall—she decided to convert it to a table. Mounted on a wood frame, and covered in glass, her guests were so impressed with her ingenuity that she decided to start building coffee tables out of her abstract paintings. She began framing her Masonite pieces, and setting them in wrought-iron tables. She then attached brass legs to the bottoms, creating a utilitarian piece of art. She and her husband opened Occasional Furniture, Inc., located at 3606 E. Colfax Ave., where she designed, built, and sold her tables. In July of 1958, her tables were featured in Habitat magazine, a Brazilian interior-design publication.
In 1959, five of her abstract works were hung in a courtroom at the District Court in Littleton Colorado. District Judge H.H. Harrison removed portraits of Governor Steve McNichols and President Eisenhower because he “didn’t want political implications in his court room.” He therefore opted to hang Ruth Todd’s abstract paintings in spite of the controversy that such paintings might inspire, which they did. Many of the onlookers were not prepared for the avant-garde nature of her work, especially on view in a public building.
Toward the end of the 1960s and into the 70s, Todd used glue and raw linen, along with her sawdust and oil technique, to create abstracted figural works. In the mid 1970s through 1985, she gave up her art career to care for her ailing husband. After Littleton’s death, she began creating highly texture collages using wood, paneling, bark, and weathered elements. She continued to create art until her death in 2006.
Ruth Todd had twelve, one-woman shows, including two in New York City, as well as the International House in Denver, and the University of Colorado, Boulder. She exhibited in over 24 major museums and art galleries, and her art was featured in The Arts, Art News and, The New York Herald Tribune, among others. She is in the permanent collection of Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, Denver.
© Alisha Geiwitz
courtesy Modernist West .com
Vaclav Vytlacil Vaclav Vytlacil was among the earliest and most influential advocates of Hans Hofmann’s teachings in the United States. Vytlacil, who first met Hofmann in Munich in 1923, had already completed his art studies and had been teaching art for five years. Vytlacil immediately grasped the significance of Hofmann’s ideas. “I quickly realized,” he later recalled, “that this is what I had been searching for.”(1)
As a child, Vytlacil had taken art classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1913, he received a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York, where he worked with John C. Johansen, an able portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn. On completion of his studies in 1916, he accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art. Vytlacil saved enough money to go to Europe in 1921. He hoped to study Céanne’s paintings and the work of Old Masters. He spent a month in Paris, then went to Prague (his parents were Czechoslovakian). He toured Dresden, Berlin, and Munich. The paintings he sought out-works by Rembrandt, Titian, Veronese, Cranach, and Holbein — gave him a new perspective. “I am, for the first, beginning to understand some of the laws the old masters used in their paintings and wonderful things they are too. It was no hit or miss affair with them, neither was it just feeling: but rather real solid laws and facts that not only one used, but they all used.”(2)
In Munich, Vytlacil enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art, where Worth Ryder and Ernest Thurn were fellow students. When Thurn left the Academy for Hofmann’s school, Vytlacil soon followed.(3) Vytlacil worked with Hofmann throughout the mid 1920s, first as a student, and subsequently as a teaching assistant. With Thurn, he organized Hofmann’s 1924 summer school on the island of Capri.
The contact with Hofmann made Vytlacil reconsider his own artistic approach. “More and more I realize that drawing is the bottom of it all and to paint without being able to draw leads only to grief.”(4)
Vytlacil returned to the United States in 1928. During the summer of that year, at Ryder’s invitation, he gave a series of lectures on modern European art at the University of California at Berkeley. The next fall he joined the faculty of the Art Students League. Although he encountered opposition from Reginald Marsh, Boardman Robinson, and Kenneth Hayes Miller at the league, Vytlacil gave a series of public lectures on modern art that had lasting importance. George L.K. Morris was only one of many young Americans lured into modernism after hearing Vytlacil speak.
Vytlacil returned to Europe after a season at the league. In Munich he attempted to interest Hofmann in teaching at the league. He then set up a studio in Paris, where he gained first-hand knowledge of Picasso, Matisse, and Dufy. Over the next six years, Vytlacil divided his time between Paris, Capri, and Positano. In 1931, he took a five-year lease on a villa in Positano and opened an informal school. He returned to New York in 1935, and the following year helped found the American Abstract Artists. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, he taught at a variety of places — the Art Students League, Queens College in New York, Black Mountain College in North Carolina, the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, and other art schools. In 1946, he rejoined the faculty of the Art Students League and remained there until his retirement in 1978.(5)
Even before Vytlacil went to Europe, his paintings showed a decided inclination toward modernism. In the expressionistic Village Scene of 1918, and other work from the the same decade, Vytlacil compressed space and balanced his compositions through an adroit use of color. His still lifes and interiors from the 1920s reflect an understanding of Céanne gleaned partly from his discussions with Hofmann:
“No one in my former period of training had ever spoken of the properties of the two-dimensional plane, that planes built volumes, not lines, that volumes were three-dimensional and that the negative space in which they exist also has a three-dimensional volume.”(6)
During the 1930s, Vytlacil pursued two distinct and very different kinds of art simultaneously. Landscapes and cityscapes of the early 1930s, such as City Scene #10 and Theater District, merge Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. He also began doing constructions. These were usually of discarded wood from a department store opposite his studio. He occasionally added cardboard, string, metal, and cork to these works.(7) Though he experimented with constructions for several years, Vytlacil eventually gave them up as too limiting. He continued to prefer the spatial challenges of painting. Over the years Vytlacil occasionally ventured into complete nonobjectivity; still most of his work is abstracted from recognizable subjects.
During the 1940s and 1950s there was a new found freedom in Vytlacil’s paintings. Energy replaced form as primary concern, and his subjects — landscapes, still lifes, the human figure — possessed a spontaneity unsuspected from his earlier work.
1. Vaclav Vytlacil, interview with Leontine Zimiles, in Joan Marter, Beyond the Plane: American Constructions, 1930 – 1965 (Trenton, N.J.: New Jersey State Museum, 1983), p. 96.
2. Vaclav Vytlacil, letter to Elizabeth Foster, his future wife, 5 January 1922, Vaclav Vytlacil Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., roll D295: 259. (This letter was probably written on 5 January 1923, since another, dated 5 January 1922, indicates that Vytlacil had just arrived in Prague, after a month in Paris.)
3. Lawrence Campbell, “Introduction,” Vaclav Vytlacil: Paintings and Constructions from 1930 (Montclair, N.J.: Montclair Art Museum, 1975), p. 3, describes Thurn’s situation. Thurn was forced to leave the Royal Academy when the Bavarian Ministry of Culture decided to limit the age of students to thirty-five. To retain his visa, Thurn had to find alternative, approved instruction. He discovered Hofmann’s school, which had police permission to accept students of any age and nationality.
4. Vytlacil, letter to Elizabeth Foster, January 1925, Vytlacil Papers, Archives of American Art, roll D‑295: 288.
5. The most thorough chronology of Vytlacil’s life can be found in the Montclair Art Museum publication.
6. Worden Day, interview with Vaclav Vytlacil, Montclair, New Jersey, 1975, Vytlacil Papers, Archives of American Art.
7. Vytlacil began making constructions after seeing those of his friend and former student Rupert Turnbull. He worked closely with Turnbull in Positano, where the two experimented with tempera painting. Their explorations were published in Rupert D. Turnbull and Vaclav Vytlacil, Egg Tempera Painting, Tempera Underpainting, Oil Emulsion Painting: A Manual of Technique (New York: Oxford University Press, 1935).
Virginia M. Mecklenburg The Patricia and Phillip Frost Collection: American Abstraction 1930 – 1945 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1989)
Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum
As a child, Vytlacil had taken art classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1913, he received a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York, where he worked with John C. Johansen, an able portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn. On completion of his studies in 1916, he accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art. Vytlacil saved enough money to go to Europe in 1921. He hoped to study Céanne’s paintings and the work of Old Masters. He spent a month in Paris, then went to Prague (his parents were Czechoslovakian). He toured Dresden, Berlin, and Munich. The paintings he sought out-works by Rembrandt, Titian, Veronese, Cranach, and Holbein — gave him a new perspective. “I am, for the first, beginning to understand some of the laws the old masters used in their paintings and wonderful things they are too. It was no hit or miss affair with them, neither was it just feeling: but rather real solid laws and facts that not only one used, but they all used.”(2)
In Munich, Vytlacil enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art, where Worth Ryder and Ernest Thurn were fellow students. When Thurn left the Academy for Hofmann’s school, Vytlacil soon followed.(3) Vytlacil worked with Hofmann throughout the mid 1920s, first as a student, and subsequently as a teaching assistant. With Thurn, he organized Hofmann’s 1924 summer school on the island of Capri.
The contact with Hofmann made Vytlacil reconsider his own artistic approach. “More and more I realize that drawing is the bottom of it all and to paint without being able to draw leads only to grief.”(4)
Vytlacil returned to the United States in 1928. During the summer of that year, at Ryder’s invitation, he gave a series of lectures on modern European art at the University of California at Berkeley. The next fall he joined the faculty of the Art Students League. Although he encountered opposition from Reginald Marsh, Boardman Robinson, and Kenneth Hayes Miller at the league, Vytlacil gave a series of public lectures on modern art that had lasting importance. George L.K. Morris was only one of many young Americans lured into modernism after hearing Vytlacil speak.
Vytlacil returned to Europe after a season at the league. In Munich he attempted to interest Hofmann in teaching at the league. He then set up a studio in Paris, where he gained first-hand knowledge of Picasso, Matisse, and Dufy. Over the next six years, Vytlacil divided his time between Paris, Capri, and Positano. In 1931, he took a five-year lease on a villa in Positano and opened an informal school. He returned to New York in 1935, and the following year helped found the American Abstract Artists. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, he taught at a variety of places — the Art Students League, Queens College in New York, Black Mountain College in North Carolina, the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, and other art schools. In 1946, he rejoined the faculty of the Art Students League and remained there until his retirement in 1978.(5)
Even before Vytlacil went to Europe, his paintings showed a decided inclination toward modernism. In the expressionistic Village Scene of 1918, and other work from the the same decade, Vytlacil compressed space and balanced his compositions through an adroit use of color. His still lifes and interiors from the 1920s reflect an understanding of Céanne gleaned partly from his discussions with Hofmann:
“No one in my former period of training had ever spoken of the properties of the two-dimensional plane, that planes built volumes, not lines, that volumes were three-dimensional and that the negative space in which they exist also has a three-dimensional volume.”(6)
During the 1930s, Vytlacil pursued two distinct and very different kinds of art simultaneously. Landscapes and cityscapes of the early 1930s, such as City Scene #10 and Theater District, merge Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. He also began doing constructions. These were usually of discarded wood from a department store opposite his studio. He occasionally added cardboard, string, metal, and cork to these works.(7) Though he experimented with constructions for several years, Vytlacil eventually gave them up as too limiting. He continued to prefer the spatial challenges of painting. Over the years Vytlacil occasionally ventured into complete nonobjectivity; still most of his work is abstracted from recognizable subjects.
During the 1940s and 1950s there was a new found freedom in Vytlacil’s paintings. Energy replaced form as primary concern, and his subjects — landscapes, still lifes, the human figure — possessed a spontaneity unsuspected from his earlier work.
1. Vaclav Vytlacil, interview with Leontine Zimiles, in Joan Marter, Beyond the Plane: American Constructions, 1930 – 1965 (Trenton, N.J.: New Jersey State Museum, 1983), p. 96.
2. Vaclav Vytlacil, letter to Elizabeth Foster, his future wife, 5 January 1922, Vaclav Vytlacil Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., roll D295: 259. (This letter was probably written on 5 January 1923, since another, dated 5 January 1922, indicates that Vytlacil had just arrived in Prague, after a month in Paris.)
3. Lawrence Campbell, “Introduction,” Vaclav Vytlacil: Paintings and Constructions from 1930 (Montclair, N.J.: Montclair Art Museum, 1975), p. 3, describes Thurn’s situation. Thurn was forced to leave the Royal Academy when the Bavarian Ministry of Culture decided to limit the age of students to thirty-five. To retain his visa, Thurn had to find alternative, approved instruction. He discovered Hofmann’s school, which had police permission to accept students of any age and nationality.
4. Vytlacil, letter to Elizabeth Foster, January 1925, Vytlacil Papers, Archives of American Art, roll D‑295: 288.
5. The most thorough chronology of Vytlacil’s life can be found in the Montclair Art Museum publication.
6. Worden Day, interview with Vaclav Vytlacil, Montclair, New Jersey, 1975, Vytlacil Papers, Archives of American Art.
7. Vytlacil began making constructions after seeing those of his friend and former student Rupert Turnbull. He worked closely with Turnbull in Positano, where the two experimented with tempera painting. Their explorations were published in Rupert D. Turnbull and Vaclav Vytlacil, Egg Tempera Painting, Tempera Underpainting, Oil Emulsion Painting: A Manual of Technique (New York: Oxford University Press, 1935).
Virginia M. Mecklenburg The Patricia and Phillip Frost Collection: American Abstraction 1930 – 1945 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1989)
Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum
Abraham Walkowitz Abraham Walkowitz was an early American Modernist painter. Born in Siberia, Walkowitz and his mother emigrated to New York when he was very young. His first professional job was as a sign painter, but Walkowitz had been drawing since an early age. To gain a formal training, in 1906 he went to Europe to attend the Académie Julian. Through introductions made by Max Weber, it was here that he met Isadora Duncan in Auguste Rodin's studio, the modern American dancer who had captured the attention of the avant-garde. Walkowitz went on to produce more than 5,000 drawings of Duncan.
Jerry Walter Jerry Walter was an abstract expressionist artist whose output of energetic and colorful paintings were the products of the rich artistic milieu of post-war New York City.
He was born Harold Frank Walter in Mount Pleasant, Iowa on November 25, 1915. After graduating from Colgate University in 1937, Walter moved to New York City, where he studied drawing and painting at the New School and the Art Students’ League. Before concentrating seriously on his art, he spent several years as a successful copywriter and idea man for the advertising agencies of J. Walter Thompson, McCann Ericson, and BBDO. During this time, he also worked as a syndicated cartoonist. Collaborating with his wife, Linda, his best-known series was Susie Q. Smith, which first appeared in 1945 and described as a “female Archie type.” Very popular, the cartoon was the subject of a series of comic books published from 1951 to 1954.
After serving in the United States Army for three years during World War II, Walter began to paint seriously. He ascribed his earliest artistic influence to Joan Miró, whose Dog Barking at the Moon (1926) he viewed when he was twelve, the year he published his first cartoon. Walter later wrote that jazz, “the first native expression of so-called modernism” was a strong influence on his work. The artist saw abstract painting as a “working-through [of the] self . . . an emotional square-search in paint for the truth.” He further added that abstract art might become a cultural force to restore society’s emotional stability, a place where “everyone and everything [was] part of a wild, sad, strange, beautiful dynamic dissonance.”
During the later 1940s, Walters spent time at the Research Studio in Maitland, Florida. Founded in 1937 by artist and architect J. André Smith and supported by the philanthropist Mary Curtis Bok, the Research Studio was a lively colony that hosted prominent artists, including Milton Avery, Ralston Crawford, and Doris Lee. While at the Studio, Walter’s work was purchased by Frank Crowninsheild. A founding trustee of the Museum of Modern Art and editor of Vanity Fair, Crowinshield was a noted collector; his collection included important works by Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Degas, Bellows, and Bonnard. Returning to New York after his time at the Studio, Walter became an active member of the New York school of the abstract expressionist movement, and in the summer of 1956, Walter exhibited 13 paintings and a selection of drawings at New York’s Chase Gallery. The adroit manipulation of both color and composition evident in his work shows the influence of Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, and Hans Hoffman.
He was born Harold Frank Walter in Mount Pleasant, Iowa on November 25, 1915. After graduating from Colgate University in 1937, Walter moved to New York City, where he studied drawing and painting at the New School and the Art Students’ League. Before concentrating seriously on his art, he spent several years as a successful copywriter and idea man for the advertising agencies of J. Walter Thompson, McCann Ericson, and BBDO. During this time, he also worked as a syndicated cartoonist. Collaborating with his wife, Linda, his best-known series was Susie Q. Smith, which first appeared in 1945 and described as a “female Archie type.” Very popular, the cartoon was the subject of a series of comic books published from 1951 to 1954.
After serving in the United States Army for three years during World War II, Walter began to paint seriously. He ascribed his earliest artistic influence to Joan Miró, whose Dog Barking at the Moon (1926) he viewed when he was twelve, the year he published his first cartoon. Walter later wrote that jazz, “the first native expression of so-called modernism” was a strong influence on his work. The artist saw abstract painting as a “working-through [of the] self . . . an emotional square-search in paint for the truth.” He further added that abstract art might become a cultural force to restore society’s emotional stability, a place where “everyone and everything [was] part of a wild, sad, strange, beautiful dynamic dissonance.”
During the later 1940s, Walters spent time at the Research Studio in Maitland, Florida. Founded in 1937 by artist and architect J. André Smith and supported by the philanthropist Mary Curtis Bok, the Research Studio was a lively colony that hosted prominent artists, including Milton Avery, Ralston Crawford, and Doris Lee. While at the Studio, Walter’s work was purchased by Frank Crowninsheild. A founding trustee of the Museum of Modern Art and editor of Vanity Fair, Crowinshield was a noted collector; his collection included important works by Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Degas, Bellows, and Bonnard. Returning to New York after his time at the Studio, Walter became an active member of the New York school of the abstract expressionist movement, and in the summer of 1956, Walter exhibited 13 paintings and a selection of drawings at New York’s Chase Gallery. The adroit manipulation of both color and composition evident in his work shows the influence of Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, and Hans Hoffman.
Hugo Weber Hugo Weber, painter and sculptor, was born of Swiss parents in Basel, Switzerland. He apprenticed to the sculptor Ernst Suter beginning in 1937 while attending the University of Basel. In 1939, Weber went to Paris where he studied painting with Marcel Gimond and after his service in the Swiss Army (1939-1942), he worked with Aristide Maillol and Alberto Giacometti.
Weber immigrated to the US in the 1940's and in 1946, Moholy-Nagy appointed him professor at the Institute of Design in Chicago (Chicago Bauhaus). He later became professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and he also taught at the Pennsylvania State University and at the New York University. Weber held a membership in the Abstract and Concrete Artists Alliance between 1947 and 1953.
Weber immigrated to the US in the 1940's and in 1946, Moholy-Nagy appointed him professor at the Institute of Design in Chicago (Chicago Bauhaus). He later became professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and he also taught at the Pennsylvania State University and at the New York University. Weber held a membership in the Abstract and Concrete Artists Alliance between 1947 and 1953.
Max Weber Max Weber was born in 1881 in Bialystok, Russia, and came to the United States at the age of ten. Weber spent his childhood in New York, then four years studying art in Paris before permanently settling in New York in 1909. It is not a coincidence that the "Cubist decade" of 1910-1920 began with Weber's return to New York.
He was one of the first Americans to bring modernism to the United States, and the style of his work beginning in 1910 was very Cubist. Needless to say, critics did not welcome this new approach, mostly because they did not understand it. Artists, on the other hand, found the works inspirational and very intellectual.
Weber's most popular paintings were of New York. He saw New York, and the city in general, as a symbol of intellectual, cultural, and technological sophistication. It is somewhat ironic, then, given the complexities of a city and the technology that inhabits it, that Cubism broke those elements down to the spare, essential shapes and forms.
Weber tired of Cubism after 1920 and subsequently developed a more realistic style. Throughout his artistic career, Weber had many friends who were photographers, such as Alfred Stieglitz. Photography influenced Weber's art, both in his Cubist stage and afterwards. Photography has the ability (or limitation) of making three-dimensional objects two-dimensional. Cubism was a movement that had dimension as a key aspect, as did realism although in a very different manner.
Weber's pioneering work in America was a result of many influences. Weber took from Henri Matisse his use of color, Paul Cezanne's use of space, and Pablo Picasso's proto-cubist style. Despite these well-known influences, Weber was able to carve out a niche for himself in the aforementioned cityscapes.
Emerson Woelffer Best known for his boldly colored abstract oil and acrylic canvases with jagged forms in sometimes dense compositions Emerson Woelffler was active in this style until his later years when macular degeneration made working in color difficult. He then began using white crayons on black paper in a looser style. He was also a sculptor and lithographer and lived in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
Emerson Woelffer was a native of Chicago where he worked at the Institute of Design under Moholy-Nagy. and earned a B.A. Degree and taught there in 1942. Later he was instrumental in bringing modernism to Los Angeles where he taught at the Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal Arts) from 1959 to 1973. He also taught at the Otis College of Art and Design until 1989. Earlier he had been a teacher at Black Mountain College where he associated with Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell. In 1967 and 1967, he went to Europe on a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and in 1970, he was an artist-in-residence at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Retrospectives of his work were held at the Santa Barbara Museum in 1964, the Phillips Collection in 1974, and the Otis Gallery in 1992. During his lifetime, exhibition venues included the Museum of Modern Art, the Corcoran Biennial, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy.
Emerson Woelffer was a native of Chicago where he worked at the Institute of Design under Moholy-Nagy. and earned a B.A. Degree and taught there in 1942. Later he was instrumental in bringing modernism to Los Angeles where he taught at the Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal Arts) from 1959 to 1973. He also taught at the Otis College of Art and Design until 1989. Earlier he had been a teacher at Black Mountain College where he associated with Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell. In 1967 and 1967, he went to Europe on a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and in 1970, he was an artist-in-residence at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Retrospectives of his work were held at the Santa Barbara Museum in 1964, the Phillips Collection in 1974, and the Otis Gallery in 1992. During his lifetime, exhibition venues included the Museum of Modern Art, the Corcoran Biennial, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy.
Taro Yamamoto Taro Yamamoto was part of the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York City during the 1950s. He was born in Hollywood, California in 1919 but was sent to Japan at the age of eight to receive a traditional Japanese education. His family was descended from a long line of Shinto priests. During his education he began painting and by the time he reached high school he decided to make art his life.
Taro Yamamoto’s prolific career began at a young age. By the age of ten, he was already painting landscapes and still lifes in oil, and had won numerous prizes in exhibitions at school. In 1941 he joined the U.S. Army and served during World War II. After being discharged from the service he returned to California. In 1949 Glenn Wessel, a student of Hans Hofmann, convinced him to New York. There he worked with Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Vaclav Vytlacil, Byron Brown, Reginald Marsh, and Morris Kantor.
In 1952 he won a John Sloan Fellowship from the Art Students League. The next year he traveled to Europe under a Edward G. MacDowell Traveling Fellowship where he practices in Stuttgard, Germany with Willy Baumeister. He also exhibited at Gallerie Huit in Paris. In 1954 Yamamoto was invited to a residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. There he worked with Stuart Davis, Milton Avery, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko developing a unique abstract expressionist style. Later in his life he devoted himself to hard-edge painting.
Yamamoto had an extensive exhibition career including the Stable Gallery, Art Students League, Krasner Gallery, Westerly Gallery and Riverside Museum in New York; the Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Guild Hall in Easthampton, Miami Museum of Modern Art, the Dayton Art Institute, the University of Minnesota, Wellfleet Art Studio, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Parrish Art Museum in Southampton along with many others.
Biography courtesy of McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
Taro Yamamoto’s prolific career began at a young age. By the age of ten, he was already painting landscapes and still lifes in oil, and had won numerous prizes in exhibitions at school. In 1941 he joined the U.S. Army and served during World War II. After being discharged from the service he returned to California. In 1949 Glenn Wessel, a student of Hans Hofmann, convinced him to New York. There he worked with Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Vaclav Vytlacil, Byron Brown, Reginald Marsh, and Morris Kantor.
In 1952 he won a John Sloan Fellowship from the Art Students League. The next year he traveled to Europe under a Edward G. MacDowell Traveling Fellowship where he practices in Stuttgard, Germany with Willy Baumeister. He also exhibited at Gallerie Huit in Paris. In 1954 Yamamoto was invited to a residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. There he worked with Stuart Davis, Milton Avery, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko developing a unique abstract expressionist style. Later in his life he devoted himself to hard-edge painting.
Yamamoto had an extensive exhibition career including the Stable Gallery, Art Students League, Krasner Gallery, Westerly Gallery and Riverside Museum in New York; the Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Guild Hall in Easthampton, Miami Museum of Modern Art, the Dayton Art Institute, the University of Minnesota, Wellfleet Art Studio, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Parrish Art Museum in Southampton along with many others.
Biography courtesy of McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
Irene Martinez -Yates bio pending