Artists' Artists Different Forces of Abstract Art ANITA SHAPOLSKY GALLERY
cover detail:
Ilya Bolotowsky Red Tondo, 1979 (see page 17)
Artists' Artists Different Forces of Abstract Art April 26th, 2022 - June 30th, 2022
Seymour Boardman Ilya Bolotowsky Ernest Briggs
John Hultberg
Anita Shapolsky Gallery & A.S. Art Foundation
152 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065
Artists' Artists
Different Forces of Abstract Art The Anita Shapolsky Gallery proudly presents “Artists’ Artists”: art made for art’s sake. Featuring works from the opposing forces of Abstract Expressionism’s avant-garde, personal vision and unique styling take precedence when artists are motivated by their own desires.
“It was much easier then for the early abstract expressionists to be true to themselves because they had fewer alternatives -they were not being beguiled by the money.” -Barbara Shikler, for the archives of American Art’s “Mark Rothko and His times”
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Seymour Boardman (1921-2005) Avoiding the fashionable trends of the 1960s, the Boardman resonates like jazz within images essence. A geometric colorist, his style deviated from autonomous gestural brushwork of the times in eliminations where negative space elicits a beauty.
work of Seymour reduced to their the iconic bold and favor of deliberate dark, contemplative
Influenced by early twentieth century cubists, Boardman created form within geometric structures often accompanied by vibrant colors. Gradually his work became more focused on eliminating the unnecessary, reducing complicated images to their essence, leading to him being awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award & Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award. Regularly exhibited since the 1950s, his work is in the collections of many museums.
Selected Collections Brooklyn Museum, NY Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA Ciba-Geigy Corporation, Ardsley, NY Hebrew Home for the Aged, Riverdale, NY Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico Josiah White Exhibition Center, Jim Thorpe, PA New Britain Museum, CT New York University, NY Newark Museum, Newark, NJ Norton Gallery, Palm Beach, FL Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY Stichting Yellow Fellow, Netherlands The Joe and Emily Lowe Foundation The State University of New York, Postdam, NY University of Buffalo, NY Wagner College, Staten Island, NY Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN Westmoreland County Museum, Greensburgh, PA Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
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SEYMOUR BOARDMAN Untitled 1949, oil on canvas 32 1/2 x 49 1/2 in
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SEYMOUR BOARDMAN Untitled 1953, oil on canvas 32 x 50 in
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SEYMOUR BOARDMAN Through Orange 1956, oil on canvas 49 x 71 in
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SEYMOUR BOARDMAN Totem 1959, oil on canvas 72 x 38 1/2 in
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SEYMOUR BOARDMAN Through Orange 1959, oil on canvas 93 3/4 x 55 in
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SEYMOUR BOARDMAN Untitled 1971, acrylic on canvas 18 x 16 in
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SEYMOUR BOARDMAN Untitled 1980, acrylic on canvas 18 x 18 in
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Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981) Ilya Bolotowsky , “an heir to Mondrian”, was a member of The Ten Whitney Dissenters and a fierce advocate for abstract expressionism. His work further refined De Stijl, showing how neoplasticism “can achieve unequaled tension, equilibrium, and harmony” within nuanced coloration and form. Until his death in 1981, Bolotowsky continued to work in what he felt was “the most meaningful and exciting direction in art”, further distilling his own recognizable form. His works are found in many public museums and private collections.
Selected Collections Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA Robert Hull Fleming Museum, Burlington, VT Gotheborg Museum, Gotheborg, Sweden Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Jerusalem Museum. Jerusalem, Israel Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. NY Miami Fine Arts Museum, FL Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY Musee d'Art Moderne, Ceret, France
Museum of Fine Arts, Calcutta.India Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, MA Museum of Modern Art. New York. NY National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C. Newark Museum Association, Newark, NJ Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, PA Phillips Collection, Washington. D.C. Rhode Island School of Design. Providence.R.I Edward Root Collection. Utica. NY San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA Societe Anonyme. Yale University. New Haven. CT The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. TX Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. NY Anita Shapolsky Gallery | 11
Ilya Bolotowsky Naples Yellow and Grey 1958, oil on canvas 34 1/2 x 24 in
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Ilya Bolotowsky Red Blue White Rectangles 1973, acrylic on canvas 60 x 48 in
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Ilya Bolotowsky Pale Blue Rhomboid 1977, acrylic on canvas 46 1/2 x 82 in
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Ilya Bolotowsky Red Tondo 1979, silkscreen 33 x 43 in
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Ernest Briggs (1923-1984) Having studied with Clyfford Still, Ernest Briggs was a believer that artists should exist outside of a system. His art therefore became “the epitome of the abstract impulse”, often distinguished by bold, sensual brush strokes and color, evoking consideration of technique as well as emotion aroused. Known for his work on large canvases, he often used symbolic styling. And, while some of Briggs’ works would cue Still’s influence, he also found himself liberated to explore and experiment, “to express personal meaning”.
Selected Collections A.S. Art Foundation, PA Blair Collection of Bay Area Abstract Expressionism, CA Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA Ciba-Geigy Corporation, Ardsley, NY Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC Jan Verhoeven Collection, Stichting Yellow Fellow, Woudrichem, Netherlands Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
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Oakland Art Museum, CA Oakland Art Museum, MI Portland Museum of Maine San Francisco Museum of Art, CA San Jose Museum of Art, CA Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
Ernest Briggs Diptych 1953, oil on canvas 69 1/4 x 53 1/4 in
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Ernest Briggs Untitled 1981, oil on canvas 77 x 47 in
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Ernest Briggs December- Untitled 1958, oil on canvas 94 x 69 1/2 in
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Ernest Briggs Grid 1964, acrylic on canvas 16 x 18 in
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Ernest Briggs Sketch for a Crucifiction 1981, oil on canvas 34 1/2 x 24 in
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John Hultberg (1922-2005) A member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, John Hultberg often distorted landscapes and interiors with prophetic visions, departing from the dominant style of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. By embracing the symbolic complexity of reincorporated forms against non-naturalistic color, his art challenges viewers to gaze into the unknown. Winner of the Pollack-Krasner foundation Fellowship, his art has been exhibited internationally with works in the collections of the Guggenheim, Metropolitan, Whitney, MOMA and many others.
Selected Collections Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY ƌƚ ^ƚƵĚĞŶƚƐ >ĞĂŐƵĞ ŽĨ EĞǁ zŽƌŬ͕ NYC The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD ŽƌĐŽƌĂŶ 'ĂůůĞƌLJ ŽĨ ƌƚ͕ tĂƐŚŝŶŐƚŽŶ 'ƵŐŐĞŶŚĞŝŵ &ŽƵŶĚĂƚŝŽŶ͕ NYC ,ŽŶŽůƵůƵ ĐĂĚĞŵLJ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƌƚƐ͕ ,/ DĞƚƌŽƉŽůŝƚĂŶ DƵƐĞƵŵ ŽĨ ƌƚ͕ NYC D͘,͘ ĚĞ zŽƵŶŐ DĞŵŽƌŝĂů DƵƐĞƵŵ͕ CA DŽŶŚĞŐĂŶ /sland Museum of Art, ME Musée Cantonal del Beaux-Arts, Switzerland Museum of Modern Art, NYC
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National Museum, Sweden Newark Museum, NJ Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, PA Portland Art Museum, OR Portland Museum of Art, ME San Diego Museum of Art, CA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA State University of New York at Buffalo, NY Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Holland University of California Art Museum, CA Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
John Hultberg The Well 1954, oil on canvas 27 x 32 in
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John Hultberg Sphere 1956, oil on canvas 25 x 32 in
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John Hultberg Rusted Room 1959, oil on canvas 40 x 49 3/4 in
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John Hultberg Dark Soil 1961, oil on canvas 24 x 30 in
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John Hultberg German Night 1973, oil on canvas 37 x 50 3/4 in
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John Hultberg Flags 1980, oil on canvas 36 x 40 in
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John Hultberg Flags 1980, oil on canvas 36 x 40 in
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John Hultberg Tattered Grid 1985, oil on canvas 31 x 40 in
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Copyright © 2022 by the Anita Shapolsky Gallery & A. S. Art Foundation
Catalog by Matt Cohen
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Anita Shapolsky Gallery 152 E 65th Street New York, NY 10065