Knox Martin: Radical Structures

OX M N K

I T N R A R ADI

CAL S TRUC TU RE S

KNOX MARTIN:

RADICAL STRUCTURES MAY 2–27, 2019

ESSAY BY JILLIAN RUSSO

HOLLI S TAGGART 521 W 26th Street 1st Floor New York, NY 10001

U, 2019. Acrylic on linen, 90 x 69 ¾ inches. Signed verso: “Knox”

F O R E WO R D

At ninety-six, Knox Martin is a force of nature. For over

We are most indebted to Knox’s longtime assistant,

seventy years, idiosyncratic forms and symbols, executed

Gabriela Ryan, who so generously shared her encyclopedic

in a pure, sharp palette that reference the natural world

knowledge of the artist’s work and life. Gaby's meticulous

and the female figure have been hallmarks of the artist's

compilation of archival materials and her discernible and

work. These highly personal compositions often give a

earnest respect for Knox has made her the perfect col-

nod to art historical precedents and make Knox’s work

league. We believe this catalogue will add to the scholarship

immediately appealing and recognizable. With the exhibi-

of this artist primarily due to the insightful essay by Jillian

tion, Knox Martin: Radical Structures, Hollis Taggart is

Russo. Her perceptive analysis of the work, both stylistically

privileged to present more than twenty-five examples by

and thematically, helps solidify the artist’s significance and

this virtuoso talent. Featured both in the gallery and at the

influence within a wider art historical context. Thanks is also

Frieze art fair, works primarily from the 1960s and ’70s

extended to Knox’s former student and friend, Juliana

trace the evolution of Knox’s oeuvre while clearly demon-

Lazzaro, who with Glenn Spellman, facilitated our initial

strating his exceptional level of confidence in handling

introduction to Knox from which this collaboration devel-

space, color, and artistic intent. Well-known and admired

oped. The entire industrious gallery staff always contributes

by generations of artists, art students, and historians, it is

to such projects. Particular acknowledgement goes to Kara

our aim to once again bring Knox’s distinctive body of

Spellman whose indefatigable efforts furthered the success

work to a current audience of collectors and curators.

of the show, and to Stan Charnin, our Head Preparator, who

Many of these paintings have not been publicly exhibited

handled the physical challenges with grace and composure.

in decades.

Most sincerely, we wish to thank Knox Martin for allow-

Active since the 1950s, Knox has carved a unique niche

ing us the honor of showing his work. It is not often that

for himself in postwar American art. His biography is

one meets such a captivating person who has lived such a

absolutely staggering. He was a frequent visitor to the

remarkable life both professionally and personally. His

Cedar Tavern where he engaged in lively conversation

melodious speaking voice, fast wit, and keen intellect,

with Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning, he is a World War

combined with his inexhaustible drive and curious mind,

II veteran, aviator, bodybuilder, horticulturist, beekeeper,

make him seem bigger than life. The insatiable artistic

and avid traveler. He taught at Yale University, New York

quest which propelled him throughout his career persists.

University, University of Minnesota, and the Art Students

There is an intense vitality one feels when standing in

League. He is an erudite art historian and though he often

front of one of Knox’s paintings. This was true in the

references the work of Velázquez, Cézanne, or Titian in his

1950s and remains the case in 2019.

own paintings, it is only in a reflective way, for if nothing else, Knox remains a complete original.

Hollis C. Taggart

Debra Pesci

Installation view of Contemporary Art at Yale: 4, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1966.

The Fischbach Gallery records, 1937–2015, bulk 1963–1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

3

K N OX M A R T I N : R A D I C A L S T R U C T U R E S Jillian Russo

A leading painter of the New York School, Knox Martin’s

of The Club, the discussion group attended by many of

career has spanned more than seven decades. Although

the Abstract Expressionists, which convened weekly in a

his work developed in the context of Abstract Expres-

loft on 8th Street. At Kline’s recommendation, Martin’s

sionism, his ambition has been to take painting in a new

painting was included in Stable Gallery’s prestigious

direction. In the 1950s, he challenged the conventions of

annual exhibition. That same year, the Charles Egan

Abstract Expressionist painting, explicitly emphasizing

Gallery, which was renowned for introducing de Kooning

geometric structure and incorporating the figure and ref-

to the public and was celebrating its tenth anniversary,

erences to popular culture and art history into his work.

offered Martin a solo exhibition. The New York Times

Carefully crafted, Martin’s art historical connections

immediately hailed Martin’s paintings for “their rhythmi-

reflect his aesthetic convictions, which include a great

cally leaping shapes in violently contrasting black and

admiration for Willem de Kooning, Frans Hals, Jan Van

whites” and his figure drawings for “a particular inten-

Eyck, Velázquez, Titian, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, and

sity, both visceral and sensational, that causes one to

Byzantine and Islamic art. In the 1960s and ’70s, Martin

remember that Latin warmth (Martin is half South

developed subjects and themes that further defined

American) counts much for him and that the blood of

his approach. Many of these had origins in his 1950s

Goya is in his veins.”2

paintings, and include the exploration of geometric form

Martin was born in Barranquilla, Colombia in 1923. His

and pattern, organic references, and the female nude.

father, William Knox Martin, was a pioneering American

While Martin engaged with these ideas in the context of

aviator, who became the first pilot to fly over the

the major developments of postwar painting, he did

Colombian Andes. An avid painter and poet, he met

not associate himself with any movement and instead

Knox’s mother, Isabel, who was Colombian, and the family

followed his own distinctive artistic vision.

moved to Salem, Virginia in 1926. Following William Knox Martin’s tragic death in an automobile accident the fol-

Knox Martin and The New York School

lowing year, the family relocated to New York City. After

Martin’s career began at a pivotal art historical moment,

serving in World War II, Martin enrolled at the Art

as the principles of Abstract Expressionism were begin-

Students League on the GI Bill and between 1946 and

ning to be challenged by a younger group of artists who

1950 studied with Harry Sternberg, Vaclav Vytlacil, Will

were exploring ideas which would shape the develop-

Barnet, and Morris Kantor. His fellow students at the

ment of the Pop Art and Minimalism. Critic Arthur Danto

League during this time included Robert Rauschenberg,

described this period:

Al Held, and Cy Twombly. Martin had a significant influ-

From 1957 to about 1964, the spirit of art in New York City was moving in directions for which Abstract Expressionism had not prepared us. By 1965, the strokes, swipes, drips, and splatters of New York painting had given way to cool, laconic representations of the most ordinary of ordinary objects. And a certain heightened emotionality was replaced by the urbane wit of Pop Art . . . . Rightly or wrongly, I saw Knox Martin’s paintings as embodying this transformative moment. In them, I thought, the tension between the two rival philosophies of art could be felt.1

ence on the artistic development of his colleagues.

Rauschenberg once confided to him: “You are my mentor.

For years I always asked, what would Knox think of my painting?” In another instance, painter Ron Gorchov recalled: “I was present when Knox Martin changed the life of a major artist by diagramming the basic structure of a Frans Hals. That artist was Al Held.”3 In 1948, while studying at the League, Martin visited de Kooning’s first solo show at Egan Gallery, which featured his influential black-and-white series including Zurich, 1947 (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden), Black Friday, 1948 (Princeton University Art Museum),

At the vanguard of this shift, Martin burst onto the New

and Painting, 1948 (The Museum of Modern Art). The

York art scene in 1954, with the encouragement of Franz

exhibition had a lasting impact on him. The paintings

Kline and de Kooning. Martin first met Kline, along with

Martin debuted at the same gallery six years later,

Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and de Kooning at meetings

including as Susanna and the Elders, 1953 (fig. 1), also

4

FIG. 1 Susanna and the Elders, 1953. Collection of Amy Cohen Banker. Photograph by Zita Bódy for Janos Gat Gallery, New York.

grey, and light blue energize these compositions. In Rubber Soul, 1963, Polar Mill, 1963 (pl. 6), and She (Untitled), 1963–65 (pl. 1), Martin’s iconic hues are fully deployed to create a lively interaction of shapes and color fields of burnt orange, royal blue, lemon yellow, pale pink, and sea and forest green. Martin’s colors, like de Kooning’s, are instantly recognizable as his own. Colors are typically interspersed with areas of white, allowing the viewer to experience both the color and the absence of it.

Martin exhibited his 1960s paintings in a series of widely reviewed exhibitions including solo presentations at the Rose Fried Gallery in 1963 and at Fischbach Gallery explored the interplay between black and white, but

from 1963 to 1966. In a review of the 1963 Rose Fried

dispensed with de Kooning’s use of dripping paint in

exhibition for ARTnews Cathy Silver wrote that Martin

favor of strong diagonal brushstrokes. Throughout his

“seems to be painting the complex geometry of the uni-

career, Martin, who keeps a reproduction of Picasso’s

verse. It’s all clean and pure like mountain air and full of

1937 black-and-white masterpiece Guernica near his

mystery.” The imagery in this body of work included

desk, created several bodies of work in black and white,

“areas of broad stripes, frequently of white and either red

among them are the 2010 paintings Woman in Love

or black; smaller areas of disks, frequently red or black on

(pl. 23) and Woman Interested! (pl. 24).

white; segments of circles; and plane areas that could be sections made with a T-square.”6 Writing for Arts

Radical Structures

Magazine, Donald Judd noted: “The Cubist partitioning is

The geometric structure that Martin paired with an

highly complex and this is made even more so by numer-

expressive handling of paint in Susanna and the Elders

ous areas which are striped or filled with large polka

took on a central role in his 1960s paintings. In large can-

dots.” These patterned passages “dominate and relate

vases such as the mural-sized diptych Rubber Soul, 1963

independently” to the other forms in the composition.7

(pl. 2) and Garden of Time, 1963 (pl. 4) he breaks dramati-

The following year, Michael Benedikt praised the mixing

cally with the conventions of both gesture and color field

of different modes of abstraction with “the introduction

painting, making circles, arcs, stripes, starbursts, squares,

of elements, which seem to come from other visual

and sharp angles the key subjects. Martin has described

vocabularies—swerving arcs, for example, which termi-

painting as a “fantastic group of paradigms of a geomet-

nate with amorphous splashes against walls of adamant

ric poetry that you find in all of Islamic art, which is put

patterning.”8 Of the 1965 exhibition at Fischbach, critic

together with geometry.”4 Awed by the mathematical

Jill Johnston concluded “the artist is best on a large scale

structure of Ramanujan’s nested radicals, for Martin

when his hot colors are animated and contained by a

geometric forms and activate painting with dynamism,

strong, swift economy of design.”9

movement, and meaning. “Like a great Titian, parts would

In 1965 Martin also exhibited alongside Ronald Bladen,

rhyme with one another. Each corner was handled a cer-

Al Held, George Sugarman, and David Weinrib in Concrete

tain way.”5 This attention to creating distinct corners is

Expressionism, which was curated by Ruth Gurin at the

well illustrated in Garden of Time, where each one has

NYU Loeb Student Center. In the accompanying catalogue

varied patterns, either dots or stripes or angular shapes

essay, Irving Sandler defined Concrete Expressionism in

oriented in different directions.

relationship to Abstract Expressionism, Color Field

While the interaction between black and white contin-

Painting, Pop Art, and Minimalism, labeling the latter two

ued to be a crucial component in Garden of Time and other

the “Cool-Artists.” Sandler, who devised the terms Concrete

works from the same series such as Shape Shifter, 1962

Expressionism from Theo Van Doesburg’s concept of art

(pl. 3), shards and dots of cherry-red, mustard-yellow,

concret, believed that Martin and Held continued “an

5

FIG. 2 Shape Shifter, 1964–65.

Photograph by Eric Pollitzer, Garden City Park, NY for Fischbach Gallery, New York.

(pl. 8), and the more recent Crow With No Mouth, 2007 (pl. 22). In Garden of Time a group of angular geometric shapes in the upper right corner give way to a sinuous blue form, with tendrils that curl throughout the lower portion of painting like the entwined branches of a tree or waves crashing over the shore. In the painting Flower Pots, the traditional still life format is broken apart.

Looking closely, it’s possible to intuit the reference to a turquoise pot, little red triangular flower petals, and a assertive physicality and a sense of energy” found in the

trowel with a bright red handle. These shapes are inter-

Action Paintings of Pollock, de Kooning, and Kline, but in

spersed with a dirt-black rectangle and fields of either

contrast were “motivated by a classicizing inclination—a will

pink with white stripes or yellow with small white brush

to clarity—which predisposes them to quasi-geometric

marks, which appear distinctly seed-like. The painting

structures, composed of exact planes of unmodulated

seems to evoke the experience of potting, waiting, and

color.” Furthermore, he noted, both Martin and Held’s

watching a plant blossom with brightly colored flowers.

painting actively push forms forward towards the viewer’s

Similarly, in Crow With No Mouth, the bird’s black body is

space. He singled out Martin for a sensuous and lyrical

broken apart and interrupted by passages of brightly

quality apparent in the “tilting shapes, which sweep in

colored patterns, almost as if we are catching glimpses of

off the canvas edges like De Kooning’s and Kline’s.”10 In

it as it flies from perch to perch. Artist Peter Busa has

the now-lost painting Shape Shifter, 1964–65 (fig. 2),

noted the clarity and emotive content of Martin’s colors,

Martin introduced the giant head of a wide-eyed bird

which “are never dirty. He is a clean painter; with the flash

with a diamond-shaped nose. Sandler, who called the

of a sash, colors of high noon, a festive lunch, close up

“pop-eyed” creature “the issue of some strange obsession,”

with the minds eye on the event of a special metaphor.”11

recognized the tension it created between geometric form and organic image.

The Female Nude Laden with art historical associations that extend back

Organic Imagery

through de Kooning, Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, and

Martin’s incorporation of the whimsical bird head can be

Titian to the Venus of Willendorf, the nude has been an

seen as a disruption of the norms of postwar abstraction,

important theme throughout Martin’s career. It became a

which generally excluded bold representational signs. In

central subject in his paintings of the 1970s, which first

contrast to the Pop Artists, Martin’s imagery is not ironic,

debuted at Bonino Gallery in 1972. Speaking to the origins

but poetic, often metaphorical, and expressive of his

of human impulses to create art, for Martin, the nude sym-

genuine fascination with the natural world. He has trav-

bolizes the process of art making and a crucial dialogue

eled extensively including a trip to India, hiking the

with the great art of the past.

Himalayas, and scuba diving in the Bay of Cortez. His

In Venus of Urbino, circa 1972 (pl. 14), Martin references

studio has been home to a variety of animals including a

Titian’s 1532 masterpiece of the same title by zeroing in on

snake, tarantulas, piranhas, a pig, and his beloved African

the notoriously sensual position of Venus’s hand. Martin

grey parrot, whose extensive vocabulary allows him to

places the hand, which he renders with elongated blue

talk to Martin while he works. A telescope in an adjoining

fingers that fall across her bright yellow thighs, at the

room enables Martin, who has a significant understand-

center of the composition. Employing a collage aesthetic

ing of astronomy, to study the heavens.

that evokes Matisse’s Blue Nude cutouts of the 1950s,

Organic themes are present in many of Martin’s paint-

the figure of Venus is fractured by what seems to be a

ings including Garden of Time, 1966, which takes its title

second floating red version of her body, with breasts and

from the poetry of Paul Valery, Flower Pots, circa 1970s

head apparent at the upper left of the canvas. Martin

6

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

Venus, outdoor twelve-story mural, New York, 1970.

Woman with Bicycle, outdoor six-story mural, New York, 1979.

Photograph by Stephen Geoffrey.

Photographer unknown.

flattens the crumpled white bed sheets in the foreground

Bust of Woman #4, 1973 (pl. 13), and Woman's Face

of Titian’s version of the painting and patterns them with

(Green Eyelids, Blue Nose), 1972 (pl. 10). Reviewing the

his trademark polka dots.

1972 exhibition at Bonino, Rosalind Browne praised the

In the paintings Woman with Robe #1, 1970–71 (pl. 7),

women series as “an aggressive Hard-Edged departure

Woman with the Folded Hands, 1973 (pl. 12), and Razberri

from Abstract Expressionism. Buttocks, breasts and

Breasts, circa 1970s (pl. 11), the female form, especially

sequential identifying features are diverted into and dis-

the face, is more powerfully distorted, evoking the men-

sected by punchy primaries (blue, red, yellow).”13 In 1974,

acing expression of de Kooning’s Woman I, 1950–52 (The

Peter Frank observed, “Martin’s work continues to blend

Museum of Modern Art). Selecting a vibrant color palette,

Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, hard-edged painting

in combination with a somewhat cartoonish aesthetic,

and para-Pop. In these new works, the references to

Martin acknowledges the developments of Pop Art with-

female anatomy are modified; he returns to the high-

out deviating from his own stylistic principles. In Woman

keyed abstract forms that characterized his work in the

with Robe #1, the body parts have become completely

1960s.”14 The women paintings culminated in two related

disassociated. A huge smile with bared lips and teeth is

public murals Venus, 1970 (fig. 3) at 19th Street and the

oriented vertically, providing a central arc to anchor the

West Side Highway, which is now almost completely

composition. As John Goodman noted in Art in America,

obscured by an adjacent building, and Woman with

Martin’s women “can be seen as a hard-edged version of

Bicycle, 1979 (fig. 4) at West Houston and MacDougal

one of de Kooning’s mythic females.”12

Streets, which was covered by a commercial advertise-

The body serves as the inspiration for entirely abstract

ment in 2002. Curator Marilyn Kushner wrote that the

arrangements of primary-colored arcs, curves, circles,

enormous scale of the Venus mural “only intensifies the

stripes and snake-like squiggles in She #1, 1972 (pl. 15),

experience of female shapes, the linear aspects of the

7

painted composition, and the surrounding architecture.”

Sensuous and erotic “it also conveys Knox Martin’s love affair with New York.”15 Martin’s love affair with the city and with art continues to energize his career and push his work in new directions.

His most recent paintings such as U, 2019 (see page 2) return to a purely black-and-white palette with a new consideration of the letter as abstract form. This focus on typography places the work in dialogue with a rich lineage of painting utilizing text from the Cubists to Jasper Johns and more recently Christopher Wool, Mel Bochner, or even British street artist Ben Eine. Martin’s compositions, however, remain his own, with the U functioning as an abstract shape, a pattern, a letter, and a symbol. His new engagement with text reaffirms his longstanding interest in fundamental structures and their relationships as an important building block of painting. Analyzing the compositional complexity of a Cézanne or a Velázquez, he is enthralled once again. In his words, “I’m in love again with art; I’m racked by it. Looking at this thing, I’m home.”16

Notes 1 Arthur C. Danto, Adventures in Pictorial Reason: The Paintings of Knox Martin, 1998.

2 Stuart Preston, “Knox Martin Impresses in First One-Man Show,” New York Times, September 16, 1954.

3 Archives, Knox Martin studio.

4 “Knox Martin: What is Art?”. Interview with Ira Goldberg in Linea: The Online Journal of the Art Students League of New York, January 2013.

5 Ibid.

6 Cathy S. Silver, “Knox Martin,” ARTnews 62, no. 1 (March 1963): 11.

7 Donald Judd, “Knox Martin,” Arts Magazine 37, no. 7 (April 1963): 53.

8 Michael Benedikt, “Knox Martin, ARTnews 63, no. 3 (May 1964): 11.

9 Jill Johnston, “Knox Martin” ARTnews 63, no. 10 (February 1965): 14.

10 Ruth Gurin and Irving Sandler, Concrete Expressionism, ex. cat.

(New York: New York University, 1965).

11 Peter Busa, “The Works of Knox Martin,” unpublished manuscript, January 1972.

1 2 John Goodman, “Knox Martin at Janos Gat,” Art in America 85, no. 12 (December 1997).

1 3 Rosalind Browne, “Knox Martin” ARTnews 71, no. 2 (April 1972): 55.

1 4 Peter Frank, “Knox Martin,” ARTnews 73, no. 8 (October 1974): 120.

1 5 Marilyn Kushner, Knox Martin: Early Work, ex. cat. (New York: Janos Gat Gallery, 1997), 7.

16 “Knox Martin: What is Art?”.

8

1 She (Untitled), 1963–65 Magna acrylic on canvas, 100 x 71 inches

9

10

2 Rubber Soul, 1963 Magna acrylic on canvas 103 ¾ x 139 inches (diptych) Signed lower center: “Knox Martin”

3 Shape Shifter, 1962 Magna acrylic on canvas, 92 x 69 inches Signed center left: “Knox Martin”

4 Garden of Time, 1963 Oil and Magna acrylic on canvas, 70 x 69 ¾ inches Signed center left: “Knox Martin”

13

5

6

Study for a painting called “Edge,” 1964

Polar Mill, 1966

Ink on paper, 11 x 8 ½ inches

Magna acrylic on canvas, 101 x 80 inches

Signed and dated upper left: “Knox Martin 64” Titled on frame verso: “Study for a painting called Edge”

14

7

8

Woman with Robe #1, 1970–71

Flower Pots, circa 1970s

Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 79 ⅛ inches

Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on linen, 17 ⅜ x 15 ¼ inches

Inscribed (twice) on stretcher verso: “#3793 / #3793”

Signed lower left: “Knox” Signed verso: “Knox” Titled and signed (twice) on stretcher verso: "Flower Pots Knox / Knox"

17

9 Pandora (Green Mouth, Red Nose), 1972 Acrylic on linen, 85 x 60 inches

18

10 Woman’s Face (Green Eyelids, Blue Nose), 1972 Acrylic on linen, 85 x 60 inches Signed and inscribed verso: “Knox Martin / Woman’s face / green eyelids / blue nose”

19

11 Razberri Breasts, circa 1970s Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on linen, 15 x 13 ⅛ inches Signed lower right: “Knox” Inscribed, signed, and titled verso: “72 / Knox Martin / 15 x 13 / razberri breasts”

12 Woman with Folded Hands, 1973 Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on linen, 17 x 14 inches Signed lower right: “Knox” Inscribed verso: “Red” Titled on stretcher verso: “Woman with Folded Hands”

13 Bust of Woman #4, 1973 Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on linen, 17 x 14 inches Signed lower left: “Knox” Titled and dated on stretcher verso: “Bust of Woman #4 1973”

20

22

14

15

Venus of Urbino, circa 1972

She #1, 1972

Acrylic on canvas, 56 ½ x 79 ½ inches

Acrylic on canvas, 90 x 74 inches

Inscribed and signed verso: “Reclining woman / red eye /

Signed and inscribed verso: “Knox Martin / Woman’s Face /

red nose / red breasts / Knox Martin / #3788”

Purple Breasts”

16 Maquette for Wall Mural, 1975 Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted to foamcore, 43 x 35 x 1 inches Signed lower right: “KNOX MARTIN”

17 Women's Face, 1972 Acrylic on canvas, 89 ⅜ x 73 ⅞ inches Signed and inscribed verso: "Knox Martin / Woman's face / red nose / green mouth"

24

18 Carmen Seated, circa 1975 Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on linen, 15 x 13 inches Titled and signed verso: “Carmen Seated / Knox Martin”

19 Reclining Woman, 1975 Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on linen, 13 ⅛ x 15 inches Inscribed, titled, signed, and dated verso: “#20 / Reclining Woman / on striped couch / Knox Martin 1975”

26

20 Untitled, circa 1975 Acrylic and graphite on paper, 9 x 8 ½ inches Signed lower center: “Knox Martin” Inscribed verso: “B”

27

21 Red Woman, 1975 Acrylic on linen, 16 x 19 ½ inches Signed lower right: “Knox Martin”

22 Crow With No Mouth, 2007 Acrylic on linen, 80 x 65 inches Signed lower right: “Knox”

28

23 Woman in Love, 2010 Acrylic on paper mounted on linen 18 x 22 inches Signed lower right: “Knox” Titled verso: “Woman / in Love”

24 Woman Interested!, 2010 Acrylic on paper mounted on linen 18 x 22 inches Signed lower center: “Knox” Titled on verso: “woman / interested!”

25 Reclining Woman #4, 2019 Acrylic on linen, 40 x 60 inches Signed lower right: “Knox” Titled, dated, and signed verso: “RECLINING WOMAN #4 / 2019 / K Martin”

31

K N OX M A R T I N Born 1923 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Lives and works in New York City

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Art in the Making, Reading Public Museum, Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Museum Gallery,

2013 LGTripp Gallery, Philadelphia Reading, PA University of North Carolina, Greensboro

2012 Sam and Adele Golden Gallery, New Berlin, NY National Academy Annual Exhibition: 2015, National Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA

2010 Woodward Gallery, New York Academy of Design,New York 1966 Contemporary Drawings, New York University,

2003 Janos Gat Gallery, New York On the Front Lines: Military Veterans at The Art New York

2001 Janos Gat Gallery, New York Students League of New York, The Art Students

Contemporary Art at Yale: 4, Yale University Art 1999 Orchard (1964) on display at the Denver Art Museum, League of New York Gallery, New Haven, CT CO Art in the Making: A New Adaptation, Luther W. Brady 1965 Concrete Expressionism, Loeb Student Art Center, LightHouse Museum, Tequesta, FL Art Gallery, George Washington University, New York University, New York

1998 Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX Washington, DC A University Collects: Paintings from the New York 1997–98 Janos Gat Gallery, New York

Art in the Making: Refocused, FreedmanArt, New York University Art Collection, traveling exhibition

1995 Macon Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2014 Art in the Making, FreedmanArt, New York circulated by The American Federation of Arts Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX Select/Miami, LGTripp Gallery Booth D10, Miami, FL 1964 Some Paintings to Consider, Santa Barbara Museum

1993 Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX Making/Breaking Traditions: Teachers of Ai Weiwei, of Art, CA

1991 Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX The Art Students League of New York 1963 23rd Annual Exhibition of the Society for

1989 Ingber Gallery, New York 2013 Pan American Modernism: Avant-Garde Art in Latin Contemporary American Art, The Art Institute of Maillot, Paris America and the United States, Lowe Art Museum, Chicago

1988 Thomsen Gallery, New York University of Miami, FL Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, DC

1987 Bresslar Gallery, Munich, Germany 2012 Annual Exhibition: 2012, National Academy of Design, Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, New York Thomsen Gallery, New York New York Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York

1986 Gremillion & Co. Fine Art Inc., Houston, TX 2010 Will Barnet and the Art Students League, The Art 1958 Holland-Goldowsky Gallery, Chicago Ingber Gallery, New York Students League of New York 1955 Stable Annual, Stable Gallery, New York

1984 lngber Gallery, New York 2009 184th Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, The 1955 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of

1983 Ingber Gallery, New York New York Contemporary Painting, Department of Fine Arts,

1982 River Gallery, Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 2007 Varia, Janos Gat Gallery, New York Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA

1981 Ingber Gallery, New York ACA Galleries, New York Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture,

1980 River Gallery, Irvington-on-Hudson, NY

182nd Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Jack Gallery, New York New York Champaign Ingber Gallery, New York 2006 Why the Nude? Contemporary Approaches, The Art 1954 Stable Annual, Stable Gallery, New York

1978 Jack Gallery, New York Students League of New York

1949 Laurel Gallery, New York Ingber Gallery, New York

The Art Students League of New York: Highlights from

1976 Galerie Lahumière, Paris the Permanent Collection (traveling exhibition) P U B L I C C O L L E C T I O N S Buchmesse, Frankfurt, West Germany 2005 Disegno, National Academy of Design, New York Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy,

1975 Gallery G., Wichita, KS 2004 An American Odyssey 1945/1980, Spain and New Andover, MA I. Jankovsky Gallery, New York York, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (traveling Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont

1974 Gallery Bonino, New York exhibition) The Art Students League of New York Ingber Gallery, New York Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD

1972 Gallery Bonino, New York

The Medium: Aspects of Collage, Noel Fine Art, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

1971 Nabis Fine Arts, New York New York Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas

1970 Gallery Bonino, New York 2000 Directions Fifth Anniversary Group Show Exhibition, at Austin 1963–66 Fischbach Gallery, New York Janos Gat Gallery,New York Boca Raton Museum of Art, FL

1963 Rose Fried Gallery, New York 1999 Knox Martin and Friends, Rivington Gallery, London, Brooklyn Museum, NY

1961 Charles Egan Gallery, New York England Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

1957 Avant-Garde Gallery, New York 1998 Paper Invitational, Woodward Gallery, New York Dallas Museum of Art, TX

1954 Charles Egan Gallery, New York 1997 Triangulis, Three Generations, Atelier 14, New York Davis Museum at Wellesley College, MA

1996 Benny Smith Gallery, Cold Spring, NY Denver Art Museum, CO SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1994 Knox Martin, Joseph Stapleton, The Art Students Hand Art Center, Stetson University, DeLand, FL

2019 The Armory Show 2019, Hollis Taggart, Booth 206, League of New York Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY Pier 90, New York

1992 Tibor de Nagy, New York Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 2018 The Masters: Art Student League Teachers 1985 The Gathering of the Avant-Garde: The Lower-East Ithaca, NY and their Students, The Art Students League of Side 1948–1970, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, New York Kenkeleba House, New York Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Art Wynwood, Todd Merrill Studio, One Herald Plaza, 1984 Dubelle Gallery, New York Hofstra University Museum of Art, Hempstead, NY Miami, FL

1983 CDS Gallery, New York Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN Untitled San Francisco, Todd Merrill Studio, Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of Katzen Art Center, American University, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA North Carolina, Greensboro Washington, DC

2017 Art Toronto 2017, Todd Merrill Studio, Metro Toronto The New Explosion: Paper Art, Byer Museum of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Convention Centre, Canada Arts, Evanston, IL Gables, FL

No Day Without a Line: Artists of the Art Student 1982 The New Explosion: Paper Art, FAMLI (Fine Arts Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary League of New York in Museum of Long Island), Hempstead, NY Miami-Dade Art in Public Places Collection, Florida Spain, CosmoArte Siglo XXV Gallery, Alicante, Spain Arras Gallery, New York Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota Master/Protégé, Todd Merrill Studio, 1981 International Biennale of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Montclair Art Museum, NJ Southampton, NY Yugoslavia The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas Palm Beach Jewelry, Art and Antiques Show,

1978 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Lending The Museum of Modern Art, New York Todd Merrill Studio, Palm Beach County Library National Academy of Design, New York Convention Center, West Palm Beach, FL

1976 Art Fair, Paris, France National Arts Club, New York Winter Antiques Show, Todd Merrill Studio,

1975 National Arts Club, New York Newark Museum, New Jersey Park Avenue Armory, New York Hippopotamus, Houston, TX New York State Museum, Albany, NY 2016 Personalized: Friendship, Celebration, Gratitude, Janus Gallery, Washington DC The New York University Collection, Grey Art Gallery, FreedmanArt, New York 1973–76 IKI International Art Fair, Dusseldorf-Cologne, New York On the Front Lines: Military Veterans at The Art Germany Oklahoma City Museum of Art, OK Students League of New York, UB Anderson International Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland Portland Art Museum, OR Gallery, University at Buffalo, The State University 1972 Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum of American Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA of New York Art, New York Reading Public Museum, PA

Pan American Modernism: Avant-Garde Art in Latin 1969 The Big Drawing, James Graham & Sons Gallery, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA America and the United States, Weatherspoon Art New York Springfield Museum of Art, MO Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 1967 Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum of American Tougaloo College Art Collections, MS 2015 Passion and Commitment, FreedmanArt, Art, New York University of California, Berkeley Art Museum New York Large-Scale American Paintings, The Jewish and Pacific Archive Pan American Modernism: Avant-Garde Art in Latin Museum, New York University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington America and the United States, Art Gallery at the Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada University of St. Joseph, West Hartford, CT from New York Galleries, Delaware Art Museum, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North

Woodward Gallery Decades, Woodward Gallery, Wilmington Carolina, Greensboro New York The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

The William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT

This catalogue has been published on the occasion of the exhibition “Knox Martin: Radical Structures,” organized by Hollis Taggart, New York, and presented from May 2–27, 2019.

All Artwork © 2019 Knox Martin/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY ISBN: 978-0-9985000-7-2 Front cover: She (Untitled), detail, 1963–65 (see pl. 1) Inside front cover: Knox Martin, April 2013, New York, NY. Photograph by Gabriela Ryan.

Back cover: U, detail, 2019 (see page 2)

Publication Copyright © 2019 Hollis Taggart All rights reserved.

Reproduction of contents prohibited.

Hollis Taggart 521 West 26th Street, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10001 Tel 212 628 4000 Fax 212 570 5786 www.hollistaggart.com Catalogue production: Kara Spellman Design: Russell Hassell, New York Printing: Meridian Printing, Rhode Island Primary photography: Joshua Nefsky, unless otherwise noted

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