Ynez Johnston & Leonard Edmondson

Ynez Johnston & Leonard Edmondson

4

55

Ynez Johnston & Leonard Edmondson

Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com

1 media on rice paper on canvas, 50" x 40" cover: Ynez Johnston, Anarctica, 1996, mixed

Ynez Johnston & Leonard Edmondson Ynez Johnston and Leonard Edmondson were mid-20th century American modernists and lifelong friends. Each created art that sought to bridge the personal and the universal, treating their mutual inspirations—the art of Paul Klee and the European Surrealists—as points of departure. Where Edmondson articulated softly toned organic shapes within liquid space in his works on paper, Johnston created colorful, fantastical landscapes and bronze sculpture redolent with abstract symbolism. Both artists’ work, like Klee’s, incorporated currents of art history but resist easy classification in any movement. At a time that Abstract Expressionism—and later Color Field painting—dominated the art world, Johnston and Edmondson’s art presented a counterargument: that serious art-making could be personal, playful, and imaginative.

Over the course of their careers, both Johnston and Edmondson developed distinct visual languages as creative and adventurous American modernists. While continuing to nurture their artistic friendship, each earned substantial accolades for their art as their careers progressed: Johnston won a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts grant; Edmondson also received a Guggenheim as well as two Tiffany Fellowships.

Best known for his abstract works on paper, Leonard Edmondson (1916-2002) is today recognized as one of the true masters of intaglio printmaking, eventually chairing the Print Department at the Califronia State University in Los Angeles and writing a reference book, Etching, which is commonly used today.

In forming his biomorphic shapes, Edmondson implemented a delicate treatment of line, setting his forms in animated strata within atmospheric space. His treatment of form and line, like the art of Paul Klee, included layers of texture, ambiguous organic figures, and washes of soft color. Edmondson believed that, through his non-objective images, he could evoke a universal imagistic sensibility. He wrote, “I feel that my value as a painter lies in revealing a personal world which becomes, when it is complete, a universal world.”

Ynez Johnston (1920-2019) constructed mythical landscapes in a variety of media, melding her own visual language from both modern and ancient art. Her paintings and 2

sculpture contain images of dreamlike figures, plants, and animals, as well as various landscape and architectural forms—all at the border between abstraction, pattern, and figure. In this sense, her works evoke an animist impulse, attributing anthropomorphic traits—even souls—to her forms, whether they are alive, environmental, or inanimate.

Johnston was lauded for her approach; among other accolades, she was awarded with a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1950 at the age of thirty. Johnston cited Persian, Tibetan, Indian, Mexican, Early Christian, and Byzantine art influences in creating her work, but also drew inspiration from European modernists like Matisse, Miro, Picasso, and Klee. Synthesizing these influences, Johnston’s fantastical works serve to activate the most unencumbered regions of the imagination, where viewers are invited to accompany the artist on journeys to a variety of mysterious fictional places. Johnston wrote, “Painting is for me like a voyage into oceans known and unknown, depths and distances ultimately unfathomable. The end of the voyage is never what one might have anticipated.”

- Kenneth R. Marvel Ynez Johnston and my father, Leonard Edmondson, shared a period in history that was especially full of possibilities. They met in the late 1930s while attending UC Berkeley, where they were equipped with a superb knowledge of European art history. Their days were filled with the beauty of San Francisco and their hearts and minds inspired with the infinite by the lectures of their professors. When Ynez rented a room from the sister of Leonard’s future wife, she augmented her rent with drawings as money was tight (these drawings remain in our family’s collection to this day).

The war effort required Leonard to travel to many states preparing to become an agent in the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, a US intelligence agency during World War II).

After learning interrogation techniques and perfecting his French language skills, he was then sent to the European theatre to help root out intelligence on the Nazis. Most of his travels during this time were by plane. Like thousands of soldiers, these were his first experiences of air travel. What my father saw from the air greatly influenced his visual language.

3

After college, Ynez had won a travel grant in which she was expected to visit the important places of Europe. But with the impending war, she instead turned her attention to Mexico, to which over the next three years she made many forays. The experiences she had during these travels formed the cornerstone of her imagery for the rest of her career.

Ynez and Leonard were artists in the truest sense. Their need to reveal their inner selves caused an insatiable desire to create and to share their dreams and visions with each other and the world. Along the way, they needed to solve the technical and aesthetic issues that impeded their ability to manifest their vision. Be that painting or printmaking, they supported and encouraged each other.

There was always something ineffable about Ynez and my father. At our lunches, there was often a silence, a knowing. A satisfaction of living the life they lived—not an easy life, but a necessary one. Ynez and Leonard ‘spoke’ a common language, a language of aesthetics. I remember sitting with my father at Ynez’s kitchen table once when I was young. My father was looking at Ynez’s work when he turned to me and said, “It doesn’t get any better than this.” I knew he was speaking of an individual work, but also of the worlds that Ynez created.

Ynez and Leonard were explorers, navigating the unknown worlds of their dreams and sub-conscious, sharing their discoveries with each other and the world. They were both atheists in the formal sense of the word. I once got into a bit of an argument with my father; I was teasing him, really, saying “You don’t believe in heaven, yet you create heaven. Magical, wonderful places to enter into.” He didn’t like what I said; it’s just not how he felt about his work. Yet I feel that is what he did—he (and Ynez) created incredible worlds, places that made sense to them. They shared these sacred spaces with each other and those who were willing to experience them.

I assisted Ynez for 17 years and my father for 30 years until his death. I was devoted to both of them, and I learned more by assisting them than I would ever have on my own. During my father’s illness I kept him stocked with art supplies: blocks of Arches hot press paper, Uniball pens, and watercolor pencils. He never stopped making art.

We kept each other in good spirits during his years of declining health.

4

Ynez and I spent much time together. I drove her to purchase art supplies or to go to the foundry she worked with in creating her bronze sculptures, Decker Studios in North Hollywood, California. There we inspected the waxes that were pulled from molds before they were cast in bronze. We had many dinners together. I assisted her in realizing many works in ceramics, as well as her paintings. We were close and shared many good times together. What brought us together was my devotion to her as an artist. I was always happy and honored to help.

Ynez Johnston and Leonard Edmondson were visionaries. They were not followers.

They took what they learned from college and each other to venture forth and find success as artists. They each won numerous awards and fellowships. What they shared between each other and with their viewers was a distillation of their collective travels, both earthly and internal. Ynez and Leonard remained close friends until my father’s death in 2002.

Hopefully in this exhibition you will get a glimpse of the play of ideas between them and the worlds they built, abstract and surreal. I believe that their art is appreciated because it is somehow a bridge to the soul of the viewer, a map to help viewers navigate their own earthly and internal journeys. Leonard and Ynez were inveterate travelers with a lifelong love of faraway places, and created art that also promised adventure and possibilities beyond the commonplace.

Many thanks to LewAllen Galleries and Louis Newman to for making this exhibition possible.

- Stanley Edmondson

5

Leonard Edmondson

6

Leonard Edmondson, Flying Machine, 1948, acrylic on paper, 13.63" x 19"

7

Leonard Edmondson, Uncharted Waters, painting on paper, 35" x 26"

8

Leonard Edmondson, Alleged Outcome, 1949 intaglio on paper 9.88" x 7.75"

9

Leonard Edmondson, Sentient Candidate, 1954, acrylic on paper, 7.75" x 17.75"

10

11

11

Leonard Edmondson, Transgress These Boundaries, 1952, color intaglio on paper, 10.88" x 14.38"

Leonard Edmondson, Shoreline, 1948, gouache on paper collage, 8.5" x 12"

12

13

Leonard Edmondson, Promotion from Deflection, 1950, color intaglio on paper, 5.75" x 7.88"

13

Leonard Edmondson, Soft Touch, painting on paper, 32" x 22"

14

Leonard Edmondson, Curiouser & Curiouser, 1951, India ink and gouache on paper, 20" x 28"

15

Leonard Edmondson, Stand Points of Function, 1951, hand-colored itaglio on paper, 13.75" x 9.88"

16

Leonard Edmondson, Line of Sight, 1953, painting on paper, 19" x 31"

17

Ynez Johnston

18

Ynez Johnston, Anarctica, 1996, mixed media on rice paper on canvas, 50" x 40"

19

Ynez Johnston, Green Palace, 1991, mixed media on linen over canvas, 24" x 18"

20

Ynez Johnston, The Fleece, 1996, bronze, 44.5" x 25" x 10"

21

Ynez Johnston, Fisherman, bronze, 12.75" x 7.5" x 4"

22

Ynez Johnston, Shadow in Green, 1993, mixed media on canvas, 24" x 30"

23

Ynez Johnston, Snake Charmer, 1990, oil on gessoed wood, 29.75" x 14.63" x 8"

24

Ynez Johnston, Morpheus, 1997, mixed media on canvas, 48" x 36"

25

Ynez Johnston, Bay of Bengal, 1994, mixed media on rice paper over canvas, 72" x 72"

26

Ynez Johnston, Small Castle, 1987, bronze, 15" x 10.25" x 4.5"

27

Ynez Johnston, Tower, bronze, 29.5" x 6" x 6"

28

Ynez Johnston, Sea Findings, 1966, mixed media on canvas, 55" x 32"

29

Ynez Johnston, Floating Island, 1997, acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"

30

Ynez Johnston, Orange Sunset, 2001, mixed media on rice paper, 23.75" x 18.75"

31

Ynez Johnston, #23, bronze, 12.25" x 21.25" x 5.75"

32

Ynez Johnston, Early Rider, bronze, 28" x 34" x 9.75"

33

Ynez Johnston, Tropical Harbor, 1997, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16"

34

Ynez Johnston, The Conversation, 1993, bronze, 23" x 29" x 8"

35

Ynez Johnston, Rider with Fleece, bronze, 26.5" x 28" x 8.5"

36

Ynez Johnston, Untitled, 1954, collage on paper, 9.63" x 16.68"

37

Ynez Johnston, Red Bridge Yellow Cloud, 1993, mixed media on canvas, 40" x 54"

38

Ynez Johnston (1920-2019) SELECTED EDUCATION 1941 University of California at Berkeley, BFA SELECTED AWARDS 1941 Bertha B. Taussig Memorial Travel Award 1951 Huntington Hartford Foundation Grant 1952 John Simon Guggenheim Memoral Fellowship 1955 Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant 1957 Huntington Hartford Foundation Grant 1976 National Endowment for the Arts Grant SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2004 The Magical Worlds of Ynez Johnston, Norton Simon Museum,

Pasadena, CA 2003 Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (also 1998, 1994) 2001 Ynez Johnston: Recent Paintings and Ceramics, Schmidt

Bingham Gallery, New York, NY 1998 Santa Cruz Museum of Art, Santa Cruz, CA 1997 Kennedy Museum of American Art, Ohio University, OH 1994 Bakersfield Art Museum, Bakersfield, CA 1992 Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA 1989 Mekler Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (also 1987, 1984, 1982, 1980,

1978) 1988 Worthington Gallery, Chicago, IL (also 1986, 1983, 1979) 1984 Laguna Beach School of Art, Laguna Beach, CA 1982 Fullerton College, Fullerton, CA 1980 Cypress College, Cypress, CA 1978 Retrospective, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell

University, Ithaca, NY 1976 Jody Scully Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (also 1974, 1972) 1974 Mount San Antonio College, CA 1968 Harbor College, Brooklyn, NY 1967 San Francisco Museum of (Modern) Art, San Francisco, CA

Ball State University, Muncie, IN

California State College, Long Beach, CA 1966 Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 1964 Paul Kantor Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA (1962, 1961, 1958, 1957,

1955, 1953, 1952) 1963 Barbara Cecil Gallery, New Orleans, LA 1962 Pasadena Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA 1961 Beloit College, Beloit, WI 1959 Galeria Cerado Suarez, Guadalajara, Mexico 1958 Ohana Gallery, London, England 1957 Alan Gallery, New York, NY

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA 1956 California Palace/Legion of Honor, San Francisco

Wayne Gallery, New York, NY 1955 Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO

Pasadena Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA 1952 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 1948 Rotunda Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1947 Redlands University, Redlands, CA 39 39 1943 De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2020 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2007 Modern Art: Innovations in American Color Printmaking: 1895-1965, Selections from the Collection of Belverd and

Marian Needles, Prints and Drawing Club of the Art Insti-

tute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 1977 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 1976 Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, San

Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 1969 Four Printmakers, California Institute of Technology,

Pasadena, CA 1963 American and Spanish Artists: Spain and Italy, Spanish

Government Travelling Show 1962 Travelling Exhibition in Japan of Graphic Art 1957 US Painting Invitational, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 1956 National Invitational, Whitney Museum of American Art,

New York, NY 1955 Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA 1954 Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY 1953 National Invitational, Whitney Museum of American Art,

New York, NY 1952 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 1950-51 Bunce, Johnston, Mundt, Mueseum of Modern Art, New

York, NY SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Ball State University Art Gallery, Muncie, IN Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY Cigna Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA City Art Museum of Saint Louis, MO Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, CO Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Utica, NY Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI Montclair Museum, Montclair, NJ Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute,

Washington, DC Israel Museum, Jerusalem Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ Sacramento Museum of Art, Sacramento, CA San Diego Fine Arts Museum, San Diego, CA San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA Santa Fe Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM Santa Barbara Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Leonard Edmondson (1916-2002) EDUCATION 1950 University of California at Berkeley, AB, MA SELECTED AWARDS 1967 California State College at Los Angeles Foundation Grant (also

1965) 1960 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship 1955 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant (also 1952) SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2013 California State University, Northridge, CA 2007 Tobey C. Moss Gallery, CA (also 2003, 2002, 1998, 1995) 2003 Memorial Exhibition, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, CA 2000 Tomlyn Gallery, Tequesta, FL 1981 Diablo College, Pleasant Hills, CA 1979 Mount Saint Mary’s College, Los Angeles, CA 1972 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 1970 California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA 1968 Adele Bednarz Galleries, Los Angeles, CA (also 1965) 1967 San Francisco Art Museum, San Francisco, CA

DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA 1966 Santa Barbara Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA 1964 Oklahoma City University Gallery, OK

Laguna Beach Fine Arts Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 1963 Comara Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1960 Felix Landau Gallery, CA (also 1958, 1955, 1953, 1950) 1956 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

Santa Barbara Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA 1952 De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2020 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2017 Postwar Printmaking in the United States, 1945–1955,

Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, IL 2006 Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA 1995 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Invitational, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA 1994 A Century of American Graphics, Oklahoma City Art Museum,

Oklahoma City, OK 1990 The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO

Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX 1987 National Watercolor Society Invitational, Brand Library,

Glendale, CA 1986 UC Prints, Civics Art Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA 1985 Artist’s Forum, California State University, CA 40 40 1983 National Printmaking Invitational, San Bernardino, CA

1971

1959

1958 1956

1954

1953 1952

1951

Graphics '71 West Coast USA, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY Biennial of American Painting, Corcoran Gallery, Wash- ington, DC (also 1957, 1955) Whitney Museum of American Art, New Nork, NY Whitney Museum of American Art, New Nork, NY (also 1955) Younger American Painters, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY University of Illinois, Chicago, IL Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY American Watercolors, Drawings & Prints, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (also 1951, 1947) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (also 1951, 1950, 1949, 1948) San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA (also 1951, 1950, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1946) Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, TX DeCordova Museum, MA Library of Congress, DC Los Angeles County Museum, CA Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY Montana State University, MT National Gallery of Art, DC New York Public Library, NY Oakland Art Museum, CA Pasadena Art Museum, CA Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, PA University of North Dakota, ND San Francisco Museum of Art Seattle Art Museum, WA St. Lawrence University, NY State of California University of California, CA University of Delaware, DE University of Illinois, IL University of North Carolina, NC Victoria and Albert Museum, London Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, VA

41 41

Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com Š 2020 LewAllen Contemporary, LLC 42 & Estate of Leonard Edmondson Artwork Š Estate of Ynez Johnston