Lynne Drexler: The Monhegan Island Years

Lynne Drexler The Monhegan Island Years

Lynne Drexler The Monhegan Island Years Works from the Jerry Vis Collection In Conjunction with Tobin Reese Fine Art and Geringer Art

Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 east 74th street suite g new york ny 10021 tel 212 744 7306 info@meredithwardfineart.com

Play Fish, 1991 Oil on canvas, 36 x 38 inches 4

Lynne Drexler: A Damn Good Artist

went by both artists found themselves increasingly out of sync with the market, which had moved on to new

To create one’s own world takes courage.

styles including Pop and Minimalism. Drexler came to

- Georgia O’Keeffe

see the art world as representing a “game” that she did not like to play.

When Lynne Drexler (1928-1999) moved to New

Drexler was a formalist whose highly personal style

York City in the mid-1950s to study art, she found her-

reflected her complimentary interests in music and na-

self exposed to a whirlwind of influences, styles, and ex-

ture. She painted clusters and zones of small forms—

pectations. For a young southerner who had grown up

including unblended mosaic-like brushstrokes, sin-

exploring the woods in Virginia, it must have been both

uous lines and organic shapes—that she unified into

thrilling and nerve-wracking to live in a city considered

harmonious compositions. Even during her years in

to be the postwar capital of the art world. Drexler ar-

New York, Drexler’s pitch-perfect abstractions most

rived in New York when Abstract Expressionism was in

often had their roots in forest landscapes. One series

its second generation and a handful of women artists,

even recalled the Matoaka Woods that she had hiked

including Helen Frankenthaler and Grace Hartigan,

once as a student at the College of William & Mary in

were making names for themselves.

Williamsburg, Virginia.

One of Drexler’s teachers at New York’s Hunter

Other paintings were developed from outdoor

College, the Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell,

sketches she made during summer stays on isolated

oVered excellent advice, telling her that “to be an artist

Monhegan Island oV the coast of Maine. Drexler and

meant first and foremost that one had to create work

her husband regularly visited the island early in their

worthy of attention.” Another mentor, Hans Hofmann,

marriage and soon owned a house there. The titles of

gave her some of the formal tools that would serve her

her works from the 1960s, which include Foliage Study,

well over time. This included the notion that she could

Nature in Order, and Floral Chaos confirm that nature

activate the space of her compositions by using vibrant,

and its energies were a prime source of inspiration. In

carefully arranged colors.

the 1970s, Drexler’s paintings distilled the essence of

In 1962, Drexler married artist John Hultberg,

Monhegan Island’s landscape and flora into lyrical ab-

whose work was already in the collection of the Mu-

stractions. During a guest lecture at a New Jersey col-

seum of Modern Art, and had her first solo show at an

lege, Drexler showed a slide of an abstract triptych that

artist’s co-op called the Tanager Gallery. Afterwards,

prompted a student to blurt out, “Lobster Cove”—ex-

she painted for many years without commercial rep-

actly the place she had in mind when she painted it.

resentation while her husband was taken on by the

John left in 1983 after their troubled marriage had

high-powered art dealer Martha Jackson. As the years

finally failed. Drexler was now a single woman, living in

5

Again Harmony, 1995 Oil on canvas, 10 x 12 inches 6

a secluded environment that oVered constant inspira-

of Drexler’s importance long before her death in 1999

tion. When a friend in New York wrote and asked her

revealed her work to a wider audience.

what to tell collectors who inquired about her, Drexler

Near the end of her life, Drexler told an interview-

replied: “Advise them I’ve become a hermit—an ec-

er, “I’ve always felt deeply within myself I was a damn

centric one—and that I come to NYC when provided

good artist, though the world wouldn’t recognize me as

with orchestra seats to the Met, clubhouse tickets to the

such.” Time proved Drexler right, and the re-discovery

racetrack and absolutely no talk of art or the scene.”

of her art by a new generation of curators and collec-

Jerry Vis was an artist friend who dropped by on

tors would have gratified her. Drexler was an original

his regular visits to Monhegan. He would find her din-

who lived and made art on her own terms. On Mon-

ing room table filled with colored pencil drawings and

hegan Island she found the solitude to paint and the

the walls lined with fresh paintings. During this period

support of a small group of friends who realized how

Drexler mixed abstraction and figuration. She painted

great she truly was.

John Seed

her favorite trees, pitchers of flowers and the wild garden surrounding her home. In solitude, her art blossomed with joy and tenderness. Although she did not

u

paint portraits, some of her paintings feel like self-portraits in which familiar objects and places offer hints of

We are delighted to present this group of works by

Drexler’s inner life.

Lynne Drexler, most of which are from the collection

Enchanted with her art, which he realized “looked

of her devoted friend and fellow artist, Jerry Vis. We

like nobody else’s,” Vis began buying Drexler’s paint-

are grateful to John Seed for his essay, which sheds

ings. He eventually assembled a varied collection that

new light on our understanding of Drexler’s master-

encompassed the full range of her abstract, landscape,

ful paintings. It has been a joy to collaborate on this

and still life imagery. One of his purchases, Twilight

project with our colleagues Peter Lameray and Sheldon

Imagery, 1976, is an almost grey-blue magic carpet with

Geringer of Tobin Reese Fine Art and Geringer Art,

a nocturnal glow not unlike like that of Van Gogh’s

who brought the Vis Collection to our attention. Final-

Starry Night. Another, Raked Off, 1989, is a dazzling-

ly, enormous thanks go, as always, to Meghan Schwab

ly eccentric still life that depicts a garden rake and a

for her dedication and tireless eVorts in managing all

red-orange pitcher of flowers set off by woven patterns

aspects of this exhibition and catalogue.

of green, orange and gold. Trunk, 1994, is an essay in unrestrained color and features a curving blue tree

Meredith Ward

Debra Wieder

trunk that dances in front of pink, yellow, and orange zones. Through their rich friendship, Vis gained a sense

7

Broken Shadows, 1969 Oil on canvas, 34 x 28 inches 8

Twilight Imagery, 1976 Oil on canvas, 29 x 24 inches 9

Victorious Circles, 1973 Oil on canvas, 32 x 24 inches 10

Forret Ground, 1995 Oil on canvas, 17 x 10 inches 11

Trunk, 1994 Oil on canvas, 22 x 20 inches 12

Untitled (Garden Window) Crayon on paper, 15 M x 12¼ inches

Untitled (Still Life), 1989 Crayon on paper, 17 x 13½ inches 13

Burst Sun, 1970 Oil on canvas, 24 x 29 inches 14

Waverly Flowers, 1985 Oil on canvas, 32 x 26 inches 15

published in conjunction with the exhibition

Lynne Drexler The Monhegan Island Years Works from the Jerry Vis Collection May 12 – July 28, 2023 In Conjunction with Tobin Reese Fine Art and Geringer Art

Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 east 74th street suite g new york new york 10021 tel 212 744 7306 fax 212 744 7308 info @ meredithwardfineart.com www. meredithwardfineart.com

edition of 800 design Katie Michel, New York photography Michael Tramis, New York printing Permanent Printing, Ltd., Hong Kong cover (detail) Raked OV, 1989, oil on canvas, 36 x 31 inches frontispiece (1) Trunk Grass, 1980, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches frontispiece (2) Ensconsed, 1987, oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches publication copyright © 2023 meredith ward fine art

Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 east 74th street suite g new york ny 10021 tel 212 744 7306 info@meredithwardfineart.com