HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES
HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES
MICHAEL MAZUR LATE DRAWINGS
HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES
In the spring and summer of 2009, as his physical energy ebbed during the last weeks of his life, Michael Mazur produced 134 ink drawings of plants and flowers. Most of the flowers depicted were chosen with his wife, the poet Gail Mazur, or brought to him by friends during hospital stays. The landscape drawings were inspired by the couple’s backyard gardens in Cambridge and Provincetown, Massachusetts, and by the artist’s visits to the restored 19th century gardens of the Longfellow House in Cambridge. Drawn from life and executed in black ink, each image explores the possibility of line drawing, tender or explosive, to convey a myriad of plant forms and textures. Mazur attentively renders the soft petals of hyacinths, the gentle wilting of a peony or the layering of a Monterey pine cone, often revisiting the same subjects to experiment with new angles and marks. Individually or in their totality, these intimately scaled drawings are a testament to the artist’s relentless drive to create, understand and reinvent. This book contains each of Mazur’s late drawings in chronological order and is presented in conjunction with Late Work, Rain and Flowers, an exhibition of Rain paintings and selected drawings at RYAN LEE Gallery in New York (on view October 25 through December 22, 2018).
HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES 4
Michael Mazur (1935 New York, NY – 2009 Boston, MA) is an internationally recognized artist known for his fluidity between paintings, drawings and prints as well as between abstract and representational imagery. Born and raised in New York City, Mazur moved to Massachusetts in 1953 and received his BA from Amherst College. He received his BFA and MFA from Yale University in 1959 and 1961, respectively, and he was later heralded by The Boston Globe as one of the greatest painters and printmakers that New England produced in the second half of the 20th century. Mazur first exhibited in 1960 and quickly earned acclaim, receiving a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation award and an American Academy of Arts and Letters fellowship in just two years. Mazur was invited to represent the United States in the 1975 Venice Biennale, but he declined to participate in protest of the Vientam War. Over the next 50 years, he was the subject of more than 80 solo exhibitions and included in numerous group shows. In 2000, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held a retrospective which traveled to Stanford University Art Museum, the Jane Vorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Mazur’s work is held in several prominent collections, including the British Museum, London; Cincinnati Art Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art; de Cordova Museum, Lincoln; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; and Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES 5
Untitled 6/15/09 11 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches
6
Untitled (#2) 6/15/09 11 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches
7
Untitled (#3) 6/15/09 11 1/4 x 12 1/8 inches
8
Untitled 6/16/09 10 1/2 x 13 inches
9
Untitled 6/17/09 15 X 11 3/4 inches
10
Untitled 6/18/09 13 x 13 inches
11
Untitled (#2) 6/18/09 13 x 13 inches
12
Untitled 6/19/09 12 x 11 inches
13
Untitled (#2) 6/19/09 12 x 11 inches
14
Untitled (#3) 6/19/09 12 x 11 inches
15
Untitled (#4) 6/19/09 13 x 13 inches
16
Untitled 6/20/09 14 x 17 inches
17
K’s & J’s Lilies 6/21/09 10 7/8 x 13 inches
18
Untitled 6/21/09 10 x 10 inches
19
Untitled 6/22/09 10 7/8 x 13 inches
20
Untitled (#2) 6/22/09 10 x 16 3/4 inches
21
Untitled 6/23/09 10 3/4 x 13 inches
22
Untitled 6/24/09 12 3/4 x 13 inches
23
Untitled (#2) 6/24/09 12 3/4 x 13 inches
24
Untitled (#3) 6/24/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
25
Untitled (#4) 6/24/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
26
Untitled (#5) 6/24/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
27
Some Roses 6/25/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
28
Untitled 6/25/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
29
Roses + Lilies 6/26/09 10 3/4 x 13 inches
30
Untitled 6/26/09 13 7/8 x 16 7/8 Inches
31
Untitled 6/27/09 13 7/8 x 16 7/8 Inches
32
Untitled 6/28/09 10 1/8 x 16 7/8 Inches
33
Some Ferns 6/29/09 13 7/8 X 16 7/8 Inches
34
Untitled 6/29/09 13 7/8 X 16 7/8 inches
35
Young + old 6/30/09 12 1/2 x 13 1/8 inches
36
Untitled 6/30/09 13 1/8 x 12 3/4 Inches
37
Untitled (#2) 6/30/09 13 1/4 x 12 5/8 inches
38
Early Spring 7/02/09 15 x 22 1/2 inches
39
Fantasy 7/02/09 12 x 10 inches
40
Hospital Bouquet #2 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
41
Hospital Bouquet #3 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
42
Hospital Bouquet #4 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
43
Hospital Bouquet #6 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
44
Untitled 7/04/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
45
Untitled (#2) 7/09/09 10 1/4 X 11 7/8 Inches
46
Two Arrangements 7/05/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 Inches
47
Untitled 7/06/09 11 7/8 X 10 1/4 inches
48
Untitled (#2) 7/06/09 11 7/8 X 10 1/4 Inches
49
Untitled (#3) 7/06/09 11 7/8 X 10 1/4 inches
50
Hydrangea 7/06/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
51
Untitled 7/07/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
52
3 Sunflowers 7/07/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 Inches
53
Hydrangea, Lily, + Mum 7/07/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
54
Two Hydrangea 7/07/09 9 x 11 inches
55
Hydrangea Fireworks 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
56
Wysterea 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
57
Flowers as Fireworks 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
58
Flowers with the effect of Fireworks 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
59
Fragments of Cape Garden 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
60
Untitled 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
61
Garden Fragment 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
62
Untitled (#2) 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
63
Untitled 7/11/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 Inches
64
Untitled (#2) 7/11/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 Inches
65
Untitled (#3) 7/11/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
66
S + E’s Orchid 7/13/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
67
Orchid from Eliz and Sean 7/13/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
68
Orchid Roots (Bulbs) 7/13/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
69
Fragments of the Garden 7/14/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
70
Rhododendrum 7/14/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
71
Untitled 7/14/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
72
Climbing Roses - On My Deck 7/15/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
73
Queen Ann’s Lace 7/16/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
74
Cape Garden 7/16/09 11 3/4 x 17 inches
75
Gail’s Arrangement 7/16/09 11 3/4 x 17 Inches
76
Dried Alum CC 7/16/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
77
Lilies etc. CC 7/16/09 11 3/4 x 17 inches
78
Towards the garden entrance 7/18/09 14 x 17 inches
79
Untitled 7/18/09 14 x 14 inches
80
Untitled 7/20/09 10 x 12 inches
81
Old Tree 7/20/09 12 x 10 inches
82
Untitled (#2) 7/20/18 10 x 12 Inches
83
Tree 7/20/18 12 x 10 inches
84
Viburnum 7/20/18 12 x 10 inches
85
Untitled 7/21/09 12 5/8 x 13 1/4 inches
86
Some Roses 7/21/09 12 x 10 inches
87
Untitled (#2) 7/21/09 14 x 13 inches
88
Longfellow garden 7/22/09 14 x 17 inches
89
Untitled 7/22/09 14 x 13 inches
90
Some Hollyhocks at Longfellow Garden 7/22/09 12 x 10 inches
91
Untitled 7/25/09 12 x 10 inches
92
Untitled (#2) 7/25/09 13 1/4 x 12 3/4 inches
93
Snapdragons 7/25/09 12 3/4 x 13 inches
94
Roses + Snapdragons 7/25/09 13 x 13 Inches
95
Hydrangia 7/26/09 12 x 10 inches
96
Mary Ann’s Lace Hydrangea 7/26/09 12 x 10 inches
97
Hydrangia, Roses, Snapdragons 7/27/09 12 x 10 Inches
98
A bucket of Yellow Hydrangia 7/27/09 14 x 17 Inches
99
Untitled 7/28/09 14 x 17 Inches
100
Yellow Hydrangea 7/28/09 10 x 12 Inches
101
Two Pine Cones 7/29/09 8 1/4 x 10 Inches
102
Untitled 7/29/09 7 1/2 x 7 1/4 Inches
103
2 Pine Cones 7/29/09 7 3/8 x 8 1/4 Inches
104
Two Studies of Pine Cones 7/31/09 10 x 12 Inches
105
Pine Cone (#1) 7/31/09 8 1/4 x 10 Inches
106
Pine Cone (#2) 7/31/09 8 1/4 x 10 Inches
107
Untitled 8/03/09 14 x 17 Inches
108
Hosta 8/03/09 14 x 17 Inches
109
Cape Cod Garden 8/03/09 14 x 17 Inches
110
Untitled 8/04/09 14 x 17 Inches
111
Cape Cod Garden From Doorway 8/04/09 14 x 17 Inches
112
Untitled (#2) 8/04/09 17 X 14 Inches
113
Trumpet Vine 8/06/09 13 X 13 Inches
114
Untitled 8/06/09 13 x 13 Inches
115
Untitled 8/08/09 13 x 13 7/8 Inches
116
Untitled (#2) 8/08/09 13 x 13 7/8 Inches
117
Untitled (#3) 8/08/09 13 x 14 Inches
118
Garden Fragment 8/08/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
119
Gloxinea 8/11/09 13 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
120
Glox, Glads, Sunflowers 8/11/09 17 x 14 Inches
121
Sunflowers + Glads + Gloxenia 8/12/09 17 X 14 Inches
122
Sunflowers + Gloxenia 8/12/09 13 x 13 Inches
123
Three Sunflowers 8/12/09 14 x 13 Inches
124
Dahlias 8/13/09 17 x 14 Inches
125
3 Dahlias 8/13/09 12 x 10 Inches
126
Drawing Mums Outside on the Deck 8/13/09 17 x 14 Inches
127
Sunflowers 8/15/09 13 x 13 Inches
128
alone 8/16/09 13 x 13 Inches
129
Untitled 8/16/09 13 x 13 Inches
130
Untitled (#2) 8/16/09 13 X 13 Inches
131
Untitled (#3) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
132
Untitled (#4) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
133
Untitled (#5) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
134
Untitled (#6) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
135
Untitled (#7) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
136
Untitled (#8) 8/16/09 12 x 10 inches
137
Untitled 8/17/09 14 x 13 Inches
138
139
140