Emily Nelligan
GREAT CRANBERRY ISLAND NEW YORK
Emily Nelligan
Reclusive and private by nature, Emily Nelligan made drawings for herself. Emily rarely exhibited and avoided attention of any kind. For decades known only to a very small circle of artist friends and colleagues, she exchanged or gave work to people in the art world such as Lois Dodd, Wolf Kahn, Hilton Kramer, Norma Marin, Richard Pousette-Dart and Meyer Shapiro. Such was Emily’s world until 2000, when, at the age of 76, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art presented a summer exhibition of twentysix drawings. The show was reviewed in The New York Times “Arts & Leisure” section, and seemingly overnight, she and her work became widely known. The piece begins: Emily Nelligan’s drawings are almost all the same size: 10 inches wide by 7 inches high. Some are dark as a moonless night, some pale as fog. They all depict the same landscape: Great Cranberry Island, southwest of Mount Desert Island in Maine . . . Reticent and lyrical in their minimal steel frames, they hang like sudden windows: instants of light and air translated into black and white.
We are honored to present this exhibition of Emily Nelligan’s drawings, our seventh and the second since her death in 2018 at the age of 94. We dedicate this show to the memory of Emily’s beloved husband Marvin Bileck, who pre-deceased her. “Buddy,” as he was called, was an artist, educator and illustrator, and also the greatest champion of Emily’s art. He would say, with the most extraordinary loving enthusiasm, “the drawings are like Emily, and Emily is her drawings. They are like Emily Dickinson poems.” He was instrumental—essential—in allowing Emily to feel comfortable showing in a gallery—and then, finally, in allowing her work to be donated to institutions or to be sold. For Emily, art was always sacred.
17 JULY 97 (2), 1997 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
27 SEPT 01 (1), 2001 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10¼ inches
Untitled (In Memoriam for Gregory), c. 1975 charcoal on paper, 8⅜ x 11 inches
16 June 95 (2), 1995 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
20 OCT 95 (1), 1995 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
13 OCT 04, 2004 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
16 Oct 99 (2), 1999 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
28 JUNE 92 (1), 1992 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
Winter/Spring 2002 (1), 2002 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
22 JULY 2012, 2012 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
14 OCT 01 (1), 2001 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10¼ inches
23 JULY 2012 (2), 2012 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
20 JULY 97 (2), 1997 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10¼ inches
26 SEPT 08, 2008 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
16 OCT 01 (4), 2001 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10¼ inches
11 Aug 94 (2), 1994 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
7 AUG 12, 2012 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10¼ inches
12 OCT 97 (1), 1997 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
1 Oct 07 (2), 2007 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
4 OCT 04, 2004 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
30 Oct 99 (2), 1999 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
19 Oct 95 (1), 1995 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
4 AUG 98 (1), 1998 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
24 AUG 91 (2), 1991 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
19 Sept 94 (1), 1994 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
9 AUG 07, 2007 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
24 Oct 94 (1), 1994 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
21 OCT 99 (2), 1999 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
24 OCT 99 (3), 1999 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
11 Oct 99 (3), 1999 charcoal on paper, 7¼ x 10½ inches
This catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition “Emily Nelligan: Great Cranberry Island” on view from September 8 through October 22, 2022 at 291 Grand Street, New York 10002.
No portion of this catalogue, images or text may be reproduced, either in printed or electronic form, without the expressed written permission of the gallery.
Cover detail: 17 JULY 92 (2), 1997 Catalogue © Alexandre Fine Art Inc. Images © The Marvin Bileck and Emily Nelligan Trust Photography: Maria Stabio Photographic Production: Maria Stabio Editorial Production: Emma Crumbley Design: Lawrence Sunden, Inc., Harrington Park, New Jersey