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October 15 – November 13, 2010 Curated by Gary Snyder
ISBN 978-0-9827872-3-6 Price $20.00
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Leon Berkowitz
Cover detail, from top to bottom:
Ilya Bolotowsky Hilton Brown
Rakuko Naito Untitled (Black and White),
Lawrence Calcagno
1964, Oil on canvas, 68" x 68"
Roy Colmer
James Hilleary
Howard Daum
#113, 1969, Acrylic on canvas,
Gene Davis
64" x 64"
Thomas Downing Thomas Downing
Mario Garcia
Untitled, 1962, Acrylic on canvas,
John Goodyear
84 1/2" x 86 1/2"
Cleve Gray Roy Colmer
Hisao Hanafusa
#43, 1973, Acrylic on canvas,
James Hilleary
75 1/2" x 60"
Paul Huxley
Albert Stadler
Ward Jackson
Untitled (#121), c. 1965, Acrylic on canvas, 62 1/2" x 63 1/4"
Raymond Jonson Matsumi Kanemitsu Minoru Kawabata
Published on the occasion of the exhibition, "1960s Revisited,"
Lyman Kipp
October 15 - November 13, 2010,
Masatoyo Kishi
curated by Gary Snyder.
James Kuo
Š 2010 David Richard Contemporary
Beatrice Mandelman Howard Mehring Rakuko Naito Sumiye Eugenia Okoshi Betty Parsons Leon Polk-Smith Paul Reed Ralph Rosenborg Vivian Springford Albert Stadler Sidney Wolfson
GalleRy DirectoRs David Eichholtz & Richard Barger
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite D, Santa Fe, NM 87501 | p (505) 983-9555 | f (505) 983-1284 www.DavidRichardContemporary.com | info@DavidRichardContemporary.com
the 1960 s: otheR TrajectoRies by Peter Frank
The ‘60s aren’t what they used to be. We
understood—actually, felt—by examining the
know these fabled years constitute a decade
vast range of expression and investigation
of rapid and continuous change, but we’re
comprising that era’s art. Artistic “pluralism”
learning that we don’t really know the
supposedly characterized the 1970s. Well,
half of it. In American art, for instance, the
the singular was already translating into the
decade of Pop Art and Minimalism was also
plural the decade before.
a decade of hard-edge and gestural abstraction, painterly figuration, and eccentricities
By focusing on abstract approaches, this sur-
of many kinds. The decade of New York’s
vey implicitly examines the legacy of abstract
pre-eminence also saw the emergence—and
expressionism, the dominant mode of post-
re-emergence—of other art centers through-
war American painting that had limped into
out America. A decade dominated by white
the 1960s practically spent. We see abstract
American males hosted a plethora of women
expressionist practices drive the work of a
artists, artists of other ethnicities, and art-
number of these painters; translate in the
ists from other countries—long before Black
hands of others into something recognizable
power, feminism, and other civil and social
but still new and distinctive; and be overtly
movements burst on the scene. Art took
rejected by still other artists who wanted
over America in the 1960s, and in doing so,
to examine very different aesthetics, and at
rode off in every direction.
least a few cases had been examining them for quite a few years. Indeed, several of the
This exhibition looks at several developments
artists here were veterans of artistic disputes
in art—that is, among artists—working in the
going back to the 1930s; with the superan-
United States during the 1960s. None of these
nuation of abstract expressionism, some of
developments has rated much above a foot-
them found themselves adrift, seemingly
note in most standard histories of modern or
put out to pasture, while others found them-
even contemporary art; at best, they might
selves re-emerging almost in triumph. But
serve as frameworks for specific painters
all were active, engaged, committed not just
now lauded as heroes of American art, but
to what they were doing but to the need for
as phenomena in their own right, these ten-
even their enemies to be doing it. Art was
dencies have been paid little heed since their
their belief system, their philosophy and their
heyday. More’s the pity—not simply because
religion, their raison d’être; in the ‘60s they
so much of what got buried was and remains
found the audience suddenly growing much
so engaging and attractive in its own right,
larger and more curious (thanks in such great
but because it gives body to the context
part to the romance and controversy abstract
of art at a time of dynamic fluctuation. The
expressionism had engendered in the previ-
transition from modernism to post-modern-
ous decade), and now they could reasonably
ism began in the 1960s, and the complex-
hope, no matter how radical their ideas or
ity of that transition can be so much better
practices, to catch someone’s ear—and eye.
DETAIL: Roy Colmer #43, 1973, Acrylic on canvas, Signed, dated and numbered on verso, 75 1/2" x 60"
It wasn’t even necessary to work in New York
generations of avant gardists seeking to cul-
to maintain the sophisticated concerns the
tivate their ideas in atmospheres of natural
nation’s (and now the world’s) art capital cul-
as well as cultural inspiration. And the buzz
tivated. It was certainly necessary to expose
of native art activity in other urban centers
one’s accomplishments in New York, but that,
beyond New York grew louder and more con-
rather than actual residency, was what it took
fident; even though places like Los Angeles,
to participate in the contemporary discourse.
Chicago, and New Orleans were likely to lose
The abstract expressionists themselves had
their best and their brightest to New York,
begun to move out of New York in previous
those best and brightest maintained close
years, the successful ones gravitating to the
ties with their hometowns, spoke up for their
Hamptons, Woodstock, and other ex-urban
homies in the New York ferment, and often
locales and those less successful, or more
returned home after a few years of fleeting
committed to an academic framework, tak-
success and/or enduring obscurity.
ing positions at universities around the country. Several outlying regions—northern New
Washington may seem an unlikely place for a
Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, upper New
vital network of artists to emerge, but, both
England—were re-discovered by whole new
despite and because of the unique nature of
our nation’s capital, at least one such net-
and Roy Colmer took their compositional
work did appear there late in the 1950s. It
strategies a step further. Interestingly, as we
took the advocacy of the country’s most
see in Bolotowsky’s work and that of Lyman
influential art critic, Clement Greenberg, to
Kipp, the geometric style made painting out
put the Washington Color School on the
of sculpture and vice versa.
map, but his support of Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland in particular proved crucial
The gestural approach to abstract painting,
to the broader recognition of that “school.”
a hallmark of abstract expressionism, was in
In 1965 Greenberg brought Louis and Noland
eclipse, but its practitioners proved durable,
together with Gene Davis, Thomas Downing,
obstinate, and mutable by turns, refining their
Paul Reed, and Howard Mehring in a sur-
original styles with various levels of response
vey mounted at the Washington Gallery of
to the “new going thing(s).” While Greenberg
Modern Art that made waves in New York;
maintained tight control over the color-field
and other Washington painters such as Leon
circle around him, more independent-minded
Berkowitz, Hilton Brown, and James Hilleary
individuals such as Vivien Springford, Albert
were also able to attract attention up the
Stadler, and the redoubtable artist-gallerist
pike with their balanced negotiations of
Betty Parsons engaged the techniques and
luminous color and fluid or rigid proto-min-
effects of color field painting—the saturated
imalist form.
color areas, the de-emphasis on texture, the mutable contours—in more painterly man-
The Washington painters’ emphasis on color
ners. Other painters such as Mario Garcia,
and visual field endeared them to those like
Ralph Rosenborg, Lawrence Calcagno, and
Greenberg who saw such an approach as
(arguably) Beatrice Mandelman hovered sim-
a—the—logical evolution out of abstract
ilarly near representation, their compositions
expressionism. But their reliance on geomet-
implying the presence of figure, landscape,
ric shapes and compositions betrayed their
or even microscopic life. The echoes of pre-
awareness of the emerging “hard-edge” ten-
abstract expressionist experimentation—in
dency (a tendency Greenberg tacitly sup-
particular the “Indian Space Painting” that
ported), and in fact defined most of them as
sought a fusion of geometric and organic
geometricists. Certain of them even became
form—lingered in the work of Howard Daum,
identified with “op art,” the highly hyped
while “orthodox” abstract expressionism
post-Pop phenomenon that zeroed in on per-
endured in the work of such artists as the
ceptual dynamics within a geometric frame-
Chinese-born James Kuo.
work. By the mid-1960s such opticality had helped geometry reassert itself forcefully as a
The ranks of geometric artists, op artists,
credible and available formal language. Older
color field painters, gestural painters, and
artists devoted to constructivism such as Ilya
artists of all kinds in New York were broad-
Bolotowsky and (in New Mexico) Raymond
ened considerably by influxes of foreign art-
Jonson were now joined by younger talents
ists who brought their own methods and
such as Leon Polk Smith, Ward Jackson,
experiences with them. Of course, many
Sidney Wolfson, and Paul Huxley in rendering
of these émigrés were coming over as stu-
clearly and precisely defined shapes on can-
dents or recent graduates; but just as many
vas, while op artists such as John Goodyear
settled in New York for extended periods,
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even taking American citizenship, once they
Art always comes in all shapes and all col-
had achieved artistic maturity in their native
ors, as it were, and in great centers of artistic
lands. The Japanese influx, in particular, com-
activity, art is likely to be practiced quite vari-
prised a profound presence in and among all
ously. Even so, the exigencies of art history
aspects of the New York art scene. Within a
locate specific tendencies in specific places at
decade of their country’s defeat and devas-
specific times, so that, for instance, a painter
tation, Japanese artists had developed an
practicing International-Style miniaturism in
experimental scene of their own. Enamored
late-15th century Florence has been entirely
of the overseas avant garde, they felt com-
overshadowed by Michelangelo’s early man-
pelled to go to the source of their inspiration.
nerism while one practicing that style in Sienna
Before the war, that would have been Paris.
has not. Who now thinks of the Italian Cubist
Afterwards, however, Japan’s new genera-
Mario Sironi or the Belgian Futurist Jules
tion, already Americanized by the occupa-
Schmalzigaug? But Schmalzigaug, Sironi, and
tion, gravitated to New York. Reflecting both
that poor Florentine miniaturist are all worthy
native cultural leanings and the philosophi-
of attention—for more than just their exotic
cal mindset(s) of New York’s late modern-
displacement—and, likewise, those American
ists—leanings and mindsets that strongly
artists who were not Pop artists or minimal-
corresponded (in, for example, the influence
ists in the 1960s must unfairly swim upstream
of Zen)—the Japanese artists who worked
in our collective memory the same way they
in New York at this time reflected local ten-
had to in the public opinion of their own time.
dencies but re-interpreted them in distinc-
But art history, finally, is no more a history of
tive ways, bringing notable accents from
mere winners than it is of mere objects, and in
home. Taro Yamamoto, for instance, prac-
their idiosyncrasies and anachronisms, their
ticed abstract expressionism with an auster-
fiercely independent minds and poignantly
ity that was neither minimalist nor gestural,
unfashionable practices, artists such as the
while Minoru Kawabata practiced hard edge
ones collected here lend fullness to the art
painting with an almost gestural lyricism.
history of their time. They are not extras, nor
Matsumi (“Mike”) Kanemitsu—who had come
even bit players in a pageant of highlights, but
over earlier than most of his countrymen and
supporting characters who, separately and
had fully integrated into the abstract expres-
together, comprise a rich, varied discourse—a
sionist scene—evolved a style that bestrode
discourse, to be sure, that bristles with contra-
hard edge and color field painting, never
dictions and disjunctures, but is all the more
fully abandoning the gesturality of his earlier
artistic, and all the more human, for that. A
work even once he’d moved to Los Angeles
few of these figures, in fact, are destined for
in 1965. Sumiye Okoshi’s and Masatoyo
full paragraphs in future histories. But all are
Kishi’s work bespeaks both American color
worth a look on their own merits, and on their
field painting and the theatrical gestural-
own merits already belong in the annals of
ism of Japanese Gutai, while Rakuko Naito's
American art. After all, they, too, made the
vibrant black and white composition falls
1960s what it was.
squarely under the Op art rubric and Hisao Hanafusa’s elegant object-painting evinces, but does not truly partake of, the first blush of minimalism.
Leon Berkowitz Cathedral No. 13, 1968, Oil on canvas, 90" x 72" Exhibited: The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Recent Paintings by Leon Berkowitz, February 22 - March 23, 1969. Gary Snyder/Project Space, NY, Leon Berkowitz: Cathedral Paintings, March 6 - May 2, 2009.
Ilya Bolotowsky Untitled (column), 1963, Oil on wood, Signed and dated near bottom, 35 1/2" x 4 3/8" x 4 3/8" Provenance: B.C. Holand Gallery, Chicago, IL Osuna Lennon, GP, Washington, DC Exhibited: New American Abstraction 19601975, Gary Snyder Project Space, November 8 - December 20, 2008.
Hilton Brown Homage to the Immaculates, 1965, Acrylic on canvas, Signed and titled on verso, 50" x 60"
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Lawrence Calcagno Sunbands V, 1969, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 82" x 120" (overall) 6
Provenance: Brooklyn Museum of Art
Roy Colmer #41, c. 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 75" x 50"
Roy Colmer #43, 1973, Acrylic on canvas, Signed, dated and numbered on verso, 75 1/2" x 60"
Howard Daum Composition #194, c. 1960, Oil on canvas, 40" x 42" 7
Gene Davis #156, 1971, Acrylic on canvas, 4" x 120"
Thomas Downing Red, Blue, and Gold, 1960, Acrylic on canvas, 90" x 87 1/2" Literature: Houston, Joe. 2007, Optic Nerve, Perceptual Art of the 1960s. Merrell Publishers Limited, New York. p. 68.
Thomas Downing Untitled, c. 1970s, Acrylic on canvas, 56" x 45" 8
Mario Garcia Barn Series, c. 1960, Oil on canvas, 59 1/2" x 59" Exhibited: The Noyes Museum, Oceanville, New Jersey. Mario Garcia: Red Barn Series, September 18 – December 13, 1987.
John Goodyear Monet's Garden, c. 1966, Mounted strips of acrylic, 24" x 24"
Cleve Gray Perne #22, 1978, Acrylic on canvas, Signed, dated, and titled on verso, 56" x 64"
Hisao Hanafusa Yellow I, 1966, Canvas and tubing, 48" x 60"
James Hilleary #113, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, Signed, dated, and titled on verso, 64" x 64" Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist
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Paul Huxley Untitled, 1968, Acrylic on canvas, 84" x 84" 10
Ward Jackson Reversal, Interchange VII, 1964, Oil on canvas, Signed, dated and titled on verso, 34" x 34" Provenance: Estate of the Artist Exhibited: New American Abstraction 19601975, Gary Snyder Project Space, November 8 - December 20 2008.
Raymond Jonson Polymer #9, 1965, Polymer on panel, Signed verso, 39 3/4" x 29 3/4"
Matsumi Kanemitsu Untitled, 1961, Ink on paper, 13 1/2" x 10 3/4" Provenance: Gary Snyder Fine Art, NY Exhibited: Eastern Essence: Abstraction by Asian American Artists, 19501970, Gary Snyder Fine Art, NY, March 16 - May 4, 2002.
Minoru Kawabata Yellow Slow, 1965, Acrylic on canvas, Signed lower left, 64" x 44" Provenance: Betty Parsons Gallery, NY
Lyman Kipp Untitled (Green & Yellow), 1967, Painted wood, 4 3/4" x 10" x 4 3/4"
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Masatoyo Kishi Untitled, 1959 – 1963, Oil on canvas, 51" x 76" 12
James Kuo Growth #1, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, Signed lower left, 60" x 30" Provenance: Gary Snyder Fine Art, NY Exhibited: Eastern Essence: Abstraction by Asian American Artists, 19501970, Gary Snyder Fine Art, NY, March 16 - May 4, 2002.
Beatrice Mandelman Circles, c. 1960s, Casein on masonite, Signed lower right, 48" x 24"
Howard Mehring Untitled, c. 1963, Magna on canvas, 76 1/2" x 77 1/2" 13
Rakuko Naito Untitled (Black and White), 1964, Oil on canvas, Signed and dated on verso, 68" x 68"
Sumiye Eugenia Okoshi Untitled, c. 1968, Oil on canvas, Signed lower right “Eugenia Okoshi”, Signed on verso “E. Okoshi”, 45" x 35"
Betty Parsons Untitled (ParUnt22), 1961, Oil on canvas, Signed verso, 50" x 40" 14
Leon Polk-Smith Constellation K, 1969, Acyrlic on canvas, Signed, dated and titled on verso, 47 1/2" x 23 1/2"
Paul Reed #25C, 1964, Acrylic on canvas, 74 1/8" x 57" Provenance: East Hampton Gallery, New York Ramon Osuna, Washington, DC Exhibited: 1965, Paul Reed, East Hampton Gallery Literature: Judd, Donald. "In the Galleries," Arts Magazine 39, no. 4 (January 1965), p. 65. Judd, Donald. Complete Writings: 1959-1975. New York University Press, New York, p. 160.
Ralph Rosenborg American Landscape: A Summer Day, 1969, Oil on canvas, S.D. L. L., 32" x 42"
Vivian Springford Basin Street (VS25), 1963, Oil on canvas, 51" x 62"
Vivian Springford expansionist series (VSF596), 1978, Acrylic on canvas, Signed, dated and titled on verso, 60" x 54"
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Albert Stadler Untitled (#111), c. 1962, Acrylic on canvas, 42 3/8" x 32 3/8" 16
Albert Stadler Untitled (#121), c. 1965, Acrylic on canvas, 62 1/2" x 63 1/4"
Sidney Wolfson Untitled (SWP10), 1969, Oil on canvas, Signed verso “SW 68-69”, 57 1/4" x 43 1/2" Provenance: The Artist Private Collection, Florida
Leon Berkowitz Ilya Bolotowsky Hilton Brown Lawrence Calcagno Roy Colmer Howard Daum Gene Davis Thomas Downing Mario Garcia John Goodyear Cleve Gray Hisao Hanafusa James Hilleary Paul Huxley Ward Jackson Raymond Jonson Matsumi Kanemitsu Minoru Kawabata Lyman Kipp Masatoyo Kishi James Kuo Beatrice Mandelman Howard Mehring Rakuko Naito Sumiye Eugenia Okoshi Betty Parsons Leon Polk-Smith Paul Reed Ralph Rosenborg Vivian Springford Albert Stadler Sidney Wolfson
GalleRy DirectoRs David Eichholtz & Richard Barger
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite D, Santa Fe, NM 87501 | p (505) 983-9555 | f (505) 983-1284 www.DavidRichardContemporary.com | info@DavidRichardContemporary.com
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