HOWARD WARSHAW LOOKING IN : DRAWING OUT
Born in 1920 in Manhattan and trained at the Pratt
This overlapping of elusory forms coalesced into
Institute, the National Academy, the Art Students League
a distinctive style of cubism that has been termed
of New York and Columbia, Howard Warshaw developed
“organic cubism.”
into a powerful American artist at an early age.
Lebrun, it found its most elegant expression in the work
If this movement originated with
of Warshaw, who was able to advance At just twenty-five years old, Warshaw
the idea for a decade longer.
exhibited at the famous Julien Levy Gallery in New York as well as the 1945
Among Warshaw’s most significant
Whitney Annual. This auspicious launch
contributions to American art was his
led to an active, lifelong exhibition
development of a unique and important
schedule with dealers Julien Levy and
language of drawing. In the lines of his
Jacques Seligmann in New York and
best drawings, one can read movement,
Felix Landau, Esther Bear, and Frank
volume, weight, the emotional tenor
Perls in California. He also exhibited at
of the artist and subject, the scientific
the National Academy, LACMA, the De
knowledge of the time, and the artist’s
Young, and the Santa Barbara Museum
philosophy. As a professor at UCSB
of Art, among many others. For a time,
from 1957 until his death in 1977,
he and artists like Rico Lebrun (1900-
Howard Warshaw helped generations
1964) and William Brice (1921-2008)
of artists to see more deeply and to
helped shape the American avant-garde from the wilds
draw more beautifully.
of Southern California. This exhibit is composed of many pieces acquired from Howard Warshaw’s first paintings are surreal featuring
Tajan, the premier Parisian auction house, as well as
precise draftsmanship, a rare sense for shape, and a
from the Estate of the Artist; many have been widely
restricted palette. These works show the strong influence
exhibited and few have been seen in decades. Sullivan
of neo-romantic painter Eugene Berman (1899-1972).
Goss hopes to lend context to the current reassessment
His later works would explore and refine the expressive
of the mid-century’s greatest artists. Surely, Howard
lines and ambiguous forms of Rico Lebrun.
Warshaw is one of them. - Jeremy Tessmer, Gallery Director
FOAL, 1960 39.5 x 39.5 inches acrylic, conte crayon, and charcoal on masonite
STILL LIFE, c. 1950 9 x 12 inches oil on artist’s cardstock
FIGURES, 1953 8.625 x 12 inches watercolor, ink wash, and conte crayon on paper
HORSE HEAD IN MOTION, 1950 22.125 x 16.875 inches oil on board
CAT SKULLS, 1946 | 23 x 61 inches | oil on canvas
S O L O E X H I B I T I O N S (selected list): Julien Levy, New York, NY Frank Perls Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA Pasadena Museum of Art, CA Jacques Seligmann, New York, NY Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA UCSB Art Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Larcada Gallery, New York, NY Sullivan Goss - An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1945 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 1955 1958, 1961, 1962 1959, 1973, 1977, 1988 1962-1973 1964 1967 1974-1976 2004, 2008
G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N S (selected list): Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY Carnegie Institute’s International, Pittsburg, PA Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Los Angeles County Museum of Art M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C. Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA National Academy of Design, New York, NY Koplin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Sullivan Goss - An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1959 1946, 1947, 1955, 1958 1945, 1954, 1958 1948, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1956 1953, 1957 1954 1961 1964, 1966 1977 1991-1993 2004-2007
APPLES, ND | 10 x 13 inches (sheet size) | watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper
ON EXHIBIT
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