New exhibitions featuring Contemporary Abstraction are opening with a fury across the Hamptons Columbus Day Weekend. That said, the early days of Abstract Expressionism are also well represented in shows across the Hamptons. Following is the short list of where to find them. Many shows have their last hurrah this weekend while others continue beyond Columbus Day Weekend. To find shows featuring contemporary abstraction, click here.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
"Paintings on Paper" by Rolph Scarlett at The Drawing Room
Sept. 5 - Oct. 13, 2014
The Drawing Room is located at 66H Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937. www.drawingroom-gallery.com.
If you're looking for art with vivid colors and energized lines, then art by Rolph Scarlett (1889-1984) may fit the bill. The solo show presents gouache paintings on paper and monoprints made in the 1930s and 1940s.
Scarlett’s paintings alternate between "geometric abstraction’s taut precision and the all-over gestalt of Abstract Expressionism" to create works that conjure "rhythmic dreamscapes", according to the gallery.
Also on view are concurrent solo shows of also on view present terracotta reliefs by Costantino Nivola (1911-1988) and a selection of Jack Youngerman's abstract expressionism paintings on canvas and paper.
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"Untitled (RS167)" by Rolph Scarlett, circa 1945. Graphite and gouache on paper, 6 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches. Photograph by Susan Byrne.
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"Robert Motherwell: The East Hampton Years, 1944-1952" at Guild Hall
Aug. 9 - Oct. 13
Guild Hall is located at 158 Main Street, East Hampton, NY 11937.
The oeuvre of Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) received a new look through the eyes of art critic and curator Phyllis Tuchman. She turned her attention to the exploration of Motherwell's movement from surrealism into abstract expression. The exhibition, bearing the same name as the title of her new book, also connects Motherwell's art to his years in East Hampton. The result is an exhibition that's both local and far-reaching.
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"Barcelona" by Robert Motherwell, 1950. Mixed Media, 30 x 38 inches. High Museum of Art, Atlanta: Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton, Sr., and Sara Miller Hoyt Venable and William Hoyt Venable and Gift of the Dedalus Foundation. ©VAGA, NY.
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“Raymond Hendler: A Deeper Poetry” at Quogue Gallery
Oct. 3 - Nov. 23
Quogue Gallery is located at 44 Quogue Street, Quogue, NY 11959. www.quoguegallery.com.
Raymond Hendler (1923-1998) was a first-generation action painter made his mark on the AB-EX movement as an artist and Philadelphia gallerist. Friends with Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and others, Hendler's art seems to foretell the rise of pop and street art through defined mark making in his abstract expressionism works.
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"Constant Inquiry" by Raymond Hendler, 1982. Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 22 1/4 inches.
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"Pollock's Champions" at Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center
July 31 - Oct. 31, 2014
Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center is located at 830 Springs-Fireplace Road, East Hampton, NY 11937. www.sb.cc.stonybrook.edu. Open by appointment only. See website for details.
Jackson Pollock's rise was bolstered by early believers in his work. "Pollock's Champions", guest curated by Bobbi Coller, PhD, explores the parts Pollock's long-standing art dealers played in letting the world know about his art. The show focuses on Peggy Guggenheim (1943-47), Betty Parsons (1948-51) and Sidney Janis (1952-56). Artwork reproductions, photographers and documents tell the story. So does works on paper and graphics by Pollock.
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Betty Parsons, Untitled, 1950. Gouache on paper, 20 x 16 inches. Artwork courtesy Spanierman Gallery (New York). Image courtesy Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.
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"Esteban Vicente: In the Company of Friends" at the Parrish Art Museum
Nov. 8, 2013 - Oct. 26, 2014
The Parrish Art Museum is located at 279 Montauk Highway Water Mill, NY 11976. www.parrishart.org.
While Esteban Vicente (1903-2001) is the hub which the exhibition whirls around, expect to find plenty of other abstract expressionism art connected by artist friendships, colleagues and students. Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), James Brooks (1906-1992) , Mercedes Matter (1906-1992), Chuck Close and Dorothea Rockburne all have works in the show. Examining the exhibition as a whole reveals the ways Vicente's art parallels the unfurling of art in the 20th century.
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"Untitled #18" by Esteban Vicente, 1958. Charcoal on paper, 39 3/8 x 50 1/4 inches. Parrish Art Museum, Museum purchase with funds provided by Paul F. Walter, 1989.1
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Other galleries where abstract expressionism artworks can be found include Mark Borghi Fine Art and Julian Beck Fine Painting. Vered Gallery's current exhibition has an emphasis on Modernism, but the single abstract expressionism artwork, Quattrocento by Helen Frankenthaler, is worth the trip.
"Quattrocento" by Helen Frankenthaler, 1984. Acrylic on canvas, 55.87 x 62.6 inches.
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To discover Contemporary Abstraction on view in the Hamptons, click on "Abstraction Abounds in The Hamptons: Part I - Contemporary Abstraction".
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