“Raymond Hendler: Time of the Metaphor” will be the next exhibition at the Quogue Gallery, highlighting the late artist’s works on canvas and paper dating from the 1950s to the 1990s. An opening reception will be held at the gallery at 44 Quogue Street on Saturday, August 25, from 5 to 7 p.m.; the exhibition will be on view from August 25 to September 30, 2018.
Although Raymond Hendler (1923-1998) has been compared to artists from myriad movements and styles, he began his career as an Abstract Expressionist as early as 1949 in Paris. Upon his return to New York, Hendler, widely considered a first generation action painter, played a significant role in the Abstract Expressionist movement, both in New York, where he was a friend of Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, and in Philadelphia, where he ran the city’s first avant-garde gallery between 1952 and 1954.
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"Country Side" by Raymond Hendler 1973. Acyrlic on canvas, 40 x 30 inches. Courtesy of Quogue Gallery.
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Speaking about Hendler's work, Kline remarked in 1962 that it had evolved from overall tightly wound linear webs to abstract pictograms that blend a personal language with hints at figuration. “The direct austere design and color complexes paint the image without undue nuances,” Kline said, noting the “clarity and mature independence” of the artist’s work.
Hendler studied in his native Philadelphia at the Graphic Sketch Club, the Philadelphia College of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, and the Tyler School of Art (Temple University). In 1949 he traveled to Paris, where he continued his training at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière on the G.I. Bill.
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"No. 41" by Raymond Handler. Acrylic on paper, 25_ x 20 inches. Courtesy of Quogue Gallery.
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In Paris, he exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne and was a founding member of Galerie Huit, the first American cooperative gallery in Europe. Other members included Sam Francis, Sidney Geist, Burt Hasen, Al Held, Shirley Jaffe, Paul Keene, Jules Olitski, Robert Rosenwald, Carmen D'Avino, Haywood Bill Rivers, and Herbert Katzman.
Returning to New York in 1951, Hendler became part of the exploding Greenwich Village art scene. He was a voting member of the Artists' Club in New York from 1951 until its end in 1957. He met the leading figures in the New York School, including Pollock, de Kooning, and Philip Guston and the critic Harold Rosenberg and established a lifelong friendship with Kline that significantly informed his work.
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"No. 118" by Raymond Hendler 1973. Acyrlic on canvas, 7 x 10 inches. Courtesy of Quogue Gallery.
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Over this same period, Hendler also was active in Philadelphia. At the Hendler Galleries (1952-1954), he exhibited the work of de Kooning, Sam Feinstein, Guston, Kline, George McNeil, Pollock, Melville Price, Ludwig Sander and Jack Tworkov. He also introduced to America work made by friends in Paris, notably Sam Francis, Milton Resnick, and Canadian artist Jean-Paul Riopelle.
In the 1960s, Hendler was represented by the Rose Fried Gallery. Hendler’s works can be found in numerous public and private collections in America and abroad. Most recently, the artist’s 1960s paintings were featured in a solo exhibition at Berry Campbell Gallery in New York City.
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"The Grand Butterfly Event" by Raymond Hendler 1971. Acyrlic on canvas, 27 x 23 inches. Courtesy of Quogue Gallery.
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During his 40-year teaching career, Hendler taught at the University of Minnesota; the Contemporary School of Art, Brooklyn; Parsons School of Design, New York; Pratt Institute, Brooklyn; School of Visual Art, New York; and Minneapolis College of Art, where he was head of the painting department. He retired from teaching in 1984 and moved two years later to the East End of Long Island. He lived and painted for the last 10 years of his life in the house in East Hampton’s Northwest Woods that he built with his wife, Mary Rood.
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"Homage to Bullwinkle" by Raymond Hendler 1961. Oil on Canvas, 42 x 36 inches. Courtesy of Quogue Gallery.
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Raymond Hendler artwork at Quogue Gallery. Courtesy of Quogue Gallery.
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ABOUT QUOGUE GALLERY
As Quogue’s first and only private art gallery, the Quogue Gallery is a dynamic space in the Hamptons where artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts can meet and share their common passion for serious artistic investigation and appreciation. The gallery’s mission is to present a program of artistic excellence not limited to any genre or medium. Its focus is on modern and contemporary art created by emerging, established, and historically important artists. An essential aspect of the mission is to establish the gallery as an active, vibrant, and inventive participant in the Hamptons art panorama, with artist talks and events that significantly contribute to modern and contemporary art discourse.
Quogue Gallery is at 44 Quogue Street, Quogue, NY 11959. quoguegallery.com
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