The 1950s | East Hampton NY
The 1950s | East Hampton NY
Miriam Schapiro
Fête Champêtre [Homage to Giorgione], 1954
oil on canvas
78h x 105w in
Eric Firestone Gallery continues its scholarly reinvestigation of the New York School with a series of Fall exhibitions at its East Hampton location. Each show will focus on a single decade, while presenting a wide range of artists. The first exhibition will include work all from the 1950s. Many artists, working even within abstraction, were in fact referencing personal narrative, the body, and old master painting. Miriam Schapiro’s monumental “Fete Champêtre (Homage to Giorgione),” 1954 was originally exhibited at the historic artist-run Tanager Gallery. Schapiro was drawn to the sensual qualities of the Giorgione painting, which allowed her to explore - even within gestural abstraction - the figure, a sense of mystery, and a layered evocation of nature. These aesthetic qualities would later connect to her feminist project.
Many artists, working even within abstraction, were in fact referencing personal narrative, the body, and old master painting. Miriam Schapiro’s monumental “Fete Champêtre (Homage to Giorgione),” 1954 was originally exhibited at the historic artist-run Tanager Gallery. Schapiro was drawn to the sensual qualities of the Giorgione painting, which allowed her to explore - even within gestural abstraction - the figure, a sense of mystery, and a layered evocation of nature. These aesthetic qualities would later connect to her feminist project.
"...In the neo-expressionist eighties that fashion caught up with Stefanelli.”
Judith Stein - Curator
Joe Stefanelli’s painting “Occasion” was shown at a Whitney Annual in 1957 and acquired by the Chrysler Museum. He was part of the 9th Street show, and numerous Stable Annuals. His forms and shapes are marked with an expressive, energetic handwriting.
"...In the neo-expressionist eighties that fashion caught up with Stefanelli.”
Judith Stein - Curator
Joe Stefanelli’s painting “Occasion” was shown at a Whitney Annual in 1957 and acquired by the Chrysler Museum. He was part of the 9th Street show, and numerous Stable Annuals. His forms and shapes are marked with an expressive, energetic handwriting.
The exhibition includes a selection of works on paper by Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994), which presage the sculpture she would begin making in the late 1950s. Dehner was married to artist David Smith from 1927-1951, and they lived together in Bolton’s Landing in the 1940s. There, Dehner discovered Ernst Haeckel’s seminal 1904 study of natural forms, Kunstformen der Natur. These images were often the inspiration for her whimsical, lyrical works on paper.
![Miriam Schapiro
Fête Champêtre [Homage to Giorgione], 1954
oil on canvas
78h x 105w in
198.12h x 266.70w cm
MSCHA067](https://img.artlogic.net/w_1800,h_1000,c_limit/exhibit-e/5f7b662d13a8377412c2209a/0c1ab0f3b797a1552e02d153edc38329.png)
Joe Stefanelli (1921-2017)
Occasion, 1957
oil on canvas
70h x 86w in
177.80h x 218.44w cm
JSTEF003
Sidney Gordin (1918-1996)
Untitled, 1958
welded steel
15 1/2h x 10 1/2w x 6d in
39.37h x 26.67w x 15.24d cm
SGORD001
![Miriam Schapiro
Fête Champêtre [Homage to Giorgione], 1954
oil on canvas
78h x 105w in
198.12h x 266.70w cm
MSCHA067](https://img.artlogic.net/w_647,h_647,c_limit/exhibit-e/5f7b662d13a8377412c2209a/0c1ab0f3b797a1552e02d153edc38329.png)
Miriam Schapiro
Fête Champêtre [Homage to Giorgione], 1954
oil on canvas
78h x 105w in
198.12h x 266.70w cm
MSCHA067
Sidney Geist
Untitled, c. 1957
Painted Wood
112h x 31w x 31d in
284.48h x 78.74w x 78.74d cm
SG119
Martha Edelheit (1931-)
Untitled (July 58), 1958
oil on canvas
63h x 51 1/2w in
160.02h x 130.81w cm
MEDE108
Mimi Gross
Via Guelfa Visitors (Firenze), 1959-60
Oil on canvas
77h x 77w in
195.58h x 195.58w cm
Framed: 79h x 79w x 2 1/2d in
200.66h x 200.66w x 6.35d cm
MIGR112
Theodoros Stamos
Divining Rod, 1951
Oil on canvas
66h x 35 1/2w in
167.64h x 90.17w cm
STAM001
Earl J. Hooks (1927-2005)
Untitled, 1957
Stoneware
17h x 8w x 8 1/2d in
43.18h x 20.32w x 21.59d cm
EHOOK001
Louise Nevelson (1899-1988)
Mother and Child, 1951
bronze
17h x 10w x 5d in
43.18h x 25.40w x 12.70d cm
LNEVE002
Fred Mitchell (November 24, 1923 – May 21, 2013)
Harbor, 1953
oil on panel
18h x 25w in
45.72h x 63.50w cm
Framed: 25h x 31 1/2w x 2 1/2d in
63.50h x 80.01w x 6.35d cm
FMITCH001
Carl Pickhardt (1908 - 2004)
Abstraction #102, 1956
oil on canvas on panel
14 3/4h x 23 3/4w in
37.47h x 60.33w cm
CPIC080
Carl Pickhardt (1908 - 2004)
Abstraction #25, 1955
oil on canvas on panel
16 1/2h x 48w in
41.91h x 121.92w cm
CPIC022
Carl Pickhardt (1908 - 2004)
Abstraction #39, 1955
oil on canvas on panel
31h x 22w in
78.74h x 55.88w cm
CPIC024
Carl Pickhardt (1908 - 2004)
Abstraction #104, 1956
oil on canvas on panel
50h x 24w in
127h x 60.96w cm
CPIC031
Carl Pickhardt (1908 - 2004)
Abstraction #14, 1954
oil on canvas on panel
30 1/2h x 21w in
77.47h x 53.34w cm
CPIC077
Carl Pickhardt (1908 - 2004)
Abstraction #90, 1956
oil on canvas on panel
20 1/2h x 31w in
52.07h x 78.74w cm
CPIC003
George McNeil (1908-1995)
The British Navy, 1957
Oil on canvas
66h x 55w in
167.64h x 139.70w cm
GMCN010
Charles DuBack (1926-2015)
Stripes, 1959
oil on canvas
46h x 46w in
116.84h x 116.84w cm
CDUB004
Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)
Untitled, 1950
ink and watercolor on paper
18h x 22 3/4w in
45.72h x 57.79w cm
DODE011
Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)
Untitled, 1951
ink and watercolor on paper
18 1/4h x 22 3/4w in
46.36h x 57.79w cm
DODE032
George McNeil (1908-1995)
Black Convergence, 1952
oil on canvas
58h x 40w in
147.32h x 101.60w cm
GMCN006
Thomas Sills
Native Dancer, 1958
oil on canvas
45 1/2h x 69w in
115.57h x 175.26w cm
THSIL013
Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)
Hanging Piece, 1960
bronze
32h x 5w x 4d in
81.28h x 12.70w x 10.16d cm
DODE041
Jane Freilicher (1924-2014)
Hydrangea and Hyacinth, 1953
Oil on panel
36h x 12w in
91.44h x 30.48w cm
JFRE003
Milton Resnick (1917-2004)
Untitled, 1949
oil on panel
20h x 18w in
50.80h x 45.72w cm
MRES002
Pat Passlof
Cassowary, 1954
oil on paper mounted to board
17h x 15w in
43.18h x 38.10w cm
PASS137
Norman Lewis (1909-1979)
Untitled, 1951
graphite on paper
19h x 24w in
48.26h x 60.96w cm
NLEW001
Charles DuBack (1926-2015)
The Big Blue, 1959
oil on canvas
73 3/4h x 58w in
187.33h x 147.32w cm
CDUB005
Press Release
Eric Firestone Gallery continues its scholarly reinvestigation of the New York School with a series of Fall exhibitions at its East Hampton location. Each show will focus on a single decade, while presenting a wide range of artists. The first exhibition will include work all from the 1950s by the following artists:
Josef Albers | Dorothy Dehner |Charles DuBack | Martha Edelheit | Jorge Fick |Jane Freilicher |Sidney Geist | Joseph Glasco | Sidney Gordin | Mimi Gross |Earl J. Hooks | John Little |George McNeil | Fred Mitchell | Joan Mitchell |Louise Nevelson | Pat Passlof |Carl Pickhardt |Milton Resnick | Thomas Sills |Miriam Schapiro | Theodore Stamos | Joe Stefanelli
Many artists, working even within abstraction, were in fact referencing personal narrative, the body, and old master painting. Miriam Schapiro’s monumental “Fete Champêtre (Homage to Giorgione),” 1954 was originally exhibited at the historic artist-run Tanager Gallery. Schapiro was drawn to the sensual qualities of the Giorgione painting, which allowed her to explore - even within gestural abstraction - the figure, a sense of mystery, and a layered evocation of nature. These aesthetic qualities would later connect to her feminist project.
Joseph Glasco (1925 - 1996) also turned to Venetian Renaissance painting as inspiration for his “Salome” (1955). It shows a pair of monumental, sculptural figures - one partially clothed - set against a dense mixed-media surface forming an intricately patterned ground. The painting was included in the Whitney Museum’s 1955 exhibition “The New Decade: 35 American Painters and Sculptors,” which traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and other venues throughout the country. Glasco eventually became disenchanted with the New York art world, moving to Texas. His partner at the time was the experimental novelist William Goyen.
Joe Stefanelli’s painting “Occasion” was shown at a Whitney Annual in 1957 and acquired by the Chrysler Museum. He was part of the 9th Street show, and numerous Stable Annuals, but the curator Judith Stein has written that it was really “in the neo-expressionist eighties that fashion caught up with Stefanelli.” His forms and shapes are marked with an expressive, energetic handwriting.
The exhibition includes a selection of works on paper by Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994), which presage the sculpture she would begin making in the late 1950s. Dehner was married to artist David Smith from 1927-1951, and they lived together in Bolton’s Landing in the 1940s. There, Dehner discovered Ernst Haeckel’s seminal 1904 study of natural forms, Kunstformen der Natur. These images were often the inspiration for her whimsical, lyrical works on paper.