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The Early Career of Burgoyne Diller: 1925-45

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The Early Career of Burgoyne Diller: 1925-45 The early career of Burgoyne Diller: 1925-45 Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Johnson, David Hoyt Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 04:24:02 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/566699 THE EARLY CAREER OF BURGOYNE DILLER: 1925-45 by David Htiyt Johnson A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ART In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN HISTORY OF ART In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA. 1 9 7 8 Copyright 1978 David Hoyt Johnson STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. ' . Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below; SHELDON REICH Date Professor of Art acknowledgments : A nlimber of people have assisted in numerous ways in the preparation of this thesis. Sheldon Reich, my adviser, was" the first to suggest that I look into Diller's career, given the prominence of geometric abstraction in my own art. Then I discovered Anita Ellis* thesis onDDiller and profited greatly from her insights. In addition, Ms. Ellis loaned me her extensive collection of slides of Diller's work. I have also benefited from the use of materials gathered by Philip Larson in preparing the retrospective of Diller's work .at the Walker Art Center in 1971. The reference personnel of The University of Arizona Library rendered many services, and I am especially grateful to Sue Spalding and Inga Ryersbach. Through in ter library loans, they obtained numerous materials otherwise out of my reach. Beth Woodin and Linza Jester of the slide library in the Department of Art of The University of Arizona rendered equally valuable assistance. Margaret Roberts, Paul Cummings , and Marilyn Elorek of the Washington, D.C. , New York, and Detroit offices, respectively, of the Archives of American Art pursued a number of detailed inquiries for me and were prompt in supplying their findings. Madeleine Chalette Lejwa and Richard Bellamy helped with questions relating to Diller's last years. Mildred Baker, Silvia Pizitz, Sidney Tillim, and especially Robert Jay Wolff provided informa­ tion onl-Diller's mid-career, Ilya Bolotowsky, Edward Laning, Dorothy iii iv C. Miller, and Francis V. O'Connor wrote to me about Diller's years of public service,. Lawrence Campbell, Dorothy Dehner, and Harry Holtzman supplied details of Diller's years at the Art Students League of New York and of his discovery of. de Stijl and Neoplasticism. Without the assistance: of these correspondents, and others cited below, it would not have been possible for me to have conducted this research in Arizona on Dillerr a New York artist. Their help was doubly important, inasmuch as the personnel of Goldowsky Gallery, which handles the estate of Diller, and Grace Diller, the artist's widow, did not respond to irry requests for information. Finally, I am grateful to Lavon H. Johnson and Senzil Naweed for their continued support and encouragement. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . ............. .. vii ABSTRACT . » „ . * ; . • . \ . * ix CHAPTER 1. EARLY INFLUENCES, EXHIBITIONS, AND EMPLOYMENT - . , 1 Years at the Art Students L e a g u e .......... .. 2 First Solo Exhibitions ............................... .. 10 Early Employment .............. ........ 14 2. DISCOVERY OF DE STIJL AND NEOPLASTICISM.....' .......... 23 Early Influence of van Doesburg ..................... 23 Predominant Influence of Mondrian ........... 30 3. WORK ON THE NEW YORK CITY W P A / F A P ............. 36 Record on the Federal Art Project ................... .. 37 Support of Abstract Artists ...... ............ .. 43 4. PARTICIPATION IN THE AMERICAN ABSTRACT ARTISTS GROUP ..................... 50 AAA Beginnings .... .............. .......... 50 Early AAA Exhibitions . ............. .. 52 5. PAINTINGS AND CONSTRUCTIONS, 1935-41 . ................. 56 Visual Themes ............................... ..... 56 Early Second' Theme Paintings........ .................. 59 Constructions............ .. ................. .. 67 6. PAINTINGS ON THREE THEMES, 1942-45 ......................... 77 First Theme P a i n t i n g s .......... 79 Later Second Theme Paintings............ 82 Third Theme Paintings ............................... 94 7. CONCLUSION .................................................. 105 v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS— Continued Page APPENDIX A. BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY .................... .... Ill APPENDIX B. SOLO E X H I B I T I O N S ................................. H 3 APPENDIX C. IMPORTANT GROUP EXHIBITIONS'............ 114 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . .................. .. 117 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Burgoyne Diller, Untitled, n.d. [1930-31] . .......... 5 2« Hans Hofmann, Still Life, Yellow Table in Green, 1936 9 3o Unidentified work illustrated'in the prospectus "Exhibition of Paintings by Burgoyne Diller," Contemporary Arts Gallery, New York, February 28- March 18, 1933 ..................... .. ............... - . 12 4. Untitled abstraction by Burgoyne Diller done for the Public Works of Art Project, 1934 ....................... 16 5. Artists at work on Eric Mose's mural Abstract of the Machine Age, c. 1934-35 ........ -............. .. 20 6. Burgoyne Diller, Construction, 1934; painted wood and masonite, 24 x 24 x 2 inches ............... 22 7. Burgoyne Diller, Composition [First Theme] , 1933-34 . 25 8. Theo van Doesburg, Composition #7, 1 9 1 7 ............. 27 9. Burgoyne Diller, Construction, 1934; painted wood, 24 x 24 x 2 inches ? . 29 10. Piet Mondrian,' Composition with Blue and Yellow, 1932 . 31 11. Sketch by Philip Larson of Burgoyne Diller® s Geometric Composition, 1934 ............... 34 12. Officials gathered at the dedication of James Michael Newell®s mural The Evolution of Western Civilization in the library of the Evander Childs High School in New York City, November 1938 ............................. 41 13. Diller®s notes on the three visual themes of his paintings ..................... .................... .. 58 14. Burgoyne Diller, Second Theme, 1938 60 15. Burgoyne Diller, Second Theme, 1937-38 . ................ 62 16. Piet Mondrian, New York City I , 1941-42 .................. 66 vii viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS— Continued Figure Page 17- Burgoyne Diller, Construction, 1937 .... 68 18. Burgoyne Diller, Painting-Construction, 1938 . ............. ' 70. 19. Burgoyne Diller, Construction, 1938 . 72 20. Burgoyne Diller, Construction, 1940 ..... 73 21. Burgoyne Diller, Fritz Glarner, Carl Holty, Piet Mondrian, and Charmion von Wiegand at Helena Rubinstein* s New Art Center, New York, 1942 ........ .. 76 22. Burgoyne Diller, First Theme, 1942-43 80 23. Burgoyne Diller, First Theme, 1943 ......................... 81 24. Burgoyne Diller, Second Theme, 1942 84 25. Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue, 1935-42 ............ .................. 86 26. Burgoyne Diller, Second Theme, 1943-45 ................... 88 27. Burgoyne Diller, Composition [Third Theme], 1943-44 .... 95 28. Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942-43 .......... 98 29. Burgoyne Diller, Third Theme, 1944-45 99 30. Burgoyne Diller, Composition #21 [Third Theme], 1945 .... 102 ABSTRACT After experiencing the sensation of volume in Cezanne’s use of color, Diller began in 1926-27 to explore in his own painting the spatial dimensions of color, a pursuit he was to continue throughout his career. In 1928, he enrolled at the Art Students League of New York, where his most influential instructors were William von Schlegell, Jan Matulka, and Hans Hofmann. In 1933, he held his first solo exhibi­ tion and saw work by van Doesburg in reproduction. In the same year, he committed himself to total abstraction and in 1934, after viewing work by Mondrian, became the first American- to work, dn the style of Neoplas ti cism. In 1935, Diller was appointed supervisor of the Mural Division of the Federal Art Project in New York City and in that capacity was able to provide vital support to abstract artists for eight years. In 1936, he joined with a group of them to form an organization that became known as the American Abstract Artists. From 1933 to 1945, Diller defined three visual themes in his art, using color and spatial allusion in ways new to the traditions of de Stijl and Neoplasticism. In effect, he anticipated in some of his experiments aspects of Mondrian’s last work in New York, while in others he extended directions signaled by Mondrian before the latter8 s death. ix CHAPTER 1 EARLY INFLUENCES, EXHIBITIONS, AND EMPLOYMENT There is little published information on Diller's youth and much of that which does appear is contradictory. He was b o m in New York City in 1906 but grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan. He is re­ ported to have begun painting at the age of fourteen and never to
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