PREVIEWING UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS, EVENTS, SALES AND AUCTIONS OF HISTORIC FINE ART

ISSUE 27 May/June 2016

Cover AFA27.indd 2 4/5/16 5:05 PM GALLERY PREVIEW: SANTA FE, NM Individual Expressions Addison Rowe Gallery features the distinct American modernist works of Lawrence Calcagno and Louis Catusco, May 27 to August 19

he rediscovery of American Louis Catusco (1927-1995), both of May 27-August 19 modernism and early abstract whom have connections to Taos, opens Addison Rowe Gallery Texpressionism has yielded some May 27 and closes August 19. 229 E. Marcy Street work that perfectly freezes the moment Not Famous, But Important, rather than Santa Fe, NM 87501 in time in which it was created as well being irreverent, can refer to a large t: (505) 982-1533 as work that is timeless, as vibrant and number of early and midcentury artists www.addisonrowe.com relevant today as it was then. whose work has languished for decades, Addison Rowe Gallery in Santa especially many of the women artists at Fe, New Mexico, has put together an the core of . exhibition of the latter. Not Famous, The lives of the two artists could But Important, featuring the work of not have been more dissimilar. Gallery Lawrence Calcagno (1913-1993) and Director Matthew Rowe writes,

Louis Catusco (1927-1995), Untitled – Taos, NM. Ink and watercolor on paper, 22 x 34 in., signed middle right.

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Lawrence Calcagno & Louis Catusco.indd 78 4/5/16 4:51 PM Lawrence Calcagno (1913-1993), Timeless Landscape with Red (diptych). Oil on canvas, 48 x 100 in. (panel A), 12 x 100 in. (panel B).

Lawrence Calcagno (1913-1993), Dark Sunbands, 1968. Mixed media on paper, 16 x 28 in., signed lower right.

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Lawrence Calcagno & Louis Catusco.indd 79 4/5/16 4:51 PM Lawrence Calcagno (1913-1993), Sun Painting, 1979. Acrylic and oil on board, 24 x 18 in., signed, titled and dated verso.

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Lawrence Calcagno & Louis Catusco.indd 80 4/5/16 4:51 PM Louis Catusco (1927-1995), Untitled – [C-396]. Ink, watercolor and conté Louis Catusco (1927-1995), Untitled – [C387], 1994. Ink on paper, 36 x 24 in., crayon on paper, 36 x 24 in., signed lower right. signed lower right.

“Lawrence Calcagno attracted much finest abstract painters.” Catusco would was not being cute. After the canvas, attention as a painter throughout his be pleased since he had written, “Any there was nothing more to say.” life. He began his formal art training work of art that can be understood is Calcagno, for the most part, at the School of Fine Art. the product of a journalist.” painted abstracted landscapes, rich His instructors included , Catusco wrote about his own work, with the sunny colors of California Ed Corbett, , and “Experimentation: this is my world. To where he was born. In his youth, he visiting professors and create without the regimentation of lived on a ranch in Big Sur. He was Ad Reinhardt. He showed with Martha style of the stigma of boredom.” And, self-taught until after World War II Jackson Gallery in City for (he wrote thoughts on scraps of paper) when he studied on the G.I. Bill at several decades, beginning with his first “I work with the inanimate visions the California School of Fine Arts. one-man show in 1955.” that dwell in the hidden recesses of The influence of all the artists Rowe On the other hand, Rowe explains, the soul’s eye.” cited is evident in works such as Dark “Louis Catusco created his work in Untitled – [C-396] is a typically Sunbands, 1968. He echoed Catusco almost total isolation. His approach to complex ink, watercolor and conté in acknowledging the personal nature art was monastic; he denied himself crayon on paper, incorporating his own of his work. “Painting was the one many pleasures, including any form of glyphs and a yet-to-be-determined avenue through which I could find social life. This self-discipline was central printing process that produced the psychical tolerance and be released,” to his art.” He also quotes Taos artist transparent rectangle of color on the he wrote. “My life has always been R.C. Gorman (1931-2005), who said, left and the blocks of gray along the motivated not by intellectual or “What I like about his work is that bottom panel. Writing about her friend rational considerations but more by a I can’t paint like that, and I wish I could. Catusco and the lack of titles for his subjective compulsion, by what I can’t understand it. He is one of Taos’ work, Tricia Hurst observed, “The man I love.”

GALLERY PREVIEW: SANTA FE, NM 81

Lawrence Calcagno & Louis Catusco.indd 81 4/5/16 4:51 PM