MODERN/POST-WAR ABSTRACT ADDICTIONS: SONGS WITHOUT WORDS 2018 MODERN/POST-WAR 222 EAST 49TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10017 212.628.0722 66 ROUTE 343, MILLBROOK, NEW YORK 12545 [email protected] VALLARINOFINEART.COM 2 3 ABSTRACT ADDICTIONS: SONGS WITHOUT WORDS “It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academic painting. However, there is no such thing as a good painting about nothing.”…Mark Rothko It has been one year since we last published a large catalogue devoted to our vast inventories touching upon our passion for Post-War and modern works of art. When you peruse the following pages please pause a moment and realize that each work of art on each page has a backstory. When and where was it created? Where did it go after its creation and to whom? Over the years of its initial acquisition who lived with it and who viewed it? Was it loaned to exhibitions or museums? Has it traded hands only once or numerous times and eventually how did we acquire it? Well… all of the above are wonderfully curious questions one doesn’t generally think about, but in my life it is all I think about. The backstories and future of all these great works of art have finally come home to me. As times change, we continue to keep reinventing ourselves. Our growth as well as our desire to learn is paramount in keeping us current. Our focus lies mostly in Post-War art, which surprisingly comprises many more movements than one would expect. Personally, I immediately think of the Abstract Expressionists but then you realize from their movement basically everything after that is a result of those artists to this day. A short list consists of the following movements such as, Bay Area, Black Mountain College, Cobra, Color Field, Gutai Group, Pop, Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Hard Edge, Kinetic Art and Realism etc. etc. and when you really think about it, they all are somehow related intellectually. I haven’t until recently realized that my continuing interests are all connected to my love of Abstract Expressionism and its influencing echo on all of the artists after them to the present day. You will see that our current catalogue “Songs Without Words” touches upon all of these movements. The label Abstract Expressionism was established in New York City in the 1940s and 1950s of painters whose compositions were filled with abstract forms of color painted with vigorous gesture attacking their canvases with personal emotions as expressions within themselves. Their universal themes were shaped from European modernism and abstraction but translated into something purely American. Like American Jazz, the Abstract Expressionists lead the way to the future of painting and it all came out of the trauma, anxiety and realization of what they experienced as survivors of WWII. This gave them a new beginning and a chance to reinvent themselves not realizing their effect on the future of art forever. I believe that all the Post-War movements to this day were born from this group of artists. They were all exceptional craftsmen with no boundaries enabling them VINCENT VALLARINO to follow their intuitive flow taking themselves to new places intellectually and magically discovering places PRINCIPAL, [email protected] they never dreamed of arriving at. They were becoming their own teachers and to this day their influence is a MASHA STROGANOVA paradigm that will never fade. DIRECTOR, [email protected] For me art is the purist addiction that exists and over time have realized that its eclectic relationship with color, JORDAN HUTTON form and space connect everything in mysterious ways. Mendelssohn’s, “Songs Without Words” is a series STUDIO MANAGER, of compositions for piano consisting of eight volumes containing six songs each written over his lifetime. Even [email protected] though they were written over a lifetime they all relate, much like the various art movements that were born from ETHAN VALLARINO Abstract Expressionism. Once again we have put our heart and soul into what we believe to be a complete CONSULTANT, [email protected] statement for you to appreciate. Hopefully our passion and enthusiasm will fuel your quest to absorb new ideas as the mystery of art unfolds around you. VANESSA VALLARINO ASSOCIATE, I continue to believe that the future is all about the past. [email protected] Vincent Vallarino, VFA Millbrook Studio located on the Vallarino Millbrook property Millbrook, New York 2018 4 5 WILLEM DE KOONING DUTCH/AMERICAN, 1904–1997 UNTITLED, C. 1971 OIL ON PAPER (2 JOINED SHEETS OF PAPER) 441/2 X 411/2 INCHES PROVENANCE: THE ESTATE OF THE ARTIST (DE KOONING STUDIO LABEL VERSO) MITCHELL-INNES & NASH, NEW YORK ACQUIRED FROM THE ABOVE BY THE PRESENT OWNER EXHIBITED: NEW YORK, MITCHELL-INNES & NASH, MASTER DRAWINGS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, MAY-JUNE 1998, PP. 56-57, NO. 23 (ILLUSTRATED). 6 7 HANS HOFMANN AMERICAN, 1880–1966 COMPOSITION NO. 43, C. 1942 OIL ON PANEL 35 1/2 X 41 1/2 INCHES SIGNED BOTTOM RIGHT PROVENANCE: THE ARTIST. THE COLLECTION OF CLEMENT GREENBERG. NOAH GOLDOWSKY GALLERY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK. PRIVATE COLLECTION, DAYTON, OHIO. SOTHEBY’S, NEW YORK, “CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURE,” NOVEMBER 9, 1983, LOT 43. PRIVATE COLLECTION. CHRISTIE’S, NEW YORK, “CONTEMPORARY ART,” FEBRUARY 8, 1986, LOT 101. THE ESTATE OF LEE & GILBERT BACHMAN, ATLANTA, GEORGIA & BOCA RATON, FLORIDA (ACQUIRED DIRECTLY FROM THE ABOVE SALE). LITERATURE: SUZI VILLIGER, HANS HOFMANN CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ OF PAINTINGS, VOLUME II: CATALOGUE ENTRIES P1-P846 (1901–1951), BURLINGTON: LUND HUMPHRIES, 2014, CATALOGUE NO. P436 (ILLUSTRATED). 8 CHARLES GREEN SHAW AMERICAN, 1892–1974 ABSTRACTED STILL LIFE, 1936–37 OIL ON CANVAS 30 X 36 INCHES SIGNED LOWER LEFT PROVENANCE: RICHARD YORK GALLERY, NEW YORK 11 ROBERT MOTHERWELL AMERICAN, 1915–1991 UNTITLED (STILL LIFE), C. 1930–33 CABARET #4, 1974 ARSHILE GORKY OIL AND STRING ON COLLAGED CANVAS COLLAGE WITH GERMAN SHEET MUSIC, AMERICAN–ARMENIAN, 1904–1948 11 X 14 1/2 INCHES TORN PAPER, PENCIL AND ACRYLIC SIGNED UPPER LEFT 22 X 10 1/2 INCHES PROVENANCE: MARNY GEORGE, NEW YORK INITIALED RM AND DATED LOWER RIGHT (GIFT OF THE ARTIST) PROVENANCE: THE (HANNELORE) THENCE BY DESCENT TO THE PRESENT OWNER SCHULHOF COLLECTION THIS WORK IS CATALOGUED IN THE ARSHILE GORKY FOUNDATION ARCHIVES AS NUMBER ‘P375’. 12 13 FRIEDEL DZUBAS GERMAN/AMERICAN, 1915–1994 WAYCROSS, 1962 OIL ON CANVAS 72 7/8 X 65 7/8 INCHES SIGNED, TITLED, AND DATED VERSO PROVENANCE: AMERINGER & HOWARD FINE ART, BOCA RATON, FLORIDA EXHIBITED: FRIEDEL DZUBAS: A RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON, OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 1974, CAT. NO. 9, P. 26 (ILLUSTRATED) FRIEDEL DZUBAS: PAINTINGS OF THE 1960S, AMERINGER/HOWARD FINE ART, NEW YORK, MARCH–APRIL 2001 14 15 ESTEBAN VICENTE SPANISH/AMERICAN, 1903–2001 COLLAGE, 1969 PRINTER PAPER COLLAGE ON PAPER MOUNTED TO FOAMCORE 51 7/8 X 40 INCHES SIGNED, TITLED, AND DATED VERSO PROVENANCE: ANDRÉ EMMERICH GALLERY, INC., NEW YORK ACQUIRED FROM THE ABOVE BY THE PRESENT OWNER EXHIBITED: NEW YORK, ANDRÉ EMMERICH GALLERY, INC., ‘COLLAGES,’ SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 1969, ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR ON THE EXHIBITION POSTER 16 LANDSCAPE NO. 130, 1934 PINK PETUNIA, 1968 HANS OIL ON PANEL 25 X 30 INCHES ALEX KATZ ACRYLIC ON PANEL HOFMANN SIGNED AND DATED LOWER RIGHT AMERICAN, B.1927 14 7/8 X 10 5/8 INCHES AMERICAN, 1880–1966 PROVENANCE: THE ARTIST; ESTATE OF THE ABOVE, 1966–88; SIGNED AND DATED UPPER LEFT ANDRÉ EMMERICH GALLERY, NEW YORK, 1988 (LABEL VERSO); PROVENANCE: ROBERT MILLER GALLERY, NEW YORK [WITH]WILLIAM H. LANE FOUNDATION, LEOMINSTER, PRIVATE COLLECTION, GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA MASSACHUSETTS (LABEL VERSO); ACQUIRED FROM THE ABOVE BY THE PRESENT OWNER, MARIANNE FRIEDLAND GALLERY, TORONTO, CANADA, 1988 (LABEL VERSO); CIRCA 1983–1987 PRIVATE COLLECTION, ACQUIRED IN 1988. EXHIBITED: HEATH GALLERY, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, 1983; THOMAS BABEOR GALLERY, LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 8–APRIL 6, 1985; MARIANNE FRIEDLAND GALLERY, TORONTO, CANADA, 1986. LITERATURE: S. VILLIGER, ED., HANS HOFMANN: CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ OF PAINTINGS, VOLUME II, BURLINGTON, VERMONT, 2014 NO. P24, P. 22, ILLUSTRATED. 18 19 NORMAN BLUHM AMERICAN, 1921–1999 UNKNOWN NATURE, 1956 OIL ON CANVAS 51 X 76 1/2 INCHES SIGNED, TITLED AND DATED VERSO PROVENANCE: IRVING GALLERIES, PALM BEACH ACQUIRED FROM THE ABOVE BY THE PRESENT OWNER 21 PAYSAGE HUMAINE, 1959 KAREL APPEL PASTEL AND ACRYLIC ON PAPER DUTCH, 1921–2006 22 X 30 INCHES SIGNED AND DATED LOWER LEFT PROVENANCE: PRIVATE COLLECTION ACQUIRED FROM THE ABOVE BY THE PRESENT OWNER IN NOVEMBER 1973 EXHIBITED: SÃO PAULO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, ‘5TH BIENNIAL OF SÃO PAULO,’ SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 1959, CAT NO. 12 UNTITLED, 1947 HANS WATERCOLOR ON PAPER 23 3/4 X 18 3/4 INCHES HOFMANN INITIALED AT LOWER RIGHT, ESTATE STAMPED VERSO AND NUMBERED 506/3 AMERICAN, 1880–1966 PROVENANCE: ESTATE OF THE ARTIST ANDRÉ EMMERICH GALLERY, NEW YORK MANNY SILVERMAN GALLERY, LOS ANGELES PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW YORK (1999) 22 23 JAMES BROOKS AMERICAN, 1906–1992 XENOPHON, 1970 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 60 X 72 INCHES SIGNED LOWER RIGHT; SIGNED, DATED AND TITLED VERSO PROVENANCE: MARTHA JACKSON GALLERY, NEW YORK GRUENEBAUM GALLERY, LTD., NEW YORK EXHIBITED: JAMES BROOKS, MAY – JUN. 1972, DALLAS MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, DALLAS 24 TONY ROSENTHAL AMERICAN, 1914–2009 MOTHER AND CHILD, 1953 PAINTING–1963 (II), 1963 CUT AND WELDED BRONZE CHARLES OIL ON CANVAS 99 X 14 X 18 1/4 INCHES 33 X 45 3/4 INCHES INCISED SIGNATURE NEAR BASE HOUGHTON SIGNED WITH INITIALS AND DATED ‘CH/63’ EXHIBITED: “TONY ROSENTHAL,” PROVENANCE: MCROBERTS & TUNNARD LIMITED, LONDON. CATHERINE VIVIANO GALLERY, HOWARD PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ELIZABETH BROOKE BLAKE NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 1953 AMERICAN, 1899–1978 ILLUSTRATED: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE.