HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MANY HAPPY WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR.












Peggy Bacon, Country Dance (Woodstock, NY), about 1925

Happy Birthday Hugh Mesibov!

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On December 29, 2015, Hugh Mesibov turns 99. 

 

Hugh Mesibov in the Gallery May 1, 2010, with the monumental Siege of Leningrad, 1943.

  
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From 1937 to 1941 Mesibov worked on the painting, mural, and printmaking sections of the Philadelphia Works Progress Administration. In 1941 Mesibov made the mural Steel Industry, for the Post Office, Hubbard, Ohio, under the US Treasury Department. While on the printmaking division of the WPA he was instrumental in developing the carborundum mezzotint technique (with Michael J. Gallagher and Dox Thrash), and the subsequent innovation of color carborundum printmaking. His drypoint, Pieta, 1937, was shown at the New York World's Fair, 1939. Mesibov's work from this period reflects social issues of the day and is drawn in a lively and bold style influenced by the modernist works he knew from the Barnes. In 1940 he had his first one-man show, at the Carlin Gallery, Philadelphia. 

The Wartime Shipyard, Surrealist Works of 1942/45, Paintings and Drawings, was on view at the Gallery May 1 – 22, 2010. During World War II Mesibov was a First Class Ship Fitter at the historic William Cramp & Son Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia. That day-to-day experience, combined with horrific wartime news, resulted in a body surrealist works depicting dangerous post-industrial wastelands. A work by Mesibov from this period was included in Surrealism USA, at the National Academy of Design Museum, NY, 2005.

In 2008 work by Mesibov was included in the landmark exhibition, The American Scene, at the British Museum. In 2012 it was shown in America @ Work, at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Connecticut College, New London, and this past summer, 2015, in WPA*Jobs, at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, Connecticut.

MIAMI REPORT

Finally back in NYC along with the inventory that arrived at the end of the week. It was nice to be away but it’s nice to be home too. And this time coming back to Cirkers really did feel like coming home. 

In Florida at the INK Miami Art Fair, 2015, we made groupings for the Urban/Industrial Scene (Peggy Bacon, Lou Barlow, Isabel Bishop, Alexander Brook, Michael J. Gallagher, Gwyneth Leech, and Angelo Pinto), American Modernism (Will Barnet, William Baziotes, Axel Horn, Louis Lozowick, Alice Trumbull Mason, Jackson Pollock, and Anne Ryan), and an Atelier 17 wall (Howard Daum, Dorothy Dehner, Peter Grippe, and Franz Kline). Somehow I think Grippe’s work managed to find a way onto every wall.

We were especially pleased to have a Baziotes gouache next to the Pollock Mexican Bandits holiday card. Old pals and painting collaborators together again in our booth – we were THAT pleased! And both works are from the late 1930s, exactly then they and Gerome Kamrowsky are becoming friends and planning a painting together. Above is a shot of that part of the wall with, clockwise from the far left, Baziotes, Charles Burchfield, Barnet, Lozowick and Pollock.

National Miners' Day

Turns out today was not only the last day of INK Miami, but also National Miners' Day.

Michael J. Gallagher, Sunday Evening, 1937

INK Miami Art Fair, 2015

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Room 156 at the Suites of Dorchester, 1850 Collins Avenue at 19th Street.

Howard Daum, Combat, 1947

We are exhibiting at INK Miami. There are groupings for the Urban/Industrial Scene (Peggy Bacon, Lou Barlow, Isabel Bishop, Alexander Brook, Michael J. Gallagher, Gwyneth Leech, and Angelo Pinto), American Modernism (Will Barnet, William Baziotes, Axel Horn, Louis Lozowick, Alice Trumbull Mason, Jackson Pollock, and Anne Ryan), and an Atelier 17 wall (Howard Daum, Dorothy Dehner, Peter Grippe, and Franz Kline).

INK Miami Ballloon

LYND WARD Exhibition

Illustrated by LYND WARD

An exhibition of books, jackets, and magazines, conceived by and/or illustrated by Ward, from the collection of Robert Dance. 

Now on view at The Grolier Club, 47 East 60^th Street, NYC.

Below is a drawing for the dust jacket of Hunky Johnny, 1945, from the Estate of the Artist.

PARIS, November, 2015

Our thoughts are with Paris.

Alfred Bendiner (1899-1964), Kiosk, about 1950, lithograph, 7 x 6 inches