Elmer Bischoff "Abstract Paintings 1948-1952"
George Adams Gallery
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The George Adams Gallery announces its representation of the Estate of Elmer Bischoff and to present an exhibition of abstract paintings dating from 1948-1952. The exhibition, which consists of mostly large-scale works, focuses on the period that falls between his earlier anthropomorphic work and his figurative paintings of the 1950s and 1960s that helped define Bay Area Figurative painting.
The earliest painting in the exhibition, “#3,” 1948, is a work that illustrates the artist’s transition into abstraction. It was shown at the San Francisco Museum of Art that same year in “Bischoff, Park, Smith,” an occasion that announced the participation of these West Coast artists in the broader movement of Abstract Expressionism. In this painting the ancient ritual objects that figure prominently in many of Bischoff’s earlier works are reduced to radiating lines, bold colors and thick, gestural brushstrokes.
During this period, stimulated by his interest in jazz, improvisation became an important element in his approach to painting. An example of this is the strikingly off-kilter composition of “Untitled,” 1949 in which the forms seem to be pushed centrifugally from the center toward the edges of the canvas. Bischoff took improvisation even further in “Untitled,” 1952, a large, horizontal canvas in which expansive gestural strokes move rapidly across the canvas, animating the composition.
[Image: Elmer Bischoff "Untitled" (1952) oil on canvas, 67 7/8 x 52 in. EBp 7]
Media
Schedule
from October 23, 2008 to December 27, 2008
Opening Reception on 2008-11-13 from 18:00 to 20:00