Dennis Burton

Edge

1958

Oil on masonite. Signed lower right and on verso. 30 x 24 in. 31 x 25 in. (framed) Custom framed in maple. Louis Leon Ribak was born in the Russian empirical governorate of Grodno in 1902. A long-disputed region that is ethnically Lithuanian, at present day, Grodno is located in the western reaches of the Republic of Belarus, near the borders with Poland and Lithuania. At the age of ten, Ribak and his family immigrated to New York City. In 1922, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, followed by studies at the Art Students League (1923) and the Educational Alliance (1924). Ribak’s oeuvre can be largely delineated between two stylistic phases: social realism and abstraction, the former taking hold during the 1930s and 40s. During that period, he had several solo exhibitions at the A.C.A. Gallery in New York, while also regularly exhibiting with “An American Group Inc.” - a cohort of socially-conscious painters that included Stuart Davis, Reginald Marsh, Maurice Sterne, and Raphael Soyer. In 1933, Ribak assisted Diego Rivera on the mural for the lobby of Rockefeller Center, while also being employed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as a muralist. Louis Ribak met fellow artist Beatrice Mandelman at a dance sponsored by the Artists Union in New York. They were married in 1942, and shortly thereafter, he was drafted for military service in World War II. After his discharge from the service in 1942 due to difficulties with asthma, Mandelman and Ribak traveled west to visit his former mentor John Sloan in Santa Fe, NM. By this time, the couple had become disenchanted with the art scene in New York, and in light of the need to find a healthier climate for Ribak’s asthma - as well as reputed FBI surveillance based on political affiliations with Communist sympathizers - they decided to permanently relocate to the emerging artists’ colony of Taos, NM in 1944. This change of scenery ushered in the second phase of Ribak’s stylistic career, with his work shifting from social realism toward abstraction. He was captivated by the landscape and the diverse cultures of northern New Mexico, the influences of which began to appear in his work. Ribak founded the Taos Valley Art School in 1947, offering no ideology to his students; instead arguing that the adoption of a single approach would lead to academicism. Ribak was an integral force in the development of the Taos Moderns...

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right and on verso. 59 x 54 in. 60 x 55.25 in. (framed) Custom framed in a hickory floater. After World War II, William Quinn...

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left. 51 x 38 in. 52.5 x 39.25 in. (framed) Framed in maple. Gabriel Godard, a self-taught painter, was born in 1933 in Delouze, France. Hist...

Oil on canvas. Signed verso. Some scratched out, illegible writing in paint and graphite verso, which may have indicated the artist's original pricing, as well as a possible title. ...

Oil on canvas. Signed and titled verso. 40.25 x 56.25 in. 40.75 x 56.75 in. (framed) Custom framed in a whitewashed cherry closed-corner frame. Aaron Levy was born in New York Cit...

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. 41.75 x 61 in. 44 x 63 in. (framed) Custom framed in a hardwood floater with a matte white finish. Provenance Estate of the artist Eri...

Oil, acrylic, resin on masonite

Born in Philadelphia, Ben Wilson was a New York abstract expressionist painter. His work was exhibited frequently from the mid-thirties through sixties, and less frequently but consi...

Born in Philadelphia, Ben Wilson was a New York abstract expressionist painter. His work was exhibited frequently from the mid-thirties through sixties, and less frequently but consi...

Born in Philadelphia, Ben Wilson was a New York abstract expressionist painter. His work was exhibited frequently from the mid-thirties through sixties, and less frequently but consi...

Sylvia Rutkoff (1919-2011) Sr5-1 c.1960s “Crossed Arms” Acrylic on Masonite 36x42 period frame Unsigned Collection acquired from family estate

Ben Wilson Byzantium, 1975 Oil on Masonite painting Hand signed reverse, Titled, "Byzantium", dated 1975 by the artist and also with estate stamp - in addition to Ben Wilson's hand s...