Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller

Rolph Scarlett
Untitled

c. 1955

About the Item

Never afraid of trying new styles, curious and opinionated, constantly engaged with the world around him, Rolph Scarlett more than once proved to be at the artistic zeitgeist in a career that stretched for more than 75 years. Born in 1889, Scarlett had his first retrospective by 1928. He subscribed fully to the modernist credo. Interviewed at the time, he said: "If a futuristic painting brings the casual gallery patron to an abrupt stop and forces him to spend five minutes in front of the painting, then the ends of modernism have been served," A major proponent of non-objective painting, Scarlett's career and artistic philosophy is closely linked with the early history of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. His work, along with that of Kandinsky, Klee, and German artist Rudolph Bauer formed the core of the Guggenheim's collection--the "Art of Tomorrow." Indeed, the original collection of the Guggenheim contained 66 works by Scarlett. Hila von Rebay, the first director of the Guggenheim, called him "one of the greatest artists of our time." Exposed very early on to the work of Paul Klee through a chance meeting in Europe with the artist himself, Scarlett took up abstraction with a fervor that never diminished during his long and impressive career. To create something that had never existed before: this was Scarlett's great cause. He would become known for his geometrics, his surrealist works, Indian Field paintings, drip works and AbEx works. In his abstraction, Scarlett avoided any reference to the outside world and believed that nonobjective painting was an act, in his words, of "pure creation." In 1937, after permanently settling in New York, Scarlett became acquainted with the artist and curator Hilla Rebay, the first director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952). From 1940 to 1946, Scarlett served as the museum's chief lecturer, giving Sunday afternoon talks on art. Through Rebay, Scarlett became acquainted with the nonobjective works of Rudolf Bauer and Vasily Kandinsky and further refined his abstract style. In 1949 he had a very well received solo show at the Jacques Seligmann Gallery, reviewed very favorably in The New York Times: "The impression made by these paintings is one of originality and strength." He was also included in a juried show "American Painting Today" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1950 and in the Whitney Annual of 1951 and 1952. The curator for the Whitney show in fact bypassed a selection of Scarlett's careful geometrics in favor of a new "lyrical" drip painting-one which he describes as having had "a helluva good time" making. Personality disputes after the death of Solomon Guggenheim sent Scarlett to a self-imposed exile in Woodstock, NY, where he would remain the rest of his life. Scarlett's work can be found in the collections of the Guggenheim, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the de Young Museum, the Montreal Museum and the Smithsonian.'
More From This SellerView All
  • Untitled
    By Melville Price
    Located in Lawrence, NY
    Oil on paper Estate stamped The history of the New York School painters is still being written, but Price earned a well-deserved place from the beginning. Price was one of the youngest of the first generation Abstract Expressionist circle of painters working in New York after WWII. Though only in his late twenties he began exhibiting in 1948 in New York at Hugo, Bodely, Iolas and Egan galleries. In a 1949, showing at Peridot galleries, Price was hailed for his breakthrough "Maze Series." A complex interweaving of organic shapes, automatic in nature and sometimes resembling bones or body parts, the "Maze" paintings exuded a pulsating energy that brought him critical acclaim. He received rave reviews in Art Digest, the New York Times and the New York Tribune. Price's earliest work was biomorphic or surrealist in nature, influenced by the automatism of Andre Breton and his school. By 1946, his work began to move away from this style to an all-over, decentralized style which became the "Maze" works and ultimately AbEx works which saw their culmination in the "Black Warrior" series. When the "Club" was started, Price was invited to join and forged close relationships with other members of the New York School including Fritz Bultman, Giorgio Cavallon, Weldon Kees, Bradley Walker Tomlin...
    Category

    1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Matanza
    By Harriette Joffe
    Located in Lawrence, NY
    Sometimes a single work of art sums up where an artist has gotten to; sometimes it prefigures to where an artist is headed. Matanza, a masterful work by Harriette Joffe (1935-2018), ...
    Category

    1990s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Beyond the Switch Grass
    By Beverly Brodsky
    Located in Lawrence, NY
    There are too few painters today still attuned to the possibilities of paint on canvas and willing to listen as the painting reveals itself. Beverly Brodsky is one of those. In 1960...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Cove
    By Beverly Brodsky
    Located in Lawrence, NY
    There are too few painters today still attuned to the possibilities of paint on canvas and willing to listen as the painting reveals itself. Beverly Brodsky is one of those. In 1960...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Canopy
    By Beverly Brodsky
    Located in Lawrence, NY
    There are too few painters today still attuned to the possibilities of paint on canvas and willing to listen as the painting reveals itself. Beverly Brodsky is one of those. In 1960...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Found Visions
    By Beverly Brodsky
    Located in Lawrence, NY
    Beverly Brodsky Biography American, 1941- Brodsky’s first classroom experience under Ad Reinhardt at Brooklyn College in 1961 was an extraordinary one. The students were asked to ta...
    Category

    1990s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

You May Also Like
  • Untitled 01 [Remains of the Remains 01] - Contemporary, Black, White, Abstract
    By Zsolt Berszán
    Located in Berlin, DE
    Untitled 01 [Remains of the Remains 01], 2018 oil on canvas 78 47/64 H x 59 1/16 W in 200 H x 150 W cm The large-sized paintings, signed by Zsolt Berszán...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Diving for Pearls
    Located in New York, NY
    Diving for Pearls, 1986 Oil on canvas 88 x 76 in. (223.5 x 193 cm) Signed, dated, and titled, verso
    Category

    1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • James Joyce's Smile
    Located in New York, NY
    James Joyce's Smile, 1984 Oil on canvas 66 x 87 in. (167.6 x 221 cm) Signed, dated, and titled, verso
    Category

    1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Grey & Tan Abstract Expressionist Textural Mid-Century Abstract by Peter Witwer
    By Peter Witwer
    Located in Soquel, CA
    Grey & Tan Abstract Expressionist Textural Mid-Century Abstract by Peter Witwer Heavily textured, expressive composition by Peter Witwer (American, 1928-1968). Over the top of a heavy base layer of plaster, Witwer has added various layers of oil paint, creating a massive amount of depth and texture. Sections of red peek out from underneath various shades of tan, grey, and black. Spots of blue and purple are used sparingly, hidden in the composition. Presented in a wood frame. Canvas size: 20"H x 40"W Frame size: 26.63"H x 46.63"W Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Provenance: Without a will and a family that had little interest in his art, nearly all of his possessions and close to 100 paintings were turned over to SF’s Conservators Office. His friend, Albert Richard Lasker, purchased all of Peter’s possessions (including the art) and has taken care of them until this day, always sensing there was something remarkable about the collection. Wanting Peter’s work to finally be seen, Richard came to Lost Art Salon with Peter’s story after reading about the new gallery in a July, 2005 issue of the SF Chronicle. Born George Peter...
    Category

    1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Linen, Plaster, Oil

  • 'Shattered Atlas: The Modern Burden' - Abstract Cubism Portrait by Masri
    By Masri Hayssam
    Located in Carmel, CA
    In "Shattered Atlas: The Modern Burden," the artist Masri presents a 40" x 30" mixed media canvas that epitomizes 'Shattered Cubism,' a style that fragments reality into geometric fo...
    Category

    Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic

  • Large Scale Mid-Century Earth-tone Horizontal Abstract by Joseph Vasica
    By Joseph Vasica
    Located in Soquel, CA
    Large Scale Mid-Century Earth-tone Horizontal Abstract by Joseph Vasica Very large scale (70"H x 160"W) (5.8'H x 13.3'L) mid-century abstract with soft edge, grey and burnt sienna...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All