John Little
Rue des Seigneurs, Montreal

Name: Rue des Seigneurs, Montreal
Brand: John Little
Price: 7000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

John Little, Canadian, b. 1928 Rue des Seigneurs, Montreal Oil on canvas panel 12 x 16 in Signed lower right ; signed and titled verso framed John Little RCA is a Canadian artist, known as the chronicler of the urban heritage of his home city of Montreal in oils. Little was born in Montreal in 1928. After studying at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and with the Art Students League of New York (where he met Ray Bailley and helped to illustrate the Bruce Gentry comic strip), Little joined Luke & Little, his family's architectural practice in 1951, working as a draftsman. After his marriage in 1953 he made painting his primary profession, and showed his work at the Watson Art Gallery. Besides painting, he illustrated covers for Maclean's Magazine. Little joined the Royal Canadian Academy as an associate member in 1961 and became a full member in 1973. His work is held in many public collections such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University, and the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.

Creator:

John Little (1907-1984, American)

Dimensions:

Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)

Medium:

Oil

Period:

1980-1989

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Westmount, CA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU1900213504032

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John Little

Born in Alabama, John Little attended the Buffalo (NY) Fine Arts Academy as a teenager, until 1927. Soon after, he moved to New York where he began operatic vocal training and opened what would become a very successful textile business designing fabric and wallpaper. In 1933, he enrolled at the Art Students League under the tutelage of George Grosz. Little’s early work consisted predominantly of landscapes, until 1937, when he began studying under Hans Hofmann and his work naturally shifted toward abstraction. During his time with Hofmann, he with artists such as Lee Krasner, George McNeil, Gerome Kamrowski, Giorgio Cavallon, and Perle Fine. Little entered the the service in 1942 as an aerial photographer for the Navy. Returning to New York after the war and with nowhere to stay, he reconnected with Hofmann and moved into his 8th Street studio, alongside his friend Lee Krasner and her husband Jackson Pollock. In 1946, Little earned his first solo exhibition at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, with a subsequent solo exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery in New York two years later. In the early 1950s, Little abandoned the flat, linear style in favor of a new aesthetic consisting of the thick, gestural buildup of paint. This stylistic change was concurrent with his move to East Hampton In 1951. This enabled him to continue a close friendship with Krasner and Pollock, who had already left the city in favor of the more rural area around East Hampton. Little and Pollock had a joint exhibition in 1955 at Guild Hall, one year before Pollock’s tragic death. John Little exhibited extensively during his career, with solo shows at Betty Parsons Gallery (1948), Bertha Schaefer Gallery (1957, 1958), Worth Ryder Gallery (1963), A.M. Sachs Gallery (1971), and a retrospective at the Guild Hall Museum (1982). His work can be found in many private, institutional, and corporate collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guild Hall Museum, Ball State University Museum of Art, and Galerie Beyeler.