Lucia Wilcox
“Untitled”
1948

About the Item

Small oil on canvas board painting by Lucia Wilcox. Signed lower right Lucia. Dated lower left 1948. Condition is very good. Provenance: A gentleman from Springs, East Hampton, New York. From an article in the 2008 Easthampton Star: “Known at various times as Lucia Anavi-Cristofanetti, Lucia Kabbaz, Lucia Wilcox, or simply Lucia, she was a painter of remarkable gifts and vision who came here from Paris under the sponsorship of Gerald and Sarah Murphy, who were then helping many European intellectuals and artists escape from Hitler's campaign against "degenerate artists". Arriving in 1938 accompanied by her then companion, Fernand Leger, she was captivated by the light and relaxed pace she found and was instrumental in convincing other artists and intellectuals to come here, among them Piet Mondrian, Robert Motherwell, Anais Nin, Marc Chagall, Isamu Noguchi, Carlos Montoya, and Max and Jimmy Ernst. Using the proceeds from the sale of a painting by Utrillo, in 1946 she purchased the present site on Abraham's Path and in 1950 she renovated its farmhouse to serve as a gallery for the growing numbers of artists then starting to move to the East End.She was instrumental in organizing East Hampton's first contemporary art exhibit, held at Guild Hall in 1949, and then in 1955 opened her own grounds and gallery space, which rapidly became a hub of intellectual foment on the East End. She was a strong and assertive woman, and her influence among the artists as well as the community was profound. Her house and weekly barbecues featured a sense of intellectual vibrancy reminiscent of the salons of Paris without their pretensions or parochialisms.?She even occasionally served as mother-protector, once wielding a kitchen broom to chase off a luckless deputy sheriff on horseback who had come to arrest her husband, the painter Roger Wilcox, and Jackson Pollock for some high jinks they had engaged in at a bar the evening before. Although she became completely blind, she continued to paint and remain active in the artists community until she died in 1974. Those with a deep knowledge of the history of the Hamptons may also recognize the name Lucia as one of the most important in the formation of the artists' community here that has become famous worldwide. Lucia was both doyenne and motivating force, and her home was an epicenter of the burgeoning intellectual community in the 1950’s and '60s.”

Creator:

Lucia Wilcox (1902 - 1974)

Creation Year:

1948

Dimensions:

Height: 7 in (17.78 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)Depth: 0.25 in (6.35 mm)

Medium:

Oil,Canvas

Movement & Style:

Post-Modern

Period:

1940-1949