Dorothy Dehner Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Nickle Drawing Ink and watercolor on laid paper, 1982 Signed and dated lower right in ink The title references a comment that her husband, David Smith, made regarding her drawings. He said that they were only worth a nickle and the name stuck even thought her works are highly prized. The dating of this work reflects the date inscribed on the watercolor. The style and black ink lines with dots terminating the line is a compositional device the artist used in the 1950's. Condition: Very fine/excellent 4 old hinge residue in the corners verso from previous matting Sheet/image size: 7 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994) Painter, sculptor, art writer, and poet, Dorothy Dehner explored abstraction, cubism, realism and surrealism during her artistic journey. Early in her career she was known for painting and for large-cast metal sculptures, but in the 1950s and 1960s, turned increasingly to wood cut into hard-edge geometric shapes. From 1950, she lived primarily in New York City. Dorothy Dehner was born in 1901 in Cleveland, Ohio, but, as a teenager in 1916, moved to Pasadena, California when her parents died. Her artistic interests were initially in acting. She majored in drama at UCLA for the school year of 1922-1923, then moved to New York City to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. After travel to Europe in France, Italy and Switzerland in 1925, where she saw Cubist and Fauve paintings as well as the great art of the ages, Dehner entered the Art Students League to study sculpture, but switched to painting because she felt the former was bound in academic formula. She studied drawing with Kimon Nicolaides and painting with Kenneth Hayes Miller. In 1929, she studied painting with Jan Matulka. Meeting artist John Graham in that year, he introduced her to Milton Avery, Stuart Davis and Arshile Gorky. She would also take art courses years later at Skidmore College in 1951. Dehner married sculptor David Smith in 1927. She was evidently very helpful in his artistic growth, but friction would develop because Smith allegedly saw his wife as artistic competition. Although she painted and drew Cubist and Surrealist works during their marriage, and realistic ones of life on their Bolton Landing, New York farm during the period 1941 to 1944, Dehner would essentially put her exhibition life on hold until their divorce in 1952. Meanwhile, they traveled to Europe in 1935. She later wrote about Smith, as well as painter John Graham and Jan Matulka, her teacher. Although she had shown in the 1946 Audubon Artists exhibition, winning first prize in drawing, and in the Whitney Annual of 1951, it was the year of her divorce, 1952, that Dehner had her first one-person exhibition at the Rose Fried Gallery...

Dorothy Dehner Untitled Mid Century Modern abstract sculptural drawing, 1955 Marker and graphite on paper Signed and dated by Dorothy Dehner in black felt tip pen on the front Frame ...

The Dead Tiger Ink and watercolor on paper, 1955 Signed and dated in ink (see photo) Condition: Aging to the entire sheet (it's 78 years old) Image/Sheet size: 18 1/4 x 23 inches One of a series of watercolors Dehner created in the Hudson Valley and gave to a patron. They are variations of the same composition with differing colors. Titled by the artist in pencil verso. Provenance: Gift of the artist Private Collection, Hudson Valley, NY Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994) Painter, sculptor, art writer, and poet, Dorothy Dehner explored abstraction, cubism, realism and surrealism during her artistic journey. Early in her career she was known for painting and for large-cast metal sculptures, but in the 1950s and 1960s, turned increasingly to wood cut into hard-edge geometric shapes. From 1950, she lived primarily in New York City. Dorothy Dehner was born in 1901 in Cleveland, Ohio, but, as a teenager in 1916, moved to Pasadena, California when her parents died. Her artistic interests were initially in acting. She majored in drama at UCLA for the school year of 1922-1923, then moved to New York City to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. After travel to Europe in France, Italy and Switzerland in 1925, where she saw Cubist and Fauve paintings as well as the great art of the ages, Dehner entered the Art Students League to study sculpture, but switched to painting because she felt the former was bound in academic formula. She studied drawing with Kimon Nicolaides...

The Pinks and the Blues Watercolor, pen and ink on paper, 1954 Signed and dated in ink lower left, titled in pencil verso. Provenance: Gift of the Artist Privat...

This large scale drawing is signed and dated ink and closely relates to her sculptures of this period. The dimensions of 23 x 31 inches are the siz...

This (Poster Design) was made for the exhibition 'Dorothy Dehner, Sculptures and Watercolors,' at the Willard Gallery, May 7 through 31, 1957.