Helen Orman Art

Mercedes Carles Matter (1913 - 2001) Untitled, circa 1937 Pastel on paper 16 x 13 1/2 inches Estate stamped on the reverse Provenance: Estate of the artist Spanierman Gallery, New York Private Collection, Pennsylvania circa 2013 Private Collection, New York, 2021 Mercedes Matter was born in New York in 1913. Her father, the American modernist Arthur B. Carles, had studied with Matisse. Her mother, Mercedes de Cordoba, was a model for Edward Steichen. Ms. Matter grew up in Philadelphia, New York and Europe. She began painting under her father's supervision at age 6, and studied art at Bennett College in Millbrook, N.Y., and then in New York City with Maurice Sterne, Alexander Archipenko and Hans Hofmann. In the late 1930's, she was an original member of the American Abstract Artists organization and worked for the federal Works Progress Administration, assisting Fernand Léger on his mural for the French Line passenger ship company. Léger introduced her to Herbert Matter, the Swiss graphic designer and photographer, whom she married in 1939. The Matters were active in the emerging New York art scene and also traveled frequently to Europe. Their closest friends included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Philip Guston, Alexander Calder and Willem de Kooning. They were also close to Alberto Giacometti, who was an important artistic role model for Mrs. Matter and a frequent photographic subject for her husband. Beginning in 1953, Mrs. Matter taught at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), Pratt Institute and New York University. Based on her teaching experiences she wrote an article for Art News in 1963 titled ''What's Wrong with U.S. Art Schools?'' In it, she lamented the phasing out of the extended studio classes required to initiate ''that painfully slow education of the senses,'' which she considered an artist's life work. The article prompted a group of Pratt students to ask her to form a school based on her ideas, which led, in 1964, to the founding of the New York Studio School. Originally in a loft on Broadway, the school gained almost immediate support from the Kaplan Fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation. It granted no degrees, had only studio classes and emphasized drawing from life. Its teachers, chosen by the students, included the artists Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Charles Cajori, Louis Finkelstein...

Abstracted Sleeping Female Figurative in Pastel on Paper Vivid abstracted sleeping female figurative by Black Arts Bay Area artist, Kelvin Curry (American, 20th Century), circa 2000...

Jeremy Moon Drawing 73/13 (20/5/73), 1973 Pastel on paper Hand-signed by artist, Signed and dated 20/5/73 in graphite on the lower front; the back of the v...

Two Faces (Purple and Magenta) in Pastel on Paper Brightly colored faces by Bay Area artist, Kelvin Curry (American, 20th Century). Two faces are shown in profile, looking to the le...

Portrait of Paris is a colorful mixed-media painting on paper, an homage to Greek mythology. Portrait of Paris, 2019 by a.muse is a 15" x 11" brightly colored work on paper: acrylic...

(Comes framed in a maple floater frame, ready to hang.) This is one of a series we have posted on 1stDibs. The first got more clicks and saves on its first day than any of the many hundreds of artworks we have ever posted. If you search on "G. Campbell Lyman" on 1stDibs you can see others in this series. Here's a recent message from a 1stDibs buyer of a painting in this series, a seasoned collector: "Love your work. We collect colorists like Wolf Kahn and Jennifer Bartlett, whom I commissioned a piece from that is in the entrance of Mayo Clinic. We are old fans...

(Comes framed in a deep-profile maple or black floater frame, ready to hang.) Artist's Statement: "This painting harkens back to my 'Gridish' series but with more negative space, a broader array of media and more complexity to the oval forms. I have tried to create tension between these iconic forms through the divergence of dissonant and unusual materials, colors and textures. These ovals keep reappearing in my work; they seem almost like groups of silent but sentient beings to me." “Lyman’s work evolves restlessly, with the common elements generally being deft and unusual color choices that balance assonance and dissonance, and vestiges of the hand and facture purposely left in the paintings. The negative space is often so meticulously worked that it’s almost as if the objects – usually simple shapes – are there as much to complement the background as vice versa. Despite the often bold colors there is an elegance about his paintings that prevents them from being either loud or decorative. " Artbeit Zeitschrift “His paintings are a refreshing departure from the current abstract art world’s seemingly endless parade of fields of color with scribbles providing form, a style that is easily mimicked and has become a sort of “safe,” accessible go-to. There are confident decisions in these paintings appearing as commitments of strongly delineated forms and unexpected collisions of color that give the work a visceral, confident and playful soul, increasingly missing from contemporary expressionist abstraction. They are the paintings of a real painter rather than a decorative artist.” ArtSeen, 2018 (from a collector): "Love your work. We collect colorists like Wolf Kahn and Jennifer Bartlett, whom I commissioned a piece from that is in the entrance of Mayo Clinic. We are old fans...

Abstracted Nude Figurative in Pastel on Paper Vivid abstracted figurative by Black Arts Bay Area artist, Kelvin Curry (American, 20th Century), circa 2000. A woman's profile of her ...

Colorful abstract work by Bay Area artist Kelvin Curry (American, 20th Century). Signed "Kelvin Curry" lower left. Unframed. Image size, 15"H x 11.25"W. Born in Oakland, California ...

This is one of a series we have posted on 1stDibs. The first got more clicks and saves on its first day than any of the many hundreds of artworks we have ever posted. If you search on "G. Campbell Lyman" on 1stDibs you can see others in this series. Here's a recent message from a 1stDibs buyer of a painting in this series, a seasoned collector: "Love your work. We collect colorists like Wolf Kahn and Jennifer Bartlett, whom I commissioned a piece from that is in the entrance of Mayo Clinic. We are old...

Street art style figurative abstract of blue face by Bay Area artist, Kelvin Curry (American, 20th Century). Signed "Kelvin Curry" lower right. Unframed. Ima...

Anthony Thomas Triano (1928–1997) was an abstract expressionist painter, sculptor, illustrator and teacher. His works feature natural forms, especially the human form, and tend towar...