Dorothy Dehner

Breeze (Fire Island)

1951

Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Dehner's legacy has been overshadowed for many years by her ex-husband, the acclaimed sculptor David Smith. Stifled by their tumultuous relationship, Dehner only fully committed to her practice after divorcing him in 1951. This break was highly fruitful for her artistic output and reputation in the following years. After the divorce, Dehner refined her artistic voice and expanded her practice to include printmaking and sculpture. Her new-found independence and renewed ambition led to a pivotal relationship with the esteemed printmaking studio Atelier 17. Working there she formed a close and enduring friendship with Louise Nevelson. Today Dehner has been re-embraced and repositioned in the American art canon. Her work is best understood and appreciated in the context of not only David Smith but other artists dedicated to sculpture including Lee Bontecou, Louise Bourgeois, and of course Louise Nevelson. This energetic and hypnotic work on paper is somewhat of a departure from Denher's structured and intricate approach. Bold, frenetic strokes of ink loop chaotically across the surface, revelling in a sense of fluid dynamism that is in contrast with the artist's architectural arrangements. While it is notably looser and bolder then some of the drawings we expect from this era, we find the artist creating forms that are a harbinger of the muscular sculpture she would create in the following decade. Click here to see an example of a bronze sculpture from 1966 sold at Wright auction house...

Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Despite her artistic cont...

Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Despite her artistic cont...

Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Despite her artistic cont...

Modern and bright urban abstract in yellow & purple by Carl E. Schwartz (American, 1935-2014), c.1970s. Signed "Schwartz" lower right. Presented in a silver metal frame. Image size: ...

This is a stylized figurative abstract expressionist nude. This one is hand signed and dated. From the style we are estimating it to the 1970's They have abstract stylized erotic mal...

This (Poster Design) was made for the exhibition 'Dorothy Dehner, Sculptures and Watercolors,' at the Willard Gallery, May 7 through 31, 1957. It's a perfect mid-century American i...

Balancing act 2 (Abstract Painting) Gouache, graphite and ink on Rives paper. Unframed. Balancing Act 2 is part of a series of works on paper started in 2016. They are created in the evenings and aptly named after busy days of teaching and other responsibilities. The artist establishes parameters involving the use of a particular palette, certain mark-making gestures and amount of time spent on each drawing. This work incorporates graphite, ink, and gouache, and is a combination of intuition-based and planned execution. Tracey Adams is an American abstract painter and printmaker. Her artworks reflect a strong interest in musical patterns, rhythms, lyrical compositional elements and what she calls a sense of performance. She lives and works in Carmel, California. Work by Adams is part of the permanent collections of several museums, including the Bakersfield Art Museum, the Monterey Museum of Art, the Fresno Art Museum, the Tucson Art...