Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 8

Jean Xceron
Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing

1949

$6,000
£4,539.41
€5,239.19
CA$8,380.33
A$9,317.33
CHF 4,877.06
MX$114,273.93
NOK 62,097.29
SEK 58,627.20
DKK 39,096.52
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing. A modernist artist who emigrated to America from Greece in 1904, when he was fourteen years old, Jean Xceron is described as having a reputation as an artist that has mysteriously fallen into obscurity---especially since he was reportedly quite prominent during his lifetime. However, a partial explanation of that omission is the fact that many of his papers and early records have been lost. He was a painter of biomorphic abstractions and did collages, which were influenced by Dadaism. Xceron was active in New York City when modernism was gaining influence. Of him during this period, it was written that his artistic role was "a vital link between what is commonly termed as the first-generation (the Stieglitz group, the Synchromists, etc.) and second-generation, the American Abstract Artists, the Transcendental Painting Group . . ." (Vrachopoulos) Because the abstract influence that moved into the New York art world after World War I went into abeyance during World War II, Xceron somehow has gotten classified as part of the second generation but omitted as part of the pioneers. However, examination of his paintings and knowledge of his activities indicate he was consistent with his unique abstract style from 1916 to 1932. After that, his work became totally abstract. He was born in Isary, Greece with the birth name of Yiannis Xirocostas. Upon arrival in America, he lived with various relatives around the country, and then between 1911 and 1912, studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC. At that point, he changed his surname to Xceron, and he was called John, which is the English translation for Yiannis. However, when he later studied in France, he was called Jean, the French equivalent of John, so those first names have been used interchangeably. The next year, after graduating from the Corcoran, Xceron moved to New York City. He, like many of his artist peers, was much influenced by the 1913 Armory Show, a venue that made provided many Americans their first exposure to modernist or abstract art, much of it imported from France. At that time, Xceron was affiliated with the artists around Alfred Stieglitz, who was about the only promoter of modern art in America, something he did through his New York City Gallery 291. Borrowing some of the abstract Armory Show works that Stieglitz had obtained, Xceron and some colleagues staged their own exhibition in Washington DC. This marked him and his group as being rebels, that is in violation of academic methods prescribed by those who set those standards at the National Academy of Design. Underscoring Xceron's commitment to non-traditional artwork was his membership in the Society of Independent Artists as well as his close association with Cubist painter Max Weber, Futurist painter Joseph Stella, and Dada Greek poet, Theodoros Dorros. In 1927, he went to Paris to further his art career, which included study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts; he remained for ten years, leaving as World War II approached. He earned money by writing art reviews for the European editions of the Chicago Herald Tribune, the New York Herald Tribune, and the Boston Evening Transcript. In this capacity, he became a link as a writer between the European avant-garde and the American public. But he also did much artwork that aligned him with the French modernist movements, and by the time he returned to the United States, his work was totally abstract. In 1938, he joined the American Abstract Artists, a group that was quite controversial in the 1940s and 50s in America because it was so different from the prevalent American Scene painting. Many of the Europeans artists fleeing Europe became associated with Xceron in New York City during the war years of the 1940s such as Fernand Leger and Piet Mondrian. In fact, Xceron was the person Mondrain first wrote to when he decided to leave Europe and needed help. Xceron's work was added to the collection of the Museum of Modern Art; he received a mural commission for Riker's Island under the Federal Art Project; and in the 1940s and 1950s, he was employed in a Registrar capacity by Hilla Rebay at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In that position, he was able to do his own painting as well in his spare time, and he had gallery exhibitions and regular exposure at the Guggenheim in their non-objective shows. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, his work reflected Abstract Expressionism such as in the painting commission, Radar, he did for the University of Georgia. The drawing measures 10 1/2 x 7 inches.
  • Creator:
    Jean Xceron (1890 - 1967)
  • Creation Year:
    1949
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU115628324512

More From This Seller

View All
Abstract American Modernism Mid-Century WPA Era Drawing Woodstock 20th Century
By Konrad Cramer
Located in New York, NY
Abstract American Modernism Mid-Century WPA Era Drawing Woodstock 20th Century, Sight size is 16 x 12 inches. The drawing is currently at the framers. A photo will be posted asap. A...
Category

1930s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

ABSTRACT American Woman Abstract Non-objective Mid 20th Century Modern Drawing
By Irene Rice Pereira
Located in New York, NY
ABSTRACT American Woman Abstract Non-objective Mid 20th Century Modern Drawing Irene Rice Pereira (1902-1971) Abstract 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches Watercolor, gouache, and ink on black paper Signed lower right Framed by Bark BIO rene Pereira was born in 1902 in Chelsea, Massachusetts and grew up in Great Barrington. She was strongly influenced by her mother who was an amateur artist. Irene began art lessons at the age of fifteen; she took a secretarial job because her father had died. She took art classes at the Art Students League in New York City. At the age of twenty-one she married the first of three husbands, Humberto Pereira, whose name she kept. She traveled extensively in Europe and North Africa and was much inspired by the expansive vistas of the Sahara Desert. Returning to New York, she began incorporating these visions into her work, increasingly experimental in her styles and methods. At first she painted on canvas, then she devised a means of actually incorporating light into her works by painting on layers of glass and mounting the layers together. In 1942 she married George Brown, an engineer, who helped her experiment with a variety of materials. By the 1950s she became more interested in writing poetry and, divorced from Brown in 1952, she married George Reavey, an Irish Poet...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

"Untitled" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field Abstraction
Located in New York, NY
"Untitled" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field Abstraction James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) Untitled 9 x 16 inches Initialed lower right Dated November 1, 1966 lower ...
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

"Untitled" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field Abstraction
Located in New York, NY
"Untitled" Mid 20th Century American Abstract 1960s Color Field Abstraction James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) Untitled 12 ¼ x 15 ¼ inches Initialed and dated February 21, 1966 lower ri...
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Surreal Abstract Mid 20th Century American Modern Woman Artist Work on Paper
Located in New York, NY
Surreal Abstract Mid 20th Century American Modern Woman Artist Work on Paper Juanita Guccione (1904 - 1999) Surreal Abstract 18 x 11 3/4 inches Watercolor and mixed media on paper Signed lower left Framed: 23 x 17 inches Note. We are currently have listed a 1935 oil by Guccione, and in addition to this abstract drawing, we have several other works on paper, along with a major surrealist oil, none of which are currently listed. Inquiries are invited. BIO The following is from Djelloul (Del) Marbrook, son of the artist. Of signatures on paintings by his mother, Juanita first signed as Anita Rice, then as Juanita Rice, Juanita Rice Marbrook, Juanita Marbrook, and finally Juanita Guccione after marrying in the 1940s. Juanita Guccione's life (June 20, 1904-December 18, 1999) spanned all but four years of the 20th Century. Cubist*, realist, surrealist*, automatist* and abstract strains are all to be found in her work, but by 1970 she was painting works in watercolor and acrylic that no longer included the human figure or the observed world. She was the younger sister of the abstract geometric* artist Irene Rice Pereira. The sisters were born in Chelsea, MA, but spent most of their working lives in Manhattan. In the early 1930s, Guccione, then painting as Nita Rice, lived for four years among the Ouled Nail...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Rag Paper

Abstract Mid 20th Century WPA Non Objective American Modernism New Hope Modern
By Louis Stone
Located in New York, NY
Abstract Mid 20th Century WPA Non Objective American Modernism New Hope Modern.mixed media. 21 x 16 (sight). Housed in a hand carved frame. Louis King Stone ...
Category

1940s American Modern Mixed Media

Materials

Gouache, Board

You May Also Like

Vintage French Mid-Century Abstract
By D. Wargon
Located in Houston, TX
Mid-century oil pastel abstract incorporating a vast array of color and unique shapes by artist D. Wargon, circa 1950. Signed lower right. Original artwork on paper displayed on a...
Category

1950s Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Pastel, Paper

1950s "Rectangle" Mid Century Abstract Gouache Painting
Located in Arp, TX
Opper Estate Maroon Abstract c. 1940-1950's Gouache on Paper 15" x 18" Unframed From the estate of Ruth Friedmann Opper & Jerry Opper. Ruth was the daughter of Bauhaus artist, Gustav Friedmann. San Francisco Abstract Expression A free-spirited wave of creative energy swept through the San Francisco art community after World War II. Challenging accepted modes of painting, Abstract Expressionists produced highly experimental works that jolted the public out of its postwar complacency. Abstract Expressionism resulted from a broad collective impulse rather than the inspiration of a small band of New York artists. Documenting the interchanges between the East and West Coasts, she cites areas of mutual influence and shows the impact of San Francisco on the New York School, including artists such as Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt. San Francisco's Beat poets...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Abstract Piece - Mid 20th Century Mixed Media Watercolor by John Bolam
By John Bolam
Located in Watford, Hertfordshire
John Bolam was born in 1922 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He originally studied painting at Hornsey School of Art and furniture design at High Wycombe School of Art. He subsequently became a member of the Great Bardfield group of artists (named after the village in Essex where many of the members settled). Close friends and colleagues from that time included Michael Rotherstein, Edward Bawden, John Aldridge and Edward Middleditch...
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Watercolor

Abstract composition -Drawing by Unknown -20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Abstract composition is an original contemporary artwork realized by Anonymous Artist of the late 20th Century. Mixed colored watercolor on paper glued on a wood panel.
Category

20th Century Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Abstract Composition - Original Drawing - Mid 20th century
Located in Roma, IT
Abstract Composition is an Original Ink and Watercolor realized by an Unknown artist of mid-20th century. The artwork is in good condition on a cream colored cardboard. No Signature.
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Abstract Composition - Drawing By Reynold Arnould - 1970
Located in Roma, IT
Abstract Composition is a Color Markers Drawing and Watercolour realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Paris 1980). Good condition. No signature. Reynold Arnould was born ...
Category

1970s Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Permanent Marker