Peter Marks

Untitled (Inspired by a Chinese scroll painting)

Black and White Cat Ink and watercolor on paper, c. 1970 Unsigned Provenance: Estate of the artist (Estate No. 737) Condition: Excellent Image/Sheet size: 4 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches Sam Spanier (1925-2008) Born in Brooklyn New York, Sam Spanier studied painting with Hans Hofmann (1949–50) and also at the Taos Valley Art School (1951). His formative years as a working artist were spent in Paris (1951–52), where he also became involved with the work of G. I. Gurdjieff, through his disciple, Mme. Jeanne de Salzmann. By 1953, Spanier’s work had already begun to meet with critical acclaim. That year, he had his first solo gallery show, and was selected by Milton Avery and Hans Hofmann to receive the prestigious Lorian Fund Award. His second solo exhibition, in 1955, was curated by renowned museum director, Gordon Washburn. Spanier’s early work was reviewed by Dore Ashton, Donald Judd, Fairfield Porter, Stuart Preston, and Irving Sandler, among other significant critics of the period. Spanier’s spiritual path increasingly became the central focus of both his life and his art. In 1960, he was introduced to the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, which led to visits to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India, in 1962 and 1964, during which he was inspired to leave New York City and found Matagiri (in 1968)—a spiritual center in Woodstock, New York—with his lifelong partner, Eric Hughes. The work he embarked upon there bifurcates his life as an artist, separating him from New York’s art world, and radically altering the trajectory of his career. From that point forward, it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to consider his artistic endeavor apart from the life of dedication he had undertaken, and to which he remained committed. As early as 1954, Dore Ashton had recognized in Sam Spanier a “haptic visionary;” in 1960, Irving Sandler wrote that the people in Spanier’s paintings “seem to have witnessed some transfiguring event.” In his later paintings—usually worked in oil pastel on panel or paper—made during intermittent creative periods, from the mid-1970s to the final years of his life, the artist’s inner life remains always apparent in his subject matter; and from the portraits and abstract Buddha-like figures and heads, to the fantasy landscapes, the paintings are redolent with a rich intensity of color and light that can only be described as inspired. Sam Spanier’s works are in the collections of the Historical Society of Woodstock Museum, and the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum. He received the Woodstock Artists Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Selected Solo Exhibitions: Urban Gallery, New York (1954, 1955, 1956); Wittenborn Gallery, New York (1958); Gallery Mayer, New York (1958, 1959, 1960); Unison Gallery, New Paltz (1986, 1995, 2009); Limner Gallery, New York (1988); Fletcher Gallery, Woodstock, New York (1999). Selected Group Exhibitions: Salon des Comparaisons, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France (1952); October Exhibition of Oil Paintings, New York City Center Gallery, New York (1954); Salon de Mai, Musée d’Art moderne de la ville de Paris, Centre Culturel de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris, France (1954); Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1955); Les Plus Mauvais Tableaux, Galerie Prismes, Paris (1955); Première Exposition Internationale de l’Art Plastique Contemporain, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (1956); Recent Paintings USA: The Figure, The Museum of Modern Art (1960); Winter’s Work, Woodstock Artists Association, Woodstock, New York (1985); Juried Group Show, Woodstock Artists Association, Woodstock, New York (1986); Woodstock Artists, Self-Portraits, Historical Society of Woodstock Museum, Woodstock, New York (1988); Portraits, Albert Shahinian Fine Art, Poughkeepsie, New York (2003); The World We Live In, Upstate Art, Phoenicia, New York (2003); Show of Heads, Limner Gallery, Phoenicia, New York (2004). Selected Writings on the Artist: Dore Ashton, “Sam Spanier,” Art Digest (May 1, 1954) and “Sam Spanier,” The New York Times (March 16, 1960); Cassia Berman, “Sam Spanier: A Divine Calling,” Woodstock Times (February 7, 2008); Lawrence Campbell, “Sam Spanier: Exhibition of Paintings at Urban Gallery,” Art News...

Untitled (Abstraction) Ink on textured paper, c. 1958 Signed lower right "Scarlett" (see photo) Condition: Excellent Archival framing with OP3 Acrylic Sheet size: 21 3/4 x 30 inches Frame size: 28 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches Note: A rare mid to late 1950s example of the artist's abstract expressionist style. Provenance: estate of the artist Private Collection, Hudson River Valley, New York Rolph Scarlett B. 1889, GUELPH, ONTARIO; D. 1984, WOODSTOCK, NEW YORK Born on June 13, 1889 in Guelph, Canada, and into an artistic family, Rolph Scarlett spent his teenage years as an apprentice in his uncle’s jewelry firm and briefly studied at the Art Students League, New York. While working in the jewelry industry, Scarlett found time to paint and design theatrical sets in his free time, including one for the 1928 world premiere of Eugene O’Neill’s drama Lazarus Laughed (1926). In 1923, while on a business trip to Switzerland, Scarlett had met the artist Paul Klee and soon after abandoned his figurative painting style in favor of an abstract language that suggested more universal, cosmic truths. In 1937, after permanently settling in New York, Scarlett became acquainted with the artist and curator Hilla Rebay, the first director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952). Rebay provided Scarlett with a Guggenheim Foundation scholarship to paint full-time and obtained several of his paintings for the museum’s collection. From 1940 to 1946, Scarlett served as the museum’s chief lecturer, giving Sunday afternoon talks on art. Through Rebay, Scarlett became acquainted with the nonobjective works of Rudolf Bauer and Vasily Kandinsky and further refined his abstract style. Works from this era such as Yellow Bar (1942) are defined by overlapping geometric planes of bright, primary colors set against mute backgrounds. Scarlett avoided any reference to the outside world and believed that nonobjective painting was an act, in his words, of “pure creation.” During his lifetime, solo shows of his work were held at the Jacques Seligmann Gallery, New York (1949); Sioux City Art Center, Iowa (1951); and Washburn Gallery...

"Labyrinth" 2021, 23.5" x 21.5" vertical drawing on paper by Argentine-born artist Karina Gentinetta (featured in Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, New York Times, Traditional Home, ...

Coloured inks and pastel on paper Signed Gestural abstraction Outsider art Artist’s statement : "Painting, for me, is an expressive endeavor in which one depicts the evolution of the various facets of the artistic self. There is, on each canvas, a tension where violence and stillness naturally coexist. By playing with different materials, I seek to establish a sort of unexpected dialogue between these states, and aspire to express this tension through profusion of color. The canvas is the stage that allows me to unite narration with the action of painting the fantastic—even the outrageous---and the everyday. I develop scenarios borrowed from the imagination, which join fantasy, even fables, with the everyday. Pulling threads from each domain, I bring together the mythical and the quotidian, so that the worlds of reality and fantasy merge. I rely on “creatures,” improbable little characters that could exist in some other realm or dimension. They materialize, issuing forth from the surprising, unbelievable and wondrous world of childhood. Human or animal, both find themselves entangled in inextricable and melancholic situations. These inextricable situations create distance; the humor comes through this breach. It is the absurdity of their predicaments that manifests the humor in the work. In each of my paintings, the sentiments are heightened by an intentional, provocative tone that transforms the work. An Otherness is attributed to objects; objects become personified, and by their very presence, they become witnesses or guinea pigs torn between and bound to their dilemma. The titles of my paintings, whether invented or quotations taken out of context, come from literature, theater, or song lyrics. Accident and chance are often major actors in my work.” Emmanuelle Messika BIOGRAPHY : Emmanuelle Messika was born in France in 1979. She works and lives in Paris. STUDIES 1999-2005 École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris Diplômée en Juin 2005 2004 Échange universitaire à Hunter College, New York NY, USA 1993-1999 Ateliers des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Montparnasse PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS : 2019 Claire Corcia Gallery, Paris 2018 Claire Corcia Gallery, Paris Outsider Art Fair, Paris 2012 Art Contemporain Sèvres, "La Chartreuse", Sèvres 2011 Espace Seven, Galerie De Vos, Paris 2010 Les Trois Baudets, Paris Galerie Mariska Hammoudi, Paris Galerie Crous -Beaux-Arts, Paris L'Apparemment Café, Paris 2009 Espace Rachi, Paris 2008 Galerie Console, Paris 2007 Exposition Place du Québec, Mairie du sixième, Paris 2006 Galerie Eonnet-Dupuis, Paris 2005 Galerie Crous Beaux Arts, Paris 2004 The Mark Bar, "Bring your own flashlight", Brooklin, New York 2003 Le Glaz’art, Paris 2002 9 rue Dauphine, Paris 2001 Galerie Gauche, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris 2000 La grosse caisse, Paris La liberté, Paris GROUP SHOWS 2011 Chic Art Fair, Galerie Mariska Hammoudi Galerie De Vos, Espace Seven 2010 Galerie Mariska Hammoudi, Paris Chic Dessin, avec Cherry Gallery...