Simon Samsonian

"Colorful Geometric Abstraction, " Simon Samsonian, Armenian Artist

1981

Jean Cohen Untitled, circa 1960 Signed Lower Right: Jean Cohen Mixed Media on artist board 26 3/4 x 19 inches Jean Cohen was an important American painter whose work spans six decades. Jean Cohen lived on Tenth Street in Manhattan, and was a member of the vibrant Tenth Street Artists Galleries during the 1950s and 1960s. She was married to Alex Katz, was a member of the Area Gallery, and showed her work in the Tanager Gallery as well. She has paintings in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Jersey State Museum, Museum of Modern Art, the University of Maine, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She has yet to be given the recognition she deserves. Born 1927 Washington Heights, New York Married to painter Alex Katz 1949-1956 Tanager Gallery NYC 1952-1962 Involved with painter John Grillo 1957-1962 Area Gallery NYC 1960-'65 Split time living between NYC and Provincetown c.1957-1980 Landmark Gallery, NYC 1972-1977 Co Founder in '72. Moved to Long Island '85 Died on Long Island, New York 2013 Education: Cooper Union 1945-1948. Studied with John Ferren, Nicholas Marsicano, Morris Kantor, Leo Manso...

Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000) Tiny Travelers II, 1975 Watercolor on paper 23 x 17 inches Signed and dated lower right; titled lower left Fenton's quiet and co...

Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000) Rembrandt Later Danae, 1975 Watercolor on paper 23 x 17 inches Signed and dated lower right; titled lower left Fenton's quiet an...

Alan Fenton (1927 - 2000) Inherent Light Series IX, 1977 Watercolor on paper 23 x 17 inches Signed and dated lower right; titled lower left Fenton's quiet and contemplative nonobjec...

Chryssa Repetition Signed lower right; titled on the reverse Gouache, watercolor, charcoal, and graphite on paper 15 x 11 inches Born and educated in Athens, Greece, Vardea Chryssa, known professionally as Chryssa, became a U.S. citizen and earned a reputation for her sculptured assemblages utilizing light from neon, and plexiglas combined with mixed media pieces. One of her pieces, Untitled Light Sculpture (1980) is 22 feet long and is installed in the atrium of a building at 33 Monroe Street in Chicago. It was programmed electronically to create changing patterns of reflected light through 900 feet of neon tubing. Chryssa's sculptures with precision and definite form were a reaction against the prevalent Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s with its emphasis purely upon the artist's intent. In her work, the focus is on materials and the way they are shaped for specific use by craftsmen. She got her early education in Athens, and first studied to be a social worker. She was then sent by the Greek Ministry of Social Welfare to the Dodecanese Islands and later to the Ionian Sea island of Zante, whose population had suffered great loss from earthquakes. Disillusioned that monies were being provided to restore monasteries but not to help other earthquake victims, Chryssa changed her life's direction to become a painter. In Athens, she studied art with Anghelos Prokopion. Then she went to Paris, France, and studied briefly at the Academie Grande Chaumiere and associated with surrealists Andre Breton, Edgard Varese, and Max Ernst. In 1954, she moved to San Francisco, California for a year of study at the California School of Fine Arts, and there she first saw the work of Jackson Pollock, which had a freeing affect on her and inspired her to experiment with pure form. But later she reacted against action painting with her assemblage sculptures of controlled precision. In 1955, Chryssa settled in New York City, and became the first artist to incorporate neon light tubing and commercial signs into sculpture. It is asserted that her "mature work grew out of the Greek experience, before and after World War II, wedded to the raucous letters, signs, symbols, and lights of Time Square, New York City" (Heller 125). In fact, she was so taken with the lights of Times Square that she unsuccessfully tried to get a job as a sign maker but was prevented by labor union rules. However, one of the members gave her sign-making lessons in his shop. She first made Pop images such as depictions of automobile tires and cigarettes and in sculptures, utilized letters of the alphabet, ideas that predated similar images by Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol. Her first major work of interwoven light and letters was Times Square Sky of 1962, but she was dissatisfied because she thought the piece was too crowded. To create a sense of breathing, she inserted neon light, and for the first time, this material became an art medium. From that time, she was prolific and created many variations based on the letters W and A. For her, a primary motivating factor was remaining cool or mentally collected amidst the onslaught of bombarding information and to process it through her creations in new ways so that nothing was repeated. She set up her own work place...

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...

1,000 piece Museum Quality Collection of Art & Objects from NYC 1939 Worlds Fair. Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981) "1939 World’s Fair Mural Study for the Hall of Medical Sciences...

James Balla Untitled gouache painting, 1992 Mixed Media Oil on Linen Signed and dated on the front of the work; the verso of the frame bears the UFO (Albert Merola) gallery label. F...

Matt Magee Double Pyramid Thought Form, 2019 Oil on aluminum 25 1/2 x 19 1/4 in (64.8 x 48.9 cm) JPHB 5837

Joel BASS (1942-2019) Adjusted silhouette n°2, 1975 Mixed media, collage, gouache, adhesive on paper Signed, dated and. titled Work : 17,5 x 28 cm Frame : 3...

Jody Rasch’s work is drawn from various science practices, including astronomy, biology, and sub-atomic physics. In his subject matter and technique, Rasch ...

Entitled "Study for Messier 17," this painting by Chicago-artist Jan Pieter Fokkens offers a representation of the spectacular star-forming region Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula. A vast region of gas, dust and hot young stars, Messier 17 lies in the heart of the Milky Way, tucked within the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). Inspired by telescope images of deep space, contemporary computer compression algorithms and early non-representational art...