Cleve Gray

Conjugation #130

1975

Signed, dated , and titled verso: Gray - '90 / "Air Things Wear that Build This World" / 60 x 60 / acrylic

CLEVE GRAY Floating Red, 1990 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 60 inches

Loretta Howard Gallery is pleased to present a selection of important paintings by Cleve Gray from the 1970’s. Wrought in deeply saturated fields of color and marked with calligraphic brushwork, the paintings on display exemplify the artist’s mature style. They highlight the artist’s lifelong affinity for Japanese and Chinese art and philosophy. His familiarity with Asian cultures began at Princeton University where he studied Far Eastern Art under George Rowley and wrote his thesis on the landscape painting of the Yuan dynasty. The resulting paintings illustrate a synthesis of western and eastern art historical conventions as Gray infused the radical sensibilities of Abstract Expressionism with Zen quietude. Also on view are a selection of hanging scrolls collected by the artist during his visits to China and Japan. These scrolls, which highlight a meditative approach, also contain an intensity and immediacy of action that Gray sought in his own work. In an essay written in the accompanying catalog, Luke Gray...

CLEVE GRAY Conjugation #27, 1975 Acrylic on canvas 38 x 36 inches Loretta Howard Gallery is pleased to present a selection of important paintings by Cleve Gray from the 1970’s. Wrought in deeply saturated fields of color and marked with calligraphic brushwork, the paintings on display exemplify the artist’s mature style. They highlight the artist’s lifelong affinity for Japanese and Chinese art and philosophy. His familiarity with Asian cultures began at Princeton University where he studied Far Eastern Art under George Rowley and wrote his thesis on the landscape painting of the Yuan dynasty. The resulting paintings illustrate a synthesis of western and eastern art historical conventions as Gray infused the radical sensibilities of Abstract Expressionism with Zen quietude. Also on view are a selection of hanging scrolls collected by the artist during his visits to China and Japan. These scrolls, which highlight a meditative approach, also contain an intensity and immediacy of action that Gray sought in his own work. In an essay written in the accompanying catalog, Luke Gray...

Cleve Gray Ceres 1, 1966 Greece Series Acrylic on canvas 25 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches

Painted during the artist's summers on Nantucket, ca. 1976-1979. CLEVE GRAY Nantucket Bronze, ca. 1976 -1979 Acrylic on canvas 25 x 12 inches

Two framed panels by Yamamoto Shunkyo depicting a carp (koi) leaping from a river. Ink and gold leaf on paper. Instinctively brushed in a freehan...

On offer is a stunning set of four framed cabinet plates made by Minton in 1882. The plates are painted by the famous porcelain artist Antonin Boullemier and are framed in gilt Italianate Rococo scroll frames with velvet cartouches. Minton was one of the pioneers of English china production alongside other great potters such as Spode, Davenport, Ridgway, Coalport and others. They were located in Staffordshire and were known specifically for their wonderfully fine white bone china and bright colours; there is a colour called "Minton Blue" which is a fresh azure blue that was very fashionable during the Victorian era. Throughout the different phases of its existence, the factory made top quality creamware, porcelain, majolica and ultimately the finest parian porcelain. Minton excelled in their decorations and gilt work; these were often executed by artists who came from the Sèvres factory in France and brought their skills with them. The plates were decorated by the famous porcelain artist Antonin Boullemier, who was the son of a Sèvres porcelain decorator and was apprenticed and employed by Sèvres before moving the England in 1881, where he was employed by Minton. For many years he worked exclusively for Minton as one of their most celebrated artists; later on his career he started working freelance from his own studio at home for various factories. Boullemier is known for beautiful portraits, cupids and mythological subjects and both 18th Century and contemporary styles. These plates are decorated with charming scenes of a lady and the set may have been meant as depictions of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. On the first plate you see a young girl standing in the fields, a vegetable garden with bean stalks in the background. It looks like a very British spring day; perhaps sunny but not very warm. On the second plate we see a lady in a dune landscape, the blue sea glittering behind the dunes in the background. The lady's cheeks are flushed - this is obviously a hot summer day. On the third plate you see the lady and a black and white dog in an autumnal forest, spotting a deer that seems to be about to run away. In true Boullemier style, the deer in the background is slightly hazy, creating a realistic mood of an autumnal forest. On the fourth plate we see the lady with a brown dog...

This is a very rare, highly individual and very decorative, Large Lidded Vase in the Chinoiserie style, made by Mason's Ironstone in the George 1Vth period, circa 1825. The vase is well potted with a tapering hexagonal form on a raised pedastal foot. This vase has a number of features that make it special; 1) Large Size measuring 24.5 inches high (62.4cm) 2) The three applied dragons...

Frederick Wong (American, b. 1929-2019), "Winter Camp", 1965, watercolor and gouache on Masa paper, signed "Frederick Wong" at lower right, with Chinese characters (name and date) and seal mark on left side. Frederick Wong received both his BFA and MA degrees from the University of New Mexico. He taught at Brooklyn Pratt Institute, Hofstra University and at The Art Students League of New York. The author of "Oriental Watercolor Techniques – For Contemporary Painting” and "The Complete Calligrapher", he was listed in “Who’s Who in American Art” from 1966 to his passing. “What is international and timeless in landscape scenes? Well, Frederick Wong has found it in these quiet, misty scenes...

A six panel screen in black paint with overall gilt scrolled and carved and painted wood applied low relief decoration with some Mother-of-Pearl details. Scenes with pavilions and fi...

A Chinese Export or Canton porcelain plate in the Rose Medallion style, circa 1820. Dating to the later period of the Qing Dynasty, the plates are hand-enameled in a complex patte...

Li Yuan-chia Cosmic 'Point' Multiple 1929–1994 This Original piece from Lisson Gallery London 1968 Exhibition features a painted white lacquered steel panel with 4 magnetic points...

- Collection of Boston Art Museum Dimension: Image 8 1/4" x 13 1/2" : with frame 15 in x 19 in Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige is recognized as a master of the ukiyo-e woodblock pr...

This is a beautiful contemporary Chinese ink painting by Wu Lan-Chiann. In 2010, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, curated an exhibition "Fresh Ink" that explored the landscape of contemporary Chinese ink paintings. Christie's and Sotheby's soon held private sales in recognition of this movement of what is essentially an ancient Chinese ink method, explored in new ways by its artists. One of the artists presented in Christie's Chinese ink events is Wu Lan-Chiann, a rare female painter recognized in the Chinese ink and brush method. ABOUT THIS PIECE: Dancing in the Wind II 2019 (a set of three paintings) Ink, colors and gold leaf on paper 21 x 17 1/4 in; 21 1/2 x 17 in; 21 1/4 x 17 in (53 x 44 cm; 53 x 43 cm; 54 x 43 cm) Signed by artist, with seal on each painting Unframed This set of 3 paintings...

"Quiet and Peace" is a mixed media piece on paper signed by the artist Xiao Ming. It depicts a variety of surreal and abstracted figures in red, blue, and yellow. 34" x 34 " art ...

Abstract painting wherein a calligraphic brushstroke delineates a mountaintop.

Cleve Gray 'End of October,' 1978 Acrylic on canvas 55 x 55 inches Signed verso This work was donated to the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA) by the The Estate of Cleve Gray f...

This work on paper by Cleve Gray contains rich fields of saturated color punctuated by calligraphic gestures and sweeping brushstrokes. "Untitled" from 1999 consist of acrylic on Ar...

PROVENANCE: Ensign Bickford Aerospace Corp, Simsbury, CT Threnody (1973-74) is a 250-foot-wide site-specific painting created by Cleve Gray for the opening of the Neuberger Museum of Art.  At that time, college students across the country were demonstrating against the conflict in Vietnam, a war that they felt to be unjust and inhumane. An active anti-war supporter himself, Gray saw this as an opportunity to express his hope for humanity’s spiritual and emotional healing. Threnody is a lament for the dead on both sides of the war. Although the theme of Threnody was conditioned by current events, Gray sought a more reconciliatory image and mood. Somber grounds of red, black, green and violet delineate the four walls in the space that he envisioned as a cathedral.  Tall vertical forms engaged in a “dance of death and life...

This is a powerful, even fierce, work by one of the greats of Abstract Expressionism and masters of minimalism. Cleve Gray (1918-2004) was admired for his large-scale, vividly colorful and lyrically gestural abstract compositions and achieved his greatest critical recognition in the late 1960's and 70's after working for many years in a comparatively conservative late-Cubist style. Inspired in the 1960's by artists like Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler, Gray began to produce large paintings using...

Cleve Gray (1918-2004) was admired for his large-scale, vividly colorful and lyrically gestural abstract compositions and achieved his greatest critical recognition in the late 1960's and 70's after working for many years in a comparatively conservative late-Cubist style. Inspired in the 1960's by artists like Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler, Gray began to produce large paintings using...