Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 2

Diana Kurz
"Large Red, #3" Diana Kurz, 1960 Intense Color Gestural Abstract Work

1960

$40,000
£30,718.28
€35,202.77
CA$56,310.12
A$63,079.78
CHF 32,809.32
MX$769,443.12
NOK 417,706.32
SEK 393,867.29
DKK 262,743.84

About the Item

Diana Kurz Large Red, #3, 1960 Oil on canvas 77 x 69 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, Diana Kurz's family fled Austria, first to England and then to the United States. Kurz spent her childhood in Brooklyn and Queens, New York before earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Brandeis University (1957) and received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting (1960) at Columbia University, where she studied with John Heliker, “one of the rare professors who encouraged his female students”, as Kurz later recalled. Kurz was awarded a Fulbright Grant that gave her the opportunity to live and paint in France (1965–66), where Jean Hélion became a mentor. While there, she began to paint still life compositions that incorporated both living and inanimate objects, such as vases, bowls, and porcelain figures combined with flowers and vegetables; this was Kurz’s first attempt to merge images of impermanence with ones of deeper historical relevance. After returning from France, Kurz turned to figural compositions, which had interested her since 1963. In 1968 and 1969 while at Yaddo residencies, she became close with Philip Guston, one of her idols. In the early 1970s, Kurz began painting nude figures in her SoHo studio, from direct observation, often using mirrors to reflect fragments of their bodies, as in Rosaire at Window (1972). At the same time, she was responding intuitively to color and using numerous hues in her paintings. She was influenced by Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, and was more concerned with creating a compelling composition than addressing spatial illusions. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Kurz painted studio models and portraits, often in a drawing group which included Lois Dodd, Mercedes Matter, and Philip Pearlstein. In 1981, she began an extensive exploration of still life in which she focused on arrangements of commercially produced ceramic objects, which she purchased inexpensively and chose for their lack of traditional aesthetic value. Since the late 1960s, Kurz has identified as a feminist. She participated in the Women’s March for Peace (Jeannette Rankin Brigade) in Washington, D.C., in 1968 and joined the Women's Caucus for Art in 1972. She also exhibited in all-women and feminist shows, including First Open Show of Feminist Art (1971) in New York City. She was one of thirteen contributors to The Sister Chapel, a collaborative feminist installation that celebrated female role models. Kurz painted Durga (1977), for which she painstakingly studied numerous Indian examples and an actual devotee of the Hindu goddess, but retained her own distinctive painting technique. In the early 1960s, Kurz had begun to study Chinese and Japanese philosophy, as well as Eastern religion, which had a lasting influence on her approach to life and art. Between 1989 and 2003, Kurz created Remembrance (Holocaust), a series of paintings that memorialized the members of her family murdered in the Holocaust. The large, over life-size figures were inspired by old photographs, which Kurz saw in the possession of an elderly aunt who lived in California. Instead of merely enlarging the black-and-white photographs, Kurz used her imagination to embellish them and incorporated text, letters, and other media. She used bright colors because, as she explained, “I was often struck by the irony of the fact that terrible, unspeakable things occurred while the sky was blue, the weather beautiful, birds singing, etc.” In Self-Portrait (1999), Kurz appears to stand in front of Vienna, another painting from the series. She leans with her elbows resting on a table, as if physically in the same space—for the first time—as those of her diseased relatives. As observed by Evelyn Torton Beck, Kurz’s “philosophy of painting closely parallels feminist theories of relationship and process: color is relational. Painting is very much about relationships.” In 1998, Kurz exhibited a number of paintings from her Remembrance (Holocaust) series at the Bezirksmuseum Josefstadt in her birthplace, Vienna.
  • Creator:
    Diana Kurz (1938, American, Austrian)
  • Creation Year:
    1960
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 77 in (195.58 cm)Width: 69 in (175.26 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    Unique WorkPrice: $40,000
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1841215808552

More From This Seller

View All
"R.O. #6" Diana Kurz, 1960s Reds and Greens Abstract Expressionist Painting
By Diana Kurz
Located in New York, NY
Diana Kurz R.O. #6 Oil on canvas 70 x 50 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, Diana Kurz's family fled Austria, first to England and then to...
Category

1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Two Reds #4" Diana Kurz, Red and White Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media Work
By Diana Kurz
Located in New York, NY
Diana Kurz Two Reds #4 Mixed media on paper 24 x 18 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, Diana Kurz's family fled Austria, first to England ...
Category

1960s Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

"OP #7" Diana Kurz, 1960-1961 Abstract Expressionist Vibrant Color Painting
By Diana Kurz
Located in New York, NY
Diana Kurz OP #7, 1960-61 Signed, titled, dated on verso Oil on canvas 66 x 52 1/2 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, Diana Kurz's family ...
Category

1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"White Red and Blue" Diana Kurz, 1960 Abstract Expressionist Painting
By Diana Kurz
Located in New York, NY
Diana Kurz White Red and Blue, circa 1960-61 Oil on canvas 61 1/2 x 33 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, Diana Kurz's family fled Austria...
Category

1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Thelo #8" Diana Kurz, circa 1959 Abstract Expressionist Large Oil Painting
By Diana Kurz
Located in New York, NY
Diana Kurz Thelo #8, circa 1959 Signed lower left Signature and address on verso Oil on canvas 47 x 41 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, ...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Thelo #5" Diana Kurz, circa 1959 Gestural Abstract Expressionist Painting
By Diana Kurz
Located in New York, NY
Diana Kurz Thelo #5, circa 1959 Oil on canvas 22 x 20 inches Diana Kurz (born 1936) is an Austrian-born feminist painter. In 1938, Diana Kurz's family fled Austria, first to Englan...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like

Defiant, bold predominantly red gestural abstract painting
By Cheryl Rubin
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Dramatic abstract acrylic painting Bright red and orange colors
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

'Abstract in Scarlet & Gray', Post-Painterly Abstraction, Large American Oil
By Renn Zaphiropoulos
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A substantial abstract oil comprising curvilinear and geometric rectangular shapes in shades of red, coral, and ebony overlaid on a scumbled ground of ivory, ochre, and steel-gray. ...
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mid-Century Modern Extra-Large Red Abstract Oil Painting By Kai Lindemann
Located in Frederiksberg C, DK
An extra-large red abstract composition that invigorates the bystander with its powerful red and black color play. This oil painting is an exquisite example of a mid-century modern a...
Category

1960s Post-War Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Red Abstract, London 1955 - British Abstract Expressionist art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This superb British Abstract Expressionist oil painting on board is by noted artist Bernard Kay. It was painted in London in 1955. This striking painting is a mix of shades of black ...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Metaebene XXVII - contemporary red expressionistic oil on canvas painting
Located in Hamburg, DE
"Metaebene XXVII" is a unique oil on canvas painting of German artist Willi Bucher. It depicts an abstract, metaphysical landscape in thick oil colors wi...
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Red II, Abstract Oil Painting on Canvas by Gustavo Schmidt
By Gustavo Schmidt
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Gustavo Schmidt Title: Red II Year: 2016 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed and titled verso Size: 54 x 44 inches
Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil