Enrico Donati

No Exit

1974

Signed lower right. Description An example of Scarlett’s abstract drip painting, this untitled work has linear and geometric elements rendered in shades of black, rose, and blue and...

Signed lower right Agnes Hart was born in Meridan, Connecticut. She studied at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida; at Iowa State University with Josef Presser, Paul Burlin and Lucile...

Signed lower right and a double sided painting.

Signed & dated verso, 1992 Enrico Donati, a surrealist and abstract expressionist painter, was born in Milan, Italy in 1909 and died in Manhattan on April 25, 2008. He was known for his association with the surrealist movement of the 1940's, but his artwork continued to transform itself through the many trends that have occurred during his long career. In Italy he attended the Universita degli Studi in Pavia where he studied economics. In 1934, he moved to the United States settling in New York where he studied at the New School for Social Research and the Art Students' League. Considered the surviving dean of the Surrealist Movement and a member of the New York School, Donati painted with Ernst, Matta and Tanguy in the thirties and forties, and in particular with Andre Breton, regarded by many to be the grand master of Surrealism. He helped organize the Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme in Paris in 1947 where he exhibited three of his pieces. The Surrealists were known to avoid presenting or representing reality, and put the emphasis on invention and creativity by uncovering the poetic aspect of life with its kaleidoscopic multidimensional images, using reality only to enhance imagination. Donati survived the decline of Surrealism in the late 1940's by adapting his style to current art trends as he worked with new materials and textures throughout the 1950's. One trend with which he became involved was Abstract Expressionism, which originated in the 1940s, and became popular in the 1950s. It was a movement in which artists typically applied paint, rapidly and with force, to large canvases, in an effort to show feelings and emotions. Paint might be applied with large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing it onto canvas. Abstract Expressionist work is characterized by a strong dependence on what appears to be accident and chance, although it is actually highly planned. Donati held a retrospective at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1961 and went on to exhibit at the Betty Parsons Gallery with other forerunners of American Abstract Expressionism: Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Jackson Pollock. It was at this time that Donati created some of his most inventive and extraordinary work, some of which was featured in a survey exhibition at the Alter & Gil Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, in January 2000. He has held many teaching positions and has been an active lecturer, while continuing to add to his artistic repertoire. From 1960 to 1962 he was a Visiting Lecturer at Yale University, and from 1962 to 1972 a Member of the Yale University Council for the Arts and Architecture. He has had seventy-five one-man shows, among them an exhibit of new paintings at the Maxwell Davidson Gallery (57th St., New York) in the fall of 1997. Donati's work is held in collections throughout the world, and his work has appeared in over 300 articles and publications, two hard cover books...

Contemporary blue toned gestural abstract expressionist painting by Houston based artist Kristi Haines Herman. The work features layers of swirling brushwork in tones of blue, peach, and white. Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse. Currently unframed, but options are available. Artist Biography: As an abstract painter, Kristi Haines Herman, uses her artwork to execute ideas and two-dimensional environments that create an emotional experience for the viewer. Her paintings are inspired by personal involvements and reactions to them. Phrases and words ruminate in her mind and slowly turn into abstracted figures that convey her inner thoughts. Haines Herman is highly influenced by movement as her artistic expression due to many years in dance. Movement is depicted through various gestural lines, shapes, and texture which allow the audience to venture through the canvas; thus a visual dance from one edge to another on the painting’s surface. Ballet was Haines Herman’s first love in the art world, starting at age five. She learned to use body movement as an outward expression which allowed her to explore various audience reactions. This would later correlate with her artwork. In her late teens, dance and visual art would intertwine with time on stage as well as painting for expression. Gradually, visual art became her primary artistic avenue. Haines Herman attended Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, where she majored in studio art under professors Frank Hobbs...

Stanley Boxer devoted nearly five decades to the development of an expressive, abstract practice, encompassing drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. “In the manufacture of my art, I u...

“Birds Nest Fern” is a captivating original abstract painting that seamlessly blends nature’s beauty with the artist’s unique vision. Created with a masterful hand using mixed media ...

Marc Raphael’s "Café Mocha" is a captivating abstract drip painting that channels the energy of action painting into a palette of rich, earthy tones. This composition is an ideal sta...