Gabriela Tolomei

Contemporary Painting "Dreaming Sunset" by Gabriela Tolomei

2015

Alexander Raymond Katz (Hungarian-American, 1895-1974) initialed l.r. "A.R.K." inscribed verso "Prayer Tree", A Raymond Katz." Sight size: 39-3/4"h x 30"w Overall: 40-3/4"h x 30-3/4"w This is done in an Abstract Expressionist style with bold enamel like paint and applied ceramic or glass iridescent mosaic tiles. Alexander Raymond Katz, Hungarian / American (1895 – 1974) Alexander Raymond Katz was born in Kassa, Hungary, and came to the United States in 1909. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In the late 1920s, he worked as a director of the Poster Department at Paramount Studios. He was appointed the Director of Posters for the Chicago Civic Opera in 1930. A WPA muralist, illustrator and modernist painter especially known for paintings with Jewish themes and narrative American scene works. Many notable Jewish artists worked for the WPA amongst them Ben Shahn, William Gropper, Aaron Bohrod and many more. During the Great Depression, notable architect Frank Lloyd Wright urged Katz to become a muralist. In 1933, he was commissioned to paint a mural for the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. In 1936, he painted the mural History of the Immigrant for the Madison, Ill., post office. Katz’s works were included in various exhibitions and now are part of several museum collections, including those of the Art Institute of Chicago; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Jewish Museum, New York. His murals, bas-reliefs and stained glass designs adorn more than 200 Jewish synagogues in the United States. Katz and other Jewish artists in Chicago who expressed Jewish and Biblical themes were inspired by the artist Abel Pann (1883-1963). Pann, who is regarded as the leading painter of the Land of Israel, exhibited in the Art Institute of Chicago in 1920. Early in his career, Katz began to explore the artistic possibilities inherent in the characters of the Hebrew alphabet. He developed aesthetic and philosophical interpretations of each letter and became the leading innovator and pioneer in the field of Hebraic art. Katz applies this concept in the woodcut Moses and the Burning Bush. Hebrew letters appears in Moses’ head, his cane and inside the flame. The initial of Moses’ name crowns his head. The letter in the flame is the first letter of the name of God. A combination of images and Hebrew letters appeared commonly in illustrations of the scene Moses and the Burning Bush in the Haggadah, the book of Passover. The symbolism of the burning bush corresponds to the motifs of A Gift to Biro-Bidjan. Among the fourteen participating artists were notable Chicago modernists Todros Geller, Mitchell Siporin, A. Raymond Katz, David Bekker...

Large Black, yellow and red minimal abstract painting with bicycles. The work is signed by the artist, Francis d'Estaing, in the bottom corner. The work...

Black and peach tonal abstract painting with a crushed toy car attached to the surface of the canvas. The work is signed by the artist in the b...

Primary tonal painting with toy cars attached to the surface. The work is signed by the artist, Francis d'Estaing, in the bottom corner of the painting. The artist board is framed in...

Mixed Media primary tonal painting with two metal cars attached to the surface. The work is painted in yellow and red tones. The painting is signed by the ar...

Large minimal abstract painting with a green background. Attached to the surface are two toy cars surrounded by red paint and four wired bicycles surrounded in blue. The work is sign...