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John LittleJohn Little "Blue Nocturne" Abstract Oil Painting1955 - 1970
1955 - 1970
About the Item
"Blue Nocturne" is full of rich deep blues contrasted by oranges, red, black and white. The abstract composition is bursting with energy that pours out of the painting and beyond the picture frame. It is signed on the lower right front corner. The address of his design gallery in New York is stamped on Verso and is also burned into the wood stretcher. Frame measures 29" h x 36" w.
John Little was born in Alabama and as a teenager attended the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy now known as the Albert Knox Art Gallery founded in 1862 and one of the oldest art galleries in the United States. The collections are of more modern pieces showing styles of abstract expressionism, pop art. Art of the 1970s through the end of the century can also be found and represented by artists such as Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, and Andy Warhol. Additionally, the gallery is also rich in various pieces of post-war American and European art their contemporary collection includes pieces by artists such as Kiki Smith, Allan Graham, Georg Baselitz, John Connell, and Per Kirkeby.
He attended the Art Student League with George Grosz, painting mainly Cezannesque landscapes. In 1937 he started working with Hans Hofmann in both New York and Provincetown, which pushed him towards abstraction and his first serious involvement as a painter. At Hofmann’s school he met artists such as Lee Krasner, George McNeil, Gerome Kamrowski, Giorgio Cavallon and Perle Fine.
In 1942 he became a naval serial photographer returning to New York after the war and moved into Hans Hofmann’s 8th Street studio where his neighbors were Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. The paintings of the late 1940s reveal great experimentation and a growing interest in both Surrealist automatism, Picasso and the theories of Hans Hofmann. In 1946 he had a one-man show at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francsico with a follow-up solo show at Betty Parsons. It was about this time that he had two main exhibitions with Jackson Pollock that travel across the U.S.
In the 1950s he began painting in thick, gestural buildup of paint and started a series of constructions created from driftwood and beach-coming detritus. Little and Pollock had a joint exhibition in 1955 at Guild Hall. He helped found the Signa Gallery, an important outpost in East Hampton for the growing New York art scene. Little had solo exhibitions at, among others, Betty Parsons Gallery, Bertha Schaefer Gallery, Worth Ryder Gallery, A.M. Sachs Gallery, and the Guild Hall Museum. His work is part of the permanent collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guild Hall Museum, Ball State University Museum of Art and Galerie Beyeler among others.
- Creator:John Little (1907-1984, American)
- Creation Year:1955 - 1970
- Dimensions:Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:A little crackling on surface.
- Gallery Location:Detroit, MI
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU128615463761
John Little
Born in Alabama, John Little attended the Buffalo (NY) Fine Arts Academy as a teenager, until 1927. Soon after, he moved to New York where he began operatic vocal training and opened what would become a very successful textile business designing fabric and wallpaper. In 1933, he enrolled at the Art Students League under the tutelage of George Grosz. Little’s early work consisted predominantly of landscapes, until 1937, when he began studying under Hans Hofmann and his work naturally shifted toward abstraction. During his time with Hofmann, he with artists such as Lee Krasner, George McNeil, Gerome Kamrowski, Giorgio Cavallon, and Perle Fine. Little entered the the service in 1942 as an aerial photographer for the Navy. Returning to New York after the war and with nowhere to stay, he reconnected with Hofmann and moved into his 8th Street studio, alongside his friend Lee Krasner and her husband Jackson Pollock. In 1946, Little earned his first solo exhibition at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, with a subsequent solo exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery in New York two years later. In the early 1950s, Little abandoned the flat, linear style in favor of a new aesthetic consisting of the thick, gestural buildup of paint. This stylistic change was concurrent with his move to East Hampton In 1951. This enabled him to continue a close friendship with Krasner and Pollock, who had already left the city in favor of the more rural area around East Hampton. Little and Pollock had a joint exhibition in 1955 at Guild Hall, one year before Pollock’s tragic death. John Little exhibited extensively during his career, with solo shows at Betty Parsons Gallery (1948), Bertha Schaefer Gallery (1957, 1958), Worth Ryder Gallery (1963), A.M. Sachs Gallery (1971), and a retrospective at the Guild Hall Museum (1982). His work can be found in many private, institutional, and corporate collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guild Hall Museum, Ball State University Museum of Art, and Galerie Beyeler.
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