John Way

Abstract Composition

1963

BUDD HOPKINS (1931-2011) Untitled Abstract, 1964 Oil on paper on canvas 14 x 11 inches Signed and dated at lower right: Hopkins ‘64 Budd Hopkins was born in Wheeling, West Vi...

RAY DONARSKI (1935-1996) Swing, 1966 Oil on canvas 17 ½ x 17 ½ inches Signed, dated and inscribed verso: ‘Swing’ / Ray Donarski / 2/66 / 17 ½ x 17 ½ / For Mr. & Mrs. Passerman / New York 1966 Original frame Ray Donarski was one of a group of artists in New York known as the Bowery Boys during the early sixties. The group included Eva Hesse, Robert Mangold, Jack Youngerman, and Robert Rauschenberg among others. He is mentioned in several of art critic Lucy Lippard's articles on New York conceptual artists and Bowery Boy artists of that period. Donarski was a close friend of artist James Rosenquist. They had studied together at the Art Students League in New York. In January of 1962 Donarski helped Rosenquist set up his first solo exhibition at the Green Gallery in New York. In his book, Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art, Rosenquist recalls sitting on the floor with Donarski before opening night wondering if anyone would show up. The show sold out before it opened. When Rosenquist was broke and homeless in 1955 his friend Donarski told him he knew of a great job as a chauffeur and bartender for some very wealthy people. They went up to see them and split the job. Rosenquist took it for a year, and after a year, he gave it to Donarski. In an interview with Rosenquist he said “I lived in the lap of luxury with very little money, and was a chauffeur bopping around in a ’56 Lincoln town car and a ’56 Lincoln convertible with big fins on the car (laughs), great big fins. I did that for a year and then transferred into the International Sign Painters.” Donarski married Mary Lou Storm and had two children. He became known as the “American in Luxembourg”, dividing his time between New York and summers in Luxembourg, where he was represented by Galerie Paul Bruck and Galerie Horn. He also exhibited at the Westport Gallery...

HENRY BOTKIN (1896-1983) Medley, 1958 Oil on paperboard on board 44 x 34 inches Signed at lower left: Botkin Signed, titled and dated verso

HENRY BOTKIN (1896-1983) Untitled, c. 1954 Oil on board 40 x 30 inches Signed at lower right: Botkin Signed verso

GRACE HILL TURNBULL (1880-1976) Waterfall (Woodstock, New York), c. 1925 Oil on canvas 14 x 20 inches Unsigned PROVENANCE The Maryland Historical Society The work of pai...

PHILIP PERKINS (1907-1970) Space Travel, 1945 Oil on canvas 10 x 8 ¼ inches Dated on canvas verso: 1945 Titled on stretcher bar: Space Travel Unsigned Philip Perkins was bor...

Oil, pastel, and paper collage on canvas. Signed and dated verso. 52.75 x 47.75 in. 54 x 49 in. (framed) Gilded floater frame. Provenance Compass Rose, Chicago Born Sylvan Irwin Goldberg in 1924 and raised in the Bronx, Michael Goldberg was an important figure in American Abstract Expressionism, who began taking art classes at the Art Students League in 1938. A gifted student, Goldberg finished high school at the age of 14 and enrolled in City College. He soon found New York’s jazz scene to be a more compelling environment, and he began skipping classes in favor of the Harlem jazz clubs near campus. Goldberg’s love of jazz would become a lifelong passion and a key component to his approach to composition in his paintings. From 1940 to 1942, like many of the leading artists of the New York School, Goldberg studied with Hans Hofmann. In 1943, he put his pursuit of painting on hold and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Serving in North Africa, Burma, and India, Goldberg received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star before being discharged in 1946. After his service, he traveled and worked in Venezuela before returning to the United States, settling back in New York and resuming studies with Hofmann and at the Art Students League. Living downtown and frequenting the Cedar Bar, Goldberg befriended many of the artists of the New York School. In 1951, his work was included in the groundbreaking Ninth Street Show, co-organized by Leo Castelli, Conrad Marca-Relli, and the Eighth Street Club, and featuring the work of - among others - Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. In 1953, the Tibor de Nagy...

This vibrant artwork by late Houston artist Dick Wray is an abstract oil painting in the style of abstract expressionism. Thick layers of paint foster a remarkable tactility commonly...

This abstract oil painting by late Houston artist Dick Wray expresses a striking kinetic energy. Thick layers of paint foster a remarkable tactility commonly found in Dick Wray’s art...

This abstract oil painting by late Houston artist Dick Wray expresses a striking kinetic energy. Thick layers of paint foster a remarkable tactility commonly found in Dick Wray’s art...

This abstract oil painting by late Houston artist Dick Wray exhibits a striking kinetic energy. Thick layers of paint foster a remarkable tactility commonly found in Dick Wray’s artw...

This vibrant artwork by late Houston artist Dick Wray is an abstract oil painting in the style of abstract expressionism. Thick layers of paint foster a remarkable tactility commonly...