Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 12

Vaclav Vytlacil
Abstract Cubist Construction Collage Mid 20th Century American Modernism Cubism

1936

About the Item

Abstract Cubist Construction Collage Mid 20th Century American Modernism Cubism Vaclav Vytacil (1892 - 1984) Abstract Construction #2 Caesin on board collage 11 x 13 1/2 th inches Signed and dated 1936 Upper Right Titled verso Framed 17 3/4 x 20 1/2 inches Provenance, Labels verso: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Modernism Fine Arts Barry Friedman ltd. Martin Diamond Fine Arts BIO Vaclav Vytlacil was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézannes paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art Association beginning in 1941. He was associated with the Old Sculpin Group and often exhibited his works in its galleries on the island. He was honored with solo shows at The Carnegie Institute, Montclair Art Museum, Phillips Memorial Gallery, Krasner Gallery, University of Notre Dame, Rochester Art Gallery, and others. Vytlacil's works are included in collections at the Art Students League in New York City; the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; the Dalton School in New York; the University of Notre Dame Art Gallery in South Bend, Indiana; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City. Vaclav Vytlacil died in 1984, at age 92.
  • Creator:
    Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1936
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)Width: 21 in (53.34 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1156214152432
More From This SellerView All
  • UN Poster Design American Scene Mid 20th Century Modernism WPA World Peace
    By Jo Cain
    Located in New York, NY
    UN Poster Design American Scene Mid 20th Century Modernism WPA World Peace Jo Cain (1904 – 2003) We Are All Members of the Human Race: UN Poster Proposal 21 x...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Egg Tempera, Board

  • Abstract Mid-20th Century Oil Non Objective NYC Radio City Music Hall
    By Donald Deskey
    Located in New York, NY
    Abstract Mid-20th Century Oil Non Objective NYC Radio City Music Hall. Oil on board, 23 x 20 inches. Signed lower right. Provenance: Michael Desk...
    Category

    1970s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Board, Oil

  • Italian Abstract Work on Paper Color Field Non-Objective European Mid-Century
    By Piero Dorazio
    Located in New York, NY
    Italian Modern Abstract Work on Paper Color Field Non-Objective European Mid-Century - "Gonage" Dorazio completed "Gonage" in 1949 when just after the artist had been awarded a stipend by the French government and admission to the Academy Beaux Arts. There he met George Braque who became great friends but also an influence on Dorazio, of which "Gonage" is a living testament. "Gonage" actual size of the drawing measures 12 x 9 1/2 inches. It is signed on the lower right. The work is affixed to a 19 x 15 inch board which includes the artist's signature and date. There is a torn table on the lower left entitling the piece "Gonage". Provenance follows this piece as a gift in 1950 to the artist-colleague Luigi Lucioni, who then gifted it in 1955 to his friend, the uncle of the current owner who has owned the work since 1988. Bio Born in Italy, Piero Dorazio studied architecture in Rome. At the same time his first abstract works were executed. In 1947 he received a scholarship from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he contacted Modern artists, who lived in Paris. He founded the galleries "Age d'Or" in Florence and Rome to represent avant-garde arts in Italy. During a one year stay in the USA he got acquainted with leading artists of Abstract Expressionism such as Marc Rothko...
    Category

    1940s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Gouache, Board

  • Abstract Non Objective Mid 20th Century American Modern Color Field 1950s
    Located in New York, NY
    Abstract Non Objective Mid 20th Century American Modern Color Field 1950s James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) Abstraction 84-1/2 x 42-1/2 inches Signed and ...
    Category

    1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Red to Black, 1954 Abstract Oil Mid-20th Century Modern Non-Objective. Published
    By O. Louis Guglielmi
    Located in New York, NY
    Red to Black, 1954 Abstract Oil Mid-20th Century Modern Non-Objective. Published. Signed and dated upper left. 40 1/4 x 18 1/2 inches oil on canvas. Provenance: Estate of O. Louis Guglielmi. Robert Schoelopf Gallery. Andrew Crispo Gallery. Published in the artist's monograph as seen in the attached photos. BIO Painter O. Louis Guglielmi moved stylistically from a symbolic Social Realism, Precisionism, and Surrealism, ultimately to abstraction, but his subject matter, when it existed, dealt with society's underdogs. He had experienced slum living as a youth, moving from place to place because of his violinist father's need to find employment. Though Guglielmi was born in 1906 in Cairo, Egypt, his Italian parents moved the family to Italy. In 1914, they were living in New York City in Harlem's Italian slum. Guglielmi was involved in the political and artistic protests of the trial, conviction as anarchist bombers, and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti...
    Category

    1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Geometric Abstract American Oil WPA Color Field Abstraction Modern Non Objective
    By Walter Quirt
    Located in New York, NY
    American artist Walter Quirt painted this modernist non objective geometric abstract oil color field during the WPA era in the 1930s. Abstraction, 12 x 16 inches. Oil on canvas. Sig...
    Category

    1930s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like
  • First Floor Systems
    By Kory Twaddle
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : First Floor Systems Materials : Acrylic, tempera, gouache, paintbrushes, and mixed media on drawing paper pad back with spiral Date : 2018 Dimensions ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Impressionist Mixed Media

    Materials

    Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, ...

  • Nerve Center
    By Kory Twaddle
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Nerve Center Materials : Acrylic, gouache, postage stamps, and mixed media on paper Date : 2018 Dimensions : 24 x 36 x 0.3 inches Kory Twaddle is a Ka...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Geometric Mixed Media

    Materials

    Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, Cardboard, Newsprint, Pencil, Color Pencil...

  • California Monoprint
    By Kory Twaddle
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : California Monoprint Materials : Tempera on paper Date : 2008 Dimensions : 36 x 24 x .1 in. Kory Twaddle is a Kansas City based artist and Research A...
    Category

    Early 2000s Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, ...

  • Map from Home to Kaz's Gallery
    By Kory Twaddle
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Map from Home to Kaz's Gallery Materials : Oil, acrylic, charcoal, conté crayon, oil pastel, pastel, paper, marker, and mixed media on paper Date : 200...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media

    Materials

    Color Pencil, Graphite, Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acryli...

  • Children Cell Mitosis Library Series
    By Kory Twaddle
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Children Cell Mitosis Library Series Materials : Acrylic, string, paper book shelf label, and mixed media on foam core Date : 2019 Dimensions : 38 x 24...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, ...

  • Art...How To Cell Mitosis Library
    By Kory Twaddle
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Art...How To Cell Mitosis Library Materials : Acrylic, hair ties, bread ties, postage stamps, paper book shelf label, and mixed media on foam core Date...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, ...

Recently Viewed

View All