Virginia Dehn

Untitled

c. 1950s

Nature's Printing Press Gouache, tempera, pigments and ink on masonite board, 1967 Signed lower left corner (see photo) Thompson was part of the late 1960’s Black Emergency Cultural Coalition along with Benny Andrews The Black Emergency Cultural Coalition Inc. (BECC) was organized in January 1969 by a group of African American artists in response to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Harlem on My Mind" exhibit, which omitted the contributions of African American painters and sculptors to the Harlem community. Part of a series of works the artist created in 1967. The tree motifs vary as does the color of the background. Please see photo of another work from the series. Condition: Excellent/very good Three tiny while flecks in the green border of the painting Image size: 10 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches Painting board size: 20 x 16 inches Frame size: 25 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches Russ Thompson (Born 1922- Jamaica Part of the late 1960’s Black Emergency Cultural Coalition along with Benny Andrews The Black Emergency Cultural Coalition Inc. (BECC) was organized in January 1969 by a group of African American artists in response to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Harlem on My Mind" exhibit, which omitted the contributions of African American painters and sculptors to the Harlem community. Members of this initial group that protested against the exhibit included several prominent African American artists, including Benny Andrews and Clifford R. Joseph, cofounders of the BECC. The primary goal of the group was to agitate for change in the major art museums in New York City for greater representation of African American artists and their work in these museums. Studied: Pratt Inst.; Carlyle College; NY Sch. Mod. Photography Exhibited: MoMA; BM, 1968; Nordness Gals., NYC; Phila. Civic Center; Ruder & Finn FA, 1969; Smithsonian Inst.; Mount Holyoke College, 1969; BMFA, 1970; RISD, 1969; Mem. Art Gal., Rochester, NY, 1969; SFMA, 1969; Contemp. Arts Mus., Houston, TX, 1970; NJ State Mus., 1970; Roberson Center for the Arts & Sciences, Binghampton, NY, 1970; UC Santa Barbara, 1970; Plaza Hotel, NYC; Westchester Art Soc. Gal. (prize); Nassau Community College; Brooklyn Pub. Lib.; Allentown (PA) Art Festival; Quinnipiac College, CT; Parrish Art Mus.; NY State Pavillion; Huntington Township Art Lg. Awards: Mitchell College, CT; BM; Armonk Lib. Show Award; Bedford Hills Lib. Show Award. Sources: Cederholm, Afro-American Artists. Public Collections: Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Brooklyn Museum Museum of Modern Art, New York Smithsonian American Art Museum Exhibitions: MOMA Brooklyn Museum, 1968 Nordness Galleries, NYC Smithsonian Institution Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1970 Rhode Island School of Design, 1969 San Francisco Museum of Art, 1969 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1970 Parrish Art Museum Courtesy of Afro-American Artist; a biographical directory THOMPSON, RUSS (Born Jamaica, 1922) Painter. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, 1922. Studied at the Pratt Institute; Carlyle College; New York School of Modern Photography. Works: Cloud Flowers ; My Breath Is One with the Clouds ; The Acrobats; Relatives; Thoreau; Clothes to the Body; America- Amer- ica; Hanging Garden; Poor Room, Rich Room; Epigram a Bromide; Passage, 1969 (wood, epoxy, iron). Exhibited: Museum of Modern Art; Brooklyn Museum Fence Show, 1968; Nordness Gal- leries, NY; Phila. Civic Center; Ruder & Finn Fine Arts, 1969; Smithsonian Institution; Mount Holyoke College, 1969; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1970; Rhode Island School of Design, 1969; Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, 1969; San Francisco Museum of Art, 1969; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1970; NJ State Museum, 1970; Roberson Center for the Arts & Sciences, Binghamton, NY, 1970; Art Galleries, Univ. of Cal. at Santa Barbara, 1970; Plaza Hotel, NYC; Westchester Art So- ciety Gallery; Nassau Community College; Brooklyn Public Library; Allentown (Pa.) Art Festival; Quinnipiac College; Parrish Art Mu- seum; NY State Pavillion; Huntington Town- ship Art League. Collections: Frederick Douglass Institute, Wash- ington, DC; Spiro & Levinson Corp.; Mr. William Haber; Mr. & Mrs. B. Friedman; Mr. & Mrs. Samuel J. Rosen; Mr. David Scribner; Unigraphic Corp.; Mr. Benny An- drews; Jeanne Paris; Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Strauss. Awards: Westchester Art Society; Mitchell College, Conn.; Brooklyn Museum; Armonk Library Show Award; Bedford Hills Library Show Award. Sources: Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Afro- American Artists: New York/ Boston, 1970; Nordness Galleries. 12 Afro-American Artists, 1969; Mount Holyoke College. Ten Afro- American Artists, 1969; Ghent, Henri. “The Community Art Gallery,” Art Gallery, April 1970; Paris, Jean. “Black Art Experience in Art,” Long Island Press, Jamaica, NY, June 14, 1970; Ruder & Finn Fine Arts. Contemporary Black Artists’, Brooklyn College. Afro-Amer- ican Artists: Since 1950, 1969; Walker, Roslyn. A Resource Guide to the Visual Arts of Afro- Americans, South Bend, Ind., 1971. NEW YORK (NY). Acts of Art, Inc. Rebuttal to Whitney Museum Exhibition: Black Artists in Rebuttal at Acts of Art Gallery. 1971. Unpag. (20 pp.) exhib. cat., 54 b&w illus., brief biogs. of 48 artists. The text consists of an unsigned foreword (probably by Nigel L. Jackson, director of Acts of Art); a reprint of Z. D. Allen's review of the exhibition, "Rebuttal to the Whitney," from Chelsea Clinton News (Apr. 15, 1971). The catalogue was published after the show opened. Artists included: Benny Andrews, James Belfon, Betty Blayton, Lynn (Chuck) Bowers, Vivian Browne, Calvin Burnett, Jo Butler, Robert Carter, Art Coppedge, Adger Cowans...

Kandahar Acrylic and mixed media on fabric, c. 1970 Signed by the artist lower right (see photo) Kandahar is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country next to Pakistan. Inspired by the Dehns visit to Afghanistan in the 1960's. Provenance: Estate of the Artist Dehn Heirs Condition: Excellent Canvas size: 18 x 20 inches Virginia Dehn From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Virginia Dehn Virginia Dehn in her studio in Santa Fe Virginia Dehn (née Engleman) (October 26, 1922 – July 28, 2005) was an American painter and printmaker. Her work was known for its interpretation of natural themes in almost abstract forms. She exhibited in shows and galleries throughout the U.S. Her paintings are included in many public collections. Life Dehn was born in Nevada, Missouri on October 26, 1922.] Raised in Hamden, Connecticut, she studied at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri before moving to New York City. She met the artist Adolf Dehn while working at the Art Students League. They married in November 1947. The two artists worked side by side for many years, part of a group of artists who influenced the history of 20th century American art. Their Chelsea brownstone was a place where artists, writers, and intellectuals often gathered. Early career Virginia Dehn studied art at Stephens College in Missouri before continuing her art education at the Traphagen School of Design, and, later, the Art Students League, both located in New York City. In the mid-1940s while working at the Associated American Artists gallery, she met lithographer and watercolorist Adolf Dehn. Adolf was older than Virginia, and he already enjoyed a successful career as an artist. The two were married in 1947 in a private ceremony at Virginia's parents house in Wallingford, Connecticut. Virginia and Adolf Dehn The Dehns lived in a Chelsea brownstone on West 21st Street where they worked side by side. They often hosted gatherings of other influential artists and intellectuals of the 20th century. Among their closest friends were sculptor Federico Castellón and his wife Hilda; writer Sidney Alexander and his wife Frances; artists Sally and Milton Avery; Ferol and Bill Smith, also an artist; and Lily and Georges Schreiber, an artist and writer. Bob Steed and his wife Gittel, an anthropologist, were also good friends of the Dehns. According to friend Gretchen Marple Pracht, "Virginia was a glamorous and sophisticated hostess who welcomed visitors to their home and always invited a diverse crowd of guests..." Despite their active social life, the two were disciplined artists, working at their easels nearly daily and taking Saturdays to visit galleries and view new work. The Dehns made annual trips to France to work on lithographs at the Atelier Desjobert in Paris. Virginia used a bamboo pen to draw directly on the stone for her lithographs, which often depicted trees or still lifes. The Dehns' other travels included visits to Key West, Colorado, Mexico, and countries such as Greece, Haiti, Afghanistan, and India. Dehn's style of art differend greatly from that of her husband, though the two sometimes exhibited together. A friend of the couple remarked, "Adolf paints landscapes; Virginia paints inscapes." Virginia Dehn generally painted an interior vision based on her feelings for a subject, rather than a literal rendition of it.] Many of her paintings consist of several layers, with earlier layers showing through. She found inspiration in the Abstract Expressionism movement that dominated the New York and Paris art scenes in the 1950s. Some of her favorite artists included Adolf Gottileb, Rothko, William Baziotes, Pomodoro, and Antonio Tapies. Dehn most often worked with bold, vibrant colors in large formats. Her subjects were not literal, but intuitive. She learned new techniques of lithography from her husband Adolf, and did her own prints. Texture was very important to her in her work. Her art was influenced by a variety of sources. In the late 1960s she came across a book that included photographs of organic patterns of life as revealed under a microscope. These images inspired her to change the direction of some of her paintings. Other influences on Dehn's art came from ancient and traditional arts of various cultures throughout the world, including Persian miniatures, illuminated manuscripts, Dutch still life painting, Asian art, ancient Egyptian artifacts...

Untitled Acrylic on canvas collage embedded with glitter and gold and sliver leaf, 2005 Unsigned Provenance: Estate of the Artist Condition: Excellent Image size: 6 x 6 15/16 inches ...

Untitled Acrylic and gold leaf collage on canvas, 2005 Unsigned Provenance: Estate of the Artist Condition: Excellent Image size: 10 13/16 x 8 5/8 inches Support Sheet size: 17 x 14 ...