Gloria Vanderbilt

"Girls in White, " Gloria Vanderbilt, Three Sisters, American Modernism, Society

2005

Albert Heckman Untitled, circa 1950 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 21 1/4 x 29 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to try his hand at the art world in 1915 after graduating from high school and landing a job at the Meadville Post Office. In 1917, at the age of 24, Heckman enrolled part-time in Teachers' College, Columbia University's Fine Arts Department to begin his formal art education. He worked as a freelance ceramic and textile designer and occasionally as a lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the early 1920s, at the age of almost 30, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia Teachers College. He was especially impacted by his instructor at Columbia, Arthur Wesley Dow. After graduating, he was hired by the Teachers' College as a Fine Arts instructor. He stayed with Columbia Teachers' College until 1929, when he left to attend the Leipzig Institute of Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany. Isami Doi (1903-1965), who was born in Hawaii, was arguably his most impressive student at Columbia. Doi is now regarded as one of the most prominent artists hailing from Hawaii. Heckman became an active member and officer of the Keramic Society and Design Guild of New York in the 1920s as part of his early commercial art career. The Society's mission was to share knowledge and showcase textile and ceramic design exhibits. In 1922, Heckman married Florence Hardman, a concert violinist. Mrs. Heckman's concert schedule during the 1920s kept Albert and Florence Heckman apart for a significant portion of the time, but they spent what little time they had together designing and building their Woodstock, New York, summer house and grounds. A small house and an acre of surrounding land on Overlook Mountain, just behind the village of Woodstock, were purchased by Albert and Florence Heckman at the time of their marriage. Their Woodstock home, with its connections, friendships, and memories, became a central part of their lives over the years, even though they had an apartment in New York City. Heckman's main artistic focus shifted to the house on Overlook Mountain and the nearby towns and villages, Kingston, Eddyville, and Glasco. After returning from the Leipzig Institute of Graphic Arts in 1930, Mr. Heckman joined Hunter College as an assistant professor of art. He worked there for almost thirty years, retiring in 1956. Throughout his tenure at Hunter, Mr. Heckman and his spouse spent the summers at their Woodstock residence and the winters in New York City. They were regular and well-known guests at the opera and art galleries in New York. Following his retirement in 1956, the Heckmans settled in Woodstock permanently, with occasional trips to Florida or Europe during the fall and winter. Mr. Heckman's close friends and artistic career were always connected to Woodstock or New York City. He joined the Woodstock art group early on and was greatly influenced by artists like Paul and Caroline Rohland, Emil Ganso, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Andre Ruellan, and her husband, Jack Taylor. Heckman operated a summer art school in Woodstock for several years in the 1930s with support from Columbia University, where these and other Woodstock artists gave guest lectures. The Potter's Shop in New York City hosted Mr. Heckman's first art show in December 1928. The exhibit received some positive reviews from critics. The American Institute of Graphic Arts chose the plate of "Wehlen, Saxony" as one of the "Fifty Prints of the Year in 1929." There were sixteen etchings displayed. The remaining plates depicted scenes in Saxony, Germany, while five of the plates were based on scenes in Rondout, New York. Heckman started switching from etching to black and white lithography by the early 1930s. A lifelong admirer of Heckman's artwork, Mr. Gustave von Groschwitz organized a significant exhibition of Heckman etchings and lithographs at the Ferargil Gallery in New York City in 1933. The exhibition traveled to the Stendahl Galleries in Los Angeles (May 1933), the Charles Lessler Gallery in Philadelphia (May 1933), J.L. Hudson in Detroit (June 1933), and Gumps in San Francisco (July 1933). Together with his early etchings, the exhibition featured brand-new black and white lithographs depicting scenes in and around Woodstock as well as "A View from Tudor City...

Georgina Klitgaard Catskill Mountains Signed lower right Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches Georgina Klitgaard’s art has sometimes gotten lost in the critical propensity to assign artist...

Whimsical wood assemblage/sculpture of a cat and man looking out a window with reclaimed shutters by Daniel Albert Harris (Hungarian/American, 1914-1984), circa 1970. Signed lower center below shutter "ZEV". Purchased as part of a collection of his works. Size: 48"H x 32"W x 5.25"D. By listed artist Daniel Albert Harris (Hungarian/American, 1914-1984) who adopted the name of Zev, which means 'Wolf' in Hungarian. Born Daniel Harris and adopting the name of Zev, he studied at the Masters Institute of the Roerich Museum in Hungary, in New York City at the National Academy of Design, and at New York University, where he also taught for two years. His artistic talents were discovered by Grace McCann Morley of California in the early 1940's, and she invited him to exhibit in the Abstract & Surrealist Art in America exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1944. Zev built a fantasy structure in Big Sur, California called "Crazy Crescent" which has since been condemned by city officials. He also illustrated Eugene Walter's book Singerie-Songerie, a version of Hamlet for monkeys. Harris changed his name to ZEV, which means 'wolf' in Hungarian, when he moved to Europe in 1953. He first went to Paris, then Spain where he created huge sculptures for a villa in Spain, and then Rome where he died in 1984. SOLO EXHIBITIONS San Francisco Museum of Art, 1947 Pinacotheca Gallery (Rose Fried...

Discover a striking original modernist portrait by Eunice Katz (1927–2008). This captivating acrylic painting on board features a woman’s portrait, rendered in a bold palette of rich...