Walter QuirtStrong Mancirca 1939-40
circa 1939-40
About the Item
- Creator:Walter Quirt (1902 - 1968, American)
- Creation Year:circa 1939-40
- Dimensions:Height: 2.063 in (5.24 cm)Width: 2.125 in (5.4 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:This is a wearable artwork, in that the painting is housed in a frame, has a pin back, and has a protective (plastic?) covering over the artwork. For all purposes, it is in excellent, original condition.
- Gallery Location:Concord, MA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3543790571
Walter Quirt
Walter Quirt was an American artist born on November 24, 1902, in Iron River. He studied art at the Layton School of Art in Wisconsin from 1921–23 and later at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire in 1928. He was one of the most vital and active figures of the New York avant-garde art world of the 1930s. He worked for the Works Project Administration painting murals in the mid-1930s. He later moved to Minneapolis and taught art at the University of Minnesota from 1956–68. Early in his career, Quirt painted the social problems of his time in a realistic style. He also involved himself in left-wing causes by illustrating political magazines, such as The Masses and by joining radical artist groups. Quirt was a member of the John Reed Club. After working with socialist themes for many years, Quirt became one of the first American artists to experiment with Surrealism. By the time the Museum of Modern Art held its landmark 1936 exhibition on Surrealism, Walter Quirt was already defining his approach to Surrealism that had been displayed first as early as 1933. Quirt's attitude was that Salvador Dali and others had not taken full advantage of the possibilities that Surrealism offered and that artists using free association to explore the language of emotions on problems the public feels but has not the means for projecting into actualities was a positive move. Quirt's painting reflects a subliminal consciousness that is based on Hegelian theories of metaphysics and psychoanalysis and James Joyce’s literature. Quirt's dreams supplied this disturbing theatrical imagery of interlacing color and distorted clown figures. Quirt's style shifted late in his New York career when he abandoned the social realist politics and imagery that had dominated his early years as an artist and activist. One possible source for this new manner of imagery after the social realism that had dominated his earlier career might have been Roberto Matta's first one-person exhibition at Julien Levy Gallery in 1940. Almost certainly, Quirt would have seen these paintings that incorporated staining, overlays, wiping, lines of straight and smeared character and multi-faceted forms. Many of Quirt's paintings of this period follow this active and colorful format. Quirt's painting shows fragmented, sometimes ‘harlequin-esque’ figures. In doing so, he makes a uniquely American Surreal picture that, at the same time, resonates with the work of many European émigrés who had recently fled to America to escape Nazi persecution. He had a retrospective exhibition of his work in 1960 through the American Federation of Arts and he showed during his career at the Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Quirt died on March 19, 1968, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Concord, MA
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Goldie’s DreamBy Gregory GillespieLocated in Concord, MAGREGORY GILLESPIE (1936-2000) Goldie’s Dream, 1999 Oil on panel 20 1/8 x 19 5/8 inches Signed verso: Greg Gillespie Original frame PROVENANCE Forum Gallery, New York, New York (label verso) Nielson Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts (label verso) EXHIBITED Forum Gallery, New York, Gregory Gillespie: New Works, December 2 - 31, 1999 Gregory Gillespie, an artist whose probing, urgent, often bizarre paintings occupied a singular place in the history of late-20th-century representational art committed suicide in 2000 at the age of sixty-four. His art was known for an obsessive attention to realistic detail, but the term realist fit only a narrow swath of his sensibility. He once told an interviewer that he was seeking a reality ''beyond our sense,'' and he pursued it with a variety of artistic styles, techniques and references. He mixed his realism with Expressionist distortion and Surrealistic juxtaposition, just as he supplemented his meticulously applied oil paint with roiling brushwork, photomontage, collage, assemblage, thickly built-up surfaces and, recently, photocopied images. He also found inspiration in several centuries of European painters, including Balthus, Bacon, Beckmann, Bosch, Breugel, Van Eyck, Masaccio and Crivelli. He drew from, and frequently depicted motifs from, Indian sculpture, Tibetan mandalas...Category
1990s Surrealist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsPanel, Oil
- UntitledBy Alton PickensLocated in Concord, MAALTON PICKENS (1917-1991) Untitled, 1955 Oil on canvas 44 ¼ x 33 ½ inches Signed and dated at lower left: PICKENS / 55 Partial label on the verso: ACA Galleries, New York, New Y...Category
1950s Surrealist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- Seeking a FutureBy Philip EvergoodLocated in Concord, MAPHILIP EVERGOOD (1901-1973) Seeking a Future, 1952 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 inches Signed and dated at lower left: Philip Evergood / 52 Heydenryk frame PROVENANCE Alfredo Valent...Category
1950s American Modern Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
- Woman and Rock, 1975By Scott PriorLocated in Concord, MASCOTT PRIOR (born 1949) Woman and Rock, 1975 Oil on masonite 11 x 13 3/8 inches Signed and dated verso: Prior 1975 Framed PROVENANCE The artist Ann and Graham Gund, Cambridge, Mas...Category
1970s American Realist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Frances and Ruth Jennings in a Field of FlowersLocated in Concord, MAMABEL E. DICKINSON POND (1869-1960) Frances and Ruth Jennings in a Field of Flowers, 1909 Oil on canvas on paperboard 7 x 5 inches Signed at lower right: M. E. Dickinson Inscribed v...Category
Early 1900s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil
- The JuryBy Mervin JulesLocated in Concord, MAMERVIN JULES (1912-1994) The Jury, c.1940’s Oil on board 14 x 15 1/8 inches Signed at lower left: JULES PROVENANCE ACA Galleries, New York, NY EXHIBITED Cahoon Museum...Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings
MaterialsOil, Board
- Six of Swords, Oil PaintingBy Rachel SrinivasanLocated in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Part of her series about the divinatory meanings of the swords tarot cards, artist Rachel Srinivasan paints a minotaur with blades and a caduceus. She feature...Category21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist More Art
MaterialsOil
- Heavy Weather, Oil PaintingBy Jesse AldanaLocated in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
A group of friends sail in a small ship that wallows atop rolling seas. Some engage in various activities to keep their spirits high while the lookouts have an ...Category21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist More Art
MaterialsOil
- Ace of Swords, Oil PaintingBy Rachel SrinivasanLocated in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
"This painting is inspired by the tarot card called the 'Ace of Swords'," states artist Rachel Srinivasan. A veiled woman peeks behind a tall sword as she is ...Category21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist More Art
MaterialsOil
- Alchemic Kingdom, Oil PaintingBy Jesse AldanaLocated in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
"In this painting, a shift change is captured at the Alchemic Kingdom," says artist Jesse Aldana. "A multi-faceted amusement park whose grand hotel rises airily...Category21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist More Art
MaterialsOil
- Her Majesty the Muse figurative interior painting mint green female success loveLocated in Zofingen, AGHer Majesty The Muse I remember the words our teacher said “Do not wait for a sudden inspiration, for a visit from the Muse. You should begin working, otherwise the Muse will pass b...Category
2010s Surrealist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- HOMAGE TO THE CLASSICSBy Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus OliveiraLocated in Aventura, FLOriginal oil painting on canvas. Hand signed on front by the artist. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. All reasonable...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil