Peter Schenck

"The Conversation", oil painting, art history, collage, cubism, ideas discussion

2020

The large abstract painting "PEARL" by Jeffrey Kurland is an acrylic on canvas measuring 64" tall by 78" wide. PEARL is new work from the long hot summer of 2020. Often employing pai...

"Toys In The Attic" addresses subject matter that continues to fascinate the artist – on one hand the tools of painting, drawing and art making – brushes, pens, pencils and crayons. ...

"Endless Summer" is a well-known artwork among Peter Schenck's many remarkable paintings, and addresses subject matter that continues to engage the artist – the tools of painting and art making, including brushes, tubes of paint and palette knife are arranged in a child-like tableau alongside brightly colored and eroticized inflatables of the hand, the breast, the dollop of paint... And all of it reminiscent of toys on a beach under blue skies where anything should be possible. From Peter Schenck: "Endless Summer mixes up the time-honored tradition of the still life with my feelings on an artist's attachment to their tools – brush, palette, paint – an attachment at times bordering on erotic, at times feeling awkward and all-thumbs. I was also taking on Tom Wesselmann's concentrated still lives of the 60s and 70s, banal and erotic all at once." "Endless Summer" is an acrylic paint on canvas measuring 30" tall by 25" wide. It was included in the group show "Sitting Still" at Bravin Lee Programs Gallery, New York City in October 2017, and showed alongside work by Fairfield Porter, Thomas Nozkowski, Janet Fish, Robert DeNiro Sr...

"Woman in Pink, Blue, and Gray" is an acrylic on canvas painting measuring 24" tall by 18" wide. It's very active, with a woman wearing a colorful cap with feather, her tresses falling down behind/beside her, portrayed with cubist abandon as the artist folds in Picasso with Philip Guston... Note all the formal elements are present – her eyes, her smile, her dress and bosom – yet assemble and disassemble in front of our eyes. From Peter Schenck...

Albert Heckman Untitled, circa 1950 Signed lower left Oil on canvas 25 x 32 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...

This contemporary vibrant, expressive abstract floral painting, "Vase with Pink Roses", is a striking work by French artist Natalya Mougenot, ren...

Artist/ School: French School, 1970's, inscribed verso Title: Geometric abstract composition Medium: signed oil painting on canvas, framed framed: 30.5 x 39.5 inches canvas: 29...

Original oil painting by P. Valetti (French, second half 20th century) oil on canvas, unframed size: 25.5 x 21 inches condition: very good provenance: from the artists estate, France...