Dorothy Leslie Blau

The following is from "Syd Solomon: A Retrospective Showing" exhibited at John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and New York Cultural Center in 1975. Born Uniontown, PA 1917 Education: Art Institute of Chicago; L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Teaching: Pittsburgh Art Institute; Ringling Museum of Art; Sarasota School of Art; Famous Artists School; New College in Sarasota; Visiting Instructor at University of Illinois in Urbana; Visiting Professor at Roberson Center for the Arts in Binghamton, NY; Visiting Artist at Tampa Bay Art Center. Awards: Wrote and directed original play "Off Limits", which toured in France, Belgium and Luxembourg during 1945; State Department U.S. Cultural Exchange program to Israel; Ford Foundation Special Purchase Grant for the Guggenheim Musuem. Exhibitions: Many exhibits from 1944 including Clearwater Museum of Art in Clearwater, FL; Lowe Art Gallery in Coral Gables; Associated American Artists Galleries; Saidenberg Gallery in New York; Midtown Gallery; Trend House Gallery in Florida; Brevard College; Paintings of the Circus at Sarasota Art Association; Annual Exhibition at the American Water Color Society 1955; Fifty Ninth Annual Exhibition at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian 1956; Invitational Exhibition at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1959; Whitney Museum of American Art in 1964; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Collections: Adelphi University; Baltimore Museum of Art; Chrysler Art Museum; Guggenheim Museum; High Museum of Art; New Orleans Museum of Art; Wadsworth Museum; Whitney Museum of American Art; Witte Memorial Museum.

Bring audacious experiments with color and textures to your living room, dining room or home office. Abstract paintings, large or small, will stand out in your space, encouraging conversation and introducing a museum-like atmosphere that’s welcoming and conducive to creating memorable gatherings.

Abstract art has origins in 19th-century Europe, but it came into its own as a significant movement during the 20th century. Early practitioners of abstraction included Wassily Kandinsky, although painters were exploring nonfigurative art prior to the influential Russian artist’s efforts, which were inspired by music and religion. Abstract painters endeavored to create works that didn’t focus on the outside world’s conventional subjects, and even when artists depicted realistic subjects, they worked in an abstract mode to do so.

In 1940s-era New York City, a group of painters working in the abstract mode created radical work that looked to European avant-garde artists as well as to the art of ancient cultures, prioritizing improvisation, immediacy and direct personal expression. While they were never formally affiliated with one another, we know them today as Abstract Expressionists.

The male contingent of the Abstract Expressionists, which includes Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, is frequently cited in discussing leading figures of this internationally influential postwar art movement. However, the women of Abstract Expressionism, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell and others, were equally involved in the art world of the time. Sexism, family obligations and societal pressures contributed to a long history of their being overlooked, but the female Abstract Expressionists experimented vigorously, developed their own style and produced significant bodies of work.

Draw your guests into abstract oil paintings across different eras and countries of origin. On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive range of abstract paintings along with a guide on how to arrange your wonderful new wall art.

If you’re working with a small living space, a colorful, oversize work can create depth in a given room, but there isn’t any need to overwhelm your interior with a sprawling pièce de résistance. Colorful abstractions of any size can pop against a white wall in your living room, but if you’re working with a colored backdrop, you may wish to stick to colors that complement the decor that is already in the space. Alternatively, let your painting make a statement on its own, regardless of its surroundings, or group it, gallery-style, with other works.