Lena Gurr Art
American, 1897-1992
Lena Gurr (1897 -1992) Painter • Printmaker • Graphic Artist
Born in Brooklyn in 1897, she studied at the Brooklyn Training School for Teachers, at the Educational Alliance Art School, the Arts Students League with John Sloan, and with M. Sterne in Paris as well as in Mentone and Nice, France.
Gurr was a member of the Artists League of America, the National Association of Women Artists, the New York Society of Women Artists, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, Audubon Artists and the American Artists Congress. She exhibited in many of the shows held by these organizations and at the Whitney Studio Club, National Academy of Design, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Brooklyn Museum, and at the World's Fair (1939).to
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American Woman Artist Modernist Large Oil Painting Cubist Influenced Landscape
By Lena Gurr
Located in Surfside, FL
A beautiful wooded landscape scene with houses and trees.
Painted on a masonite board. hand signed lower right. with framers label verso.
Framed to 40 X 55 inches. 33 X 48 without the frame and mat.
It is not dated.
Lena Gurr (1897–1992), was an American woman artist who made paintings, prints, and drawings During the course of her career Gurr's compositions retained emotional content as they evolved from a naturalistic to a semi-abstract cubist style. Born into a Russian-Jewish Yiddish speaking immigrant family, she was the wife of Joseph Biel, also Russian-Jewish and an artist of similar genre and sensibility. Gurr used Lena Gurr as her professional name. After marrying Joseph Biel she was sometimes referred to as Lena Gurr Biel. Biel had been born in Grodno, Poland (later absorbed into Russia) and had lived in England, France, and Australia before coming to New York. An artist, he specialized in landscape paintings and silkscreen printing as well as photography. He studied art at the Russian Academy in Paris. After immigrating to the United States, he studied under George Grosz at the Arts Students League.
Gurr was born in Brooklyn and, apart from brief stays in Manhattan and in Paris, lived there her whole life. This painting bears the influence of Lyonel Feininger an influential German American artist. Gurr began studying art at a young age. In 1919 she studied painting and printmaking at the Educational Alliance Art School and between 1920 and 1922 she won a scholarship to attend the Art Students League where she took classes with John Sloan and Maurice Sterne.
In 1926 and 1928 Gurr participated in group shows at the Whitney Studio Club in Greenwich Village and in 1928 she also participated in the 12th annual exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists at the Waldorf Roof in New York. (Reviewing this show, Helen Appleton Read, the critic for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, said "I made three discoveries on my first visit, Thomas Nagel, Eugenie McEvoy and Lena Gurr with two figure compositions which have something of Marie Laurencin or Helene Perdriat quality of naive sophistication.") The Waldorf Roof was a set of rooms on the top floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, one of which had glass sides and a glass roof. The rooms were used for concerts, dances, benefits, and exhibitions.From 1929 to 1931 Gurr took a leave of absence from her teaching position to travel in France with Joseph Biel, an artist whom she had met while studying at the Art Students League. They spent time in Nice and Mentone but mainly in Paris.
During the early months of 1931, while she was still abroad, her work appeared in group exhibitions held at the R. H. Macy department store and the Opportunity Gallery (opened by Gifford Beal). In 1932 she participated in three shows: a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, an annual exhibition of the New York Society of Women Artists, ( Its first president was Marguerite Zorach. Founding members included Agnes Weinrich, Anne Goldthwaite...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Lena Gurr Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
original lithograph
By Lena Gurr
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. This lithograph was printed in 1951 for the "Improvisations" portfolio, published by the Artists Equity Association of New York on the occasion of the 19...
Category
1950s Lena Gurr Art
Materials
Lithograph
Large Exhibited Modernist Surreal Nocturnal Winter Landscape Signed Oil Painting
By Lena Gurr
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist landscape painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1930. Signed.
Housed in period frame. Image size 45L x 32H.
Category
1940s Modern Lena Gurr Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$3,800 Sale Price
20% Off
Feeding the Birds, Colourful 20th Century Oil Painting, Female Artist
By Lena Gurr
Located in London, GB
Oil on board, signed verso
Image size: 40 1/4 x 29 inches (102.25 x 73.5 cm)
Hand made contemporary style frame
Here we see a smartly dressed woman sat on a park bench, feeding a group of pigeons that surround her. Lena Gurr had a prolific career in which she painted landscape scenes and still lifes but her most noted works are ones such as these, showing everyday city scenes that were laced with social commentary. Indeed, Gurr noted that her artwork always aimed to show "the joys and sorrows of everyday life."
During the course of her career Gurr's compositions retained emotional content as they evolved from a naturalistic to a semi-abstract cubist style. Discussing this trend, she once told an interviewer that as her work tended toward increasing abstraction she believed it nonetheless "must have some kind of human depth to it."
Lena Gurr
Lena Gurr, born in Brooklyn in 1897, studied at the Brooklyn Training School for Teachers, the Educational Alliance Art School, the Arts Students League with John Sloan, and with Maurice Sterne in Paris as well as in Mentone and Nice, France.
Gurr was a member of the Artists League of America, the National Association of Women Artists, the New York Society of Women Artists, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, Audubon Artists and the American Artists Congress. She exhibited in numerous exhibitions held by these organizations as well as the Whitney Studio Club, National Academy of Design, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Brooklyn Museum, and the 1939 World's Fair.
Her work is included in the collections of the Biro-Bidjan Museum, Russia and the Library of Congress, where she has been selected as a "Curator's Choice" in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. In addition to her career as a painter, lithographer and serigrapher, she also taught art in the New York City public school system. She had three solo exhibitions at the ACA Gallery in 1935, 1939 and 1945, and a retrospective in 1963.
Notable among Gurr's colleagues - many of them WPA artists - were Mary Cecil Allen...
Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Lena Gurr Art
Materials
Oil, Board
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Previously Available Items
American Woman Artist Modernist Large Oil Painting Cubist Influenced Landscape
By Lena Gurr
Located in Surfside, FL
A beautiful wooded landscape scene with houses and trees.
Painted on a masonite board. hand signed lower right. with framers label verso.
Framed to 40 X 55 inches. 33 X 48 without the frame and mat.
It is not dated.
Lena Gurr (1897–1992), was an American woman artist who made paintings, prints, and drawings During the course of her career Gurr's compositions retained emotional content as they evolved from a naturalistic to a semi-abstract cubist style. Born into a Russian-Jewish Yiddish speaking immigrant family, she was the wife of Joseph Biel, also Russian-Jewish and an artist of similar genre and sensibility. Gurr used Lena Gurr as her professional name. After marrying Joseph Biel she was sometimes referred to as Lena Gurr Biel. Biel had been born in Grodno, Poland (later absorbed into Russia) and had lived in England, France, and Australia before coming to New York. An artist, he specialized in landscape paintings and silkscreen printing as well as photography. He studied art at the Russian Academy in Paris. After immigrating to the United States, he studied under George Grosz at the Arts Students League.
Gurr was born in Brooklyn and, apart from brief stays in Manhattan and in Paris, lived there her whole life. This painting bears the influence of Lyonel Feininger an influential German American artist. Gurr began studying art at a young age. In 1919 she studied painting and printmaking at the Educational Alliance Art School and between 1920 and 1922 she won a scholarship to attend the Art Students League where she took classes with John Sloan and Maurice Sterne.
In 1926 and 1928 Gurr participated in group shows at the Whitney Studio Club in Greenwich Village and in 1928 she also participated in the 12th annual exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists at the Waldorf Roof in New York. (Reviewing this show, Helen Appleton Read, the critic for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, said "I made three discoveries on my first visit, Thomas Nagel, Eugenie McEvoy and Lena Gurr with two figure compositions which have something of Marie Laurencin or Helene Perdriat quality of naive sophistication.") The Waldorf Roof was a set of rooms on the top floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, one of which had glass sides and a glass roof. The rooms were used for concerts, dances, benefits, and exhibitions.From 1929 to 1931 Gurr took a leave of absence from her teaching position to travel in France with Joseph Biel, an artist whom she had met while studying at the Art Students League. They spent time in Nice and Mentone but mainly in Paris.
During the early months of 1931, while she was still abroad, her work appeared in group exhibitions held at the R. H. Macy department store and the Opportunity Gallery (opened by Gifford Beal). In 1932 she participated in three shows: a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, an annual exhibition of the New York Society of Women Artists, ( Its first president was Marguerite Zorach. Founding members included Agnes Weinrich, Anne Goldthwaite...
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Mid-20th Century American Modern Lena Gurr Art
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Lena Gurr art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Lena Gurr art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Lena Gurr in oil paint, paint, canvas and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Lena Gurr art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of August Mosca, Harriet Holden Nash, and Stephanie Cate. Lena Gurr art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $100 and tops out at $5,500, while the average work can sell for $3,563.