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1944 Rock and Sun Abstract Modernist Oil on Canvas by Richard Bowman

About the Item

Here is a stunning painting by Bay Area California modernist painter Richard Bowman (1918-2001). This work is from his highly-desired 1940's Rock and Sun series--and this particular example has a definite Picasso influence often seen in this group of work. The painting with frame measures 36" high and 28" wide and the canvas alone measures 30" high and 22" wide.. In very good condition all-original condition with no restoration or inpainting. The frame bears a label from a Chicago frame shop--and considering Bowman studied at the Art institute of Chicago School in 1942 and taught there in the 1940s, this is no doubt the original frame and mostly likely selected by the artist. This is a beautiful example by a highly under-appreciated 20th century American artist. Bowman was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1918. He graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago School in 1942, and received a master's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Iowa in 1949. During the 1940s he taught at the Art Institute of Chicago. One of his students was the abstract expressionist painter Joan Mitchell, with whom he exhibited and was romantically linked. In 1949, he moved to the Bay Area at the invitation of Gordon Onslow Ford, where he received a year-long appointment teaching at Stanford University. In 1950 he was invited to teach in the newly formed art department at the University of Manitoba. In 1954 he returned to San Francisco and taught intermittently at Stanford University through 1963. Bowman's reputation and success rose during the period from 1959-1977, when he exhibited continuously at the Rose Rabow Gallery. Bowman was the subject of one-person shows at the Pinacotecha Gallery (1947), The Stanford Art Gallery (1950 & 1956) and the San Francisco Museum of Art (1961 & 1970). He exhibited at San Francisco's Rose Rabow Gallery (1959 & 1977) and was associated with expatriate painters Gordon Onslow-Ford and other artists who coalesced around the space. He was a peripheral figure in the San Francisco Bay Area beat and abstract expressionist scenes and was linked through friendship and aesthetics to the artist, publisher and scientist Bern Porter and the poet Kenneth Patchen.
  • Creator:
    Richard Bowman (Artist)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)Depth: 1.75 in (4.45 cm)
  • Style:
    Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1944
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Minneapolis, MN
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU10007242058372

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