“Head of a Man,” Alphonse Legros, 1886. Metal point on white clay-coated board, laid down on cardboard, overmatted with cardboard mount.
NEW YORK CITY – Mitchell-Innes & Nash, has opened their exhibition “Jack Tworkov: .” This historical survey of paintings and drawings by the late Abstract Expressionist artist will be on view at 1018 Madison Avenue from March 6 through April 13.
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Ameringer Howard Yohe Gallery, located at 20 West 57th Street.
The exhibition will explore in depth Tworkov’s three most ambitious cycles of Abstract Expressionist work: the “Barrier,” “RWB: Red White and Blue” and “Variables” series, all developed between 1956 and 1964. The show will be presented in two locations; Mitchell-Innes & Nash will exhibit approximately 15 paintings, and Ameringer Howard Yohe will exhibit 15 drawings and one painting.
The paintings and drawings in the exhibition document an explosive period time for Tworkov and his New York School colleagues: the development of Abstract Expressionism. As a co-founder of “The Club,” the artist collective whose members included Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, Tworkov was an influential participant in the art world revolution that heralded gestural, nonfigurative work.
Tworkov went on to be included in Leo Castelli’s inaugural exhibition, the landmark “Ninth Street Show” of 1951, and by 1960, Tworkov was represented by the Leo Castelli Gallery. This pivotal period in Tworkov’s career and in the art world is reflected in the exhibition’s electrically charged paintings and drawings of Tworkov’s “Barrier” series.
The bold canvases of the “RWB” series express Tworkov’s patriotism, perhaps most evident in his “Oh Columbia” of 1962. As with most of the New York School figures, Tworkov was a European émigré and came to New York from Poland at age 13. The “Variables” series has been described as a manifestation of Tworkov’s intellectual side. Always an advocate of art theory, Tworkov served as chairman of the art department at Yale University later in life.
An opening night reception will take place at Mitchell-Innes & Nash on March 6, from 6 to 8 pm. A fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Harry Cooper, associate curator of Modern Art at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum, will accompany the exhibition.
Gallery hours are 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday. To view the paintings and drawings contact Adrian Turner at Mitchell Innes & Nash. The gallery can be reached at 212-744-7400.
