Gertrude Greene

Composition

1937

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Gertrude Greene

Composition

Gertrude Greene

Composition

1937

Physical Qualities Oil on wood, Framed: 31 1/4 x 35 11/16 in. (79.4 x 90.7 cm) Unframed: 27 x 31 in. (68.6 x 78.7 cm)

Credit Line Edward Joseph Gallagher III Memorial Fund

Object Number 1995.68

Composition combines curving and straight lines made with layered wooden forms that keep the viewer’s eye in motion. Among the first American artists to make relief sculptures like this one, Gertrude Greene was an advocate for abstract art and artists. Influenced by the Abstraction-Création artist group while living in Paris in the early 1930s, Greene adopted the group’s utopian belief that abstraction could serve as a counter to absolutist political regimes. Upon her return to New York, Greene became a founder of American Abstract Artists, which still today provides exhibition opportunities for its members. She also helped establish the Unemployed Artists Group (later known as the Artists Union), lobbying for government support for artists during the Great Depression (1929–1939) and beyond.

Washburn Gallery, NY; Sid Deutsch Gallery, NY

"Significant Others: Artists Wives of Artists," Jan., Feb., 1993 Riverside Museum, NY, likely 1939

'Art of Tomorrow', 1940, Solomom R. Guggenheim Foundation, Carnegie Hall, NY

BMA, "American Modernism from the Collection," June 25, 2003-

Virginia Anderson, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "By Their Creative Force: American Women Modernists," October 6, 2019 — July 5, 2020

Inscribed: VERSO PANEL: UC, (blue chalk) 'top'; CR, (blue chalk) 'Gertrude/Greene'; LC, 2 small panels additions have illegible word (in graphite); label, BC, 'Sid Deutsch Gallery, 20 West 57th Street, New York...10019/ (212)765-4722...C126' VERSO SUPPORT AND FRAME: UL, label, on metal corner support, object info with handwritten '9' in corner; same location, label, 'Washburn Gallery, 42nd East 57th Street...10022...#6563'; UL, label, handwritten, 'TR 116-80', object info, 'Lender Jerry Leiber (Deutsch Gallery)'; UC, label, Kraushaar Galleries, 724 Fifth Avenue, 10019...'SIGNIFICANT OTHERS:/ARTIST WIVES OF ARTISTS/January 9-February 27, 1993'; Label, UR, Eagle transfer, 435 Greenwich Street 10013... Ref #A-1231/A, item #28'; small adhesive label, UR (blue ink) 'SG #6617'; UR CORNER, on metal plate, Struve Gallery, 309 West Superior Street, Chicago 60610, 312-787-0563...#SG6617'; LL CORNER, on metal plate, Snyder Fine Art label; CENTER VERTICAL SUPPORT STRIP, Label C, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation / Carnegie Hall / New York City / 1501 / Exhibited January 1940 / Art of To-morrow / Museum / Gertrude Greene / Composition (1938) 'corners torn'; label T of R VERTICAL SUPPORT 'Exhibited Riverside Museum' (torn); many notes (in black crayon): 3 'Bs' at UL CORNER; '27-31' UL; 'construction D' UL; 'Gertrude Greene' UR; '43' RC SIDEWAYS; R VERT SUPPORT '43' SIDEWAYS; 'TOP' at L VERT SUPPORT; '5' C VERT SUPPORT; also: