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Abraham Walkowitz
1880-1965
Human Abstract
c. 1913
17 1/16 x 11 inches (43.3 x 29.7 cm)
Graphite pencil on paper.
1950.22
Bequest of Belle da Costa Greene, 1950.
Notes
Watermark: "HONEST LINEN" with a crown.
Walkowitz was closely associated with Alfred Stieglitz's circle and the 291 gallery, which was the first American gallery to show works by Picasso, Rodin, and Matisse. He was a prolific draftsman, and in his drawings he oscillated between the figure, often nude, and more abstract works such as this one, in which the human figure is subsumed to, but not completely ecliped by, an abstract impulse. He said, "I do not avoid objectivity nor seek subjectivity, but try to find an equivalent for whatever is the effect of my relation to a thing, or to an afterthought of it. I am seeking to attune my art to what I feel to be the keynote of an experience." This was one of the first twentieth-century works to enter the Morgan's collection. It belonged to the Morgan's first director, Belle da Costa Greene.
Walkowitz was closely associated with Alfred Stieglitz's circle and the 291 gallery, which was the first American gallery to show works by Picasso, Rodin, and Matisse. He was a prolific draftsman, and in his drawings he oscillated between the figure, often nude, and more abstract works such as this one, in which the human figure is subsumed to, but not completely ecliped by, an abstract impulse. He said, "I do not avoid objectivity nor seek subjectivity, but try to find an equivalent for whatever is the effect of my relation to a thing, or to an afterthought of it. I am seeking to attune my art to what I feel to be the keynote of an experience." This was one of the first twentieth-century works to enter the Morgan's collection. It belonged to the Morgan's first director, Belle da Costa Greene.
Inscriptions/Markings
Signed in graphite pencil at lower right, "A. Walkowitz".
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
Catalog link
Department