A Non-Objective Couple: Sonia Gechtoff and James Kelly
The Anita Shapolsky Gallery is pleased to present "A Non-Objective Couple", an exhibition featuring husband and wife team Sonia Gechtoff and James Kelly. This exhibition features some of the remaining works of these artists' oeuvres.
As prime examples of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism's raw, unique influence, Gechtoff and Kelly's experimental approaches are exemplary of the collective coolness of the Bay Area. A focus on smooth, otherworldly strokes permeate their works, in contrast to the faster movements and more vibrant palette of New York, where much of the cultural dialogue came from and where they eventually settled. Inspired by poetry, particularly by their contemporaries of the Beat generation, Gechtoff, Kelly, and their peers viewed painting as the visual component of literature, yet unlike their New York counterparts, emphasized this duality through allusions to distant figuration, swirling motifs, spiritual encounters, and visual representations of verbal expression in their paintings.
Originally from Philadelphia, Gechtoff and Kelly married in 1953 in San Francisco and moved to a loft on the legendary Fillmore Street, where contemporaries Jay DeFeo, Wally Hedrick, and Michael McClure also lived. They were active participants in the Beat scene, and exhibited at King Ubu Gallery on 3119 Fillmore Street, one of the several locations where the heartbeat pulsed.
Both had a deep affection for the tactile qualities of paint, and a sensual connection to its application, sometimes utilizing their palette knives much like a pastry chef would apply icing to a cake. Sonia Gechtoff was a close friend of Ernest Briggs and Deborah Remington, two acclaimed second generation abstract expressionists. Gechtoff's later works include loose horizon lines, which the artist says were inspired by her proximity to nature. Her strokes evolved into forms evoking flickering flames, combining her tactile palette-based strokes into more contained compositions.
Kelly's first encounter with Van Gogh catalyzed his obsession with impasto techniques, which earned him a solid place in the cannon of the time. His handle on physicality, playfulness, and movement, tied to his continuing references to poetic culture, enmeshed him into the dynamic group of second generation abstract expressionists. Many artists in their network would, through sustained exposure to New York's booming network, relocate eastward towards the end of the 1950's. They also moved to New York City in 1958.
At 90 years of age, Gechtoff continues her painting and resides in New York City. Throughout their careers, the couple participated actively in not only contributing to the dialogue of 20th century visual art, but cementing the importance of the how influential the West coast Abstract Expressionist scene was to the movement as a whole.
Sonia Gechtoff (b. 1926) is considered one of the most influential female abstract expressionists. Her father was a painter, and introduced her to socialist realism at a young age. In 1950, she completed her BFA at what is now the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and moved to California the following year to study lithography with James Budd Dixon at what is now the San Francisco Art Institute. She was greatly inspired by Clyfford Still. Through her exploration of the movement crafted her signature style; using a loaded palette knife to create vibrant, gestural strokes at large scales. In 1957, she was given her first solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.
In 1958, Gechtoff won a place at the Brussels World's Fair. She was a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 1989, 1994, and 1998, and received the Lee Krasner Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. Gechtoff is one of the twelve women featured in the traveling Denver Art Museum exhibition, "Women of Abstract Expressionism", curated by Gwen Chanzit. Gechtoff is part of numerous museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Denver Art Museum.
James Kelly (1913-2003) had a career which spanned nearly seven decades, including paintings and graphic works. While his work in his native Philadelphia had more of a geometric quality, inspired by Piet Mondrian, his move to California in 1950 changed his style to more gestural, using thick impasto oil paint and swirling motifs common of the San Francisco scene.
Kelly studied at the School of Industrial Arts, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, Philadelphia, as well as the Barnes Foundation and the San Francisco Art Institute. He has exhibited widely throughout the United States, and received grants from the Ford Foundation in 1963 and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1977. Kelly's work is part of many permanent collections including the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, the Harvard University Art Museum, the Pasadena Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Associated Artist
Associated News
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January 28, 2024
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Two Coats of Paint
Natasha Sweeten
January 28, 2024 -
January 28, 2024
The New Yorker Goings On -
May 11, 2023
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WhiteHot Magazine
May 11, 2023
Isaac Aden
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February 27, 2023
James Kelly: Seven Decades of Painting: From Bay Area Abstract Expressionism to New York’s Downtown Scene
GalleriesNow
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February 26, 2023
Press Release - James Kelly even Decades of Painting, From California Abstract Expressionism to New York’s Downtown Scene -
August 1, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff
Artnet
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August 2022 -
August 1, 2022
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The New Yorker
Johanna Fateman
August 2022 -
July 27, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff Finally Gets Her Due
HyperAllergic
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July 27, 2022
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December 2, 2021
Getting to Know an Overlooked Pioneer of Bay Area Abstraction
HYPERALLERGIC
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December 2, 2021 -
October 27, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff
The 1960s In New York: A Series of Transitions
ArtDaily
October 27, 2021
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October 27, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff
The 1960s In New York: A Series of Transitions
GalleriesNow
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April 26, 2021
Press Release - Sonia Gechtoff: Gesture Meets Hard Edge: Part 1 -
April 26, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff: Gesture Meets Hard Edge: Part I
GalleriesNow
April 26, 2021
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October 12, 2019
A Forgotten Painter and Her Visionary Abstraction
Hyperallergic
John Yau
October 12, 2019 -
September 9, 2019
Paintings from 1988 to 1995 10 Sep?—?5 Oct 2019 at the David Richard Gallery
Wall Street International Magazine
September 9, 2019 -
September 9, 2019
Paintings from 1988 to 1995
Wall Street International Magazine09/09/2019
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September 4, 2019
Sonia Gechtoff: Forces of Nature on the Grand Stage: Paintings from 1988 to 1995
Galleriesnow.net
September 4, 2019 -
August 28, 2019
Press Release - Sonia Gechtoff "Forces of Nature on the Grand Stage: Paintings from 1988 to 1995" -
March 14, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff - The End of an Era in the Male-Dominated Abstract Expressionism
Ideelart
March 14, 2018
By Phillip Barcio -
February 9, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff, Acclaimed Abstract Expressionist, Dies at 91
The New York Times
By Neil Genzlinger
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February 9, 2018
SONIA GECHTOFF (1926–2018)
ArtForum
February 9, 2018
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February 8, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff was a key but little-recognized figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. -
May 22, 2017
Drawings from the early 1960's by Sonia Gechtoff on view at Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art
ArtDaily.com
Ma7 22, 2017
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June 23, 2016
The Divine Dozen: Sonia Gechtoff’s Star Still Shines Brightly
by Rosemary Carstens -
February 22, 2015
Momentum: An Experiment in the Unexpected
San Jose Art Museum
February 22, 2015
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April 13, 2014
Sonia Gechtoff in Her Studio: Then and Now
Westbeth.org -
October 17, 2011
Sonia Gechtoff: The Ferus Years
Published on Oct 17, 2011
A collection of Ferus era drawings and paintings at Nyehaus.
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January 20, 2011
The Cool Revival: Sonia Gechtoff in San Francisco
Art In America
By Faye Hirsch
January 20, 2011
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May 1, 2009
American Abstract
Library Acquires Charles Randall Dean Collection
May 2009 - Vol. 68, No. 5