BAY AREA ABSTRACTION: 1945 - 1965
Visual Art Source, 12/17/2011

There have been strong reactions to Abstract Expressionism over the course of the more than half century since its mold-breaking beginnings. Abstractionist painting being done today is often quickly labeled as derivative. But there’s something compelling about the energy and engagement in the work of artists who were committed to it at the time of its historic rise. Abstract Expressionism spanned both coasts, as a uniquely American phenomenon, cementing the nation’s place, particularly New York’s, as the major player in the art of that time. Seldom, however, does one get the opportunity to view the work of those abstract painters on the West Coast whose work was every bit as strong, and every bit as compelling as their East Coast contemporaries.

“Bay Area Abstraction: 1945-1965” focuses on three of those artists, Charles Strong, Frank Lobdell, and Jack Jefferson, two of whom studied with Clyfford Still at the California School of Fine Arts. Curator David Eichholtz places those two, Jefferson and Lobdell, in close proximity to one another in the gallery’s front space. While this might be homage to their affiliation with the California School, there are also stylistic similarities in the earthy and raw works produced by both artists in the pre-AbEx 1940s. But it’s their differences that propel the exhibition.

Jefferson’s “Chestnut Street #2” and “Chestnut Street #3” are intimately-sized paintings titled for the location of one of his studios. They show a mixed interest in exploring figuratively suggestive work and pure abstraction, layered in thick applications of paint. Lobdell’s work is more formal, seducing the viewer with structure and pattern. Lobdell’s later paintings evoke a sense of movement and of depth. Jefferson, curiously, went in another direction, exploring flatter planes of color.

Paintings by Strong, whose work comprises a second space within the gallery, are the most visually dynamic: maelstroms of color and form whose large scale can be dizzying. “ Wharf Road,” easily the largest of the paintings here, takes center stage literally and figuratively. The rest of the exhibition swirls around this masterly abstraction.

A related exhibit of other Bay Area painters in a third gallery space, a few of whom were students of Jefferson, show the influence of California School abstraction. Of necessity, fewer examples by each artist are included, but works by Deborah Remington, Hassel Smith, and Lilly Fenichel stand out.

This is how most secondary market shows should be presented: as historically illuminating, with an eye for the spread of influence. There is a startling, elemental power evident in this show that offers evidence why artists are still influenced by the genre some 60 years later.

Associated Artist

• Edward Dugmore
• Jack Jefferson
• James Kelly
• Michael Kennedy
• Frank Lobdell
• Robert McChesney
• Deborah Remington
• Hassel Smith

Associated Exhibitions

• Bay Area Abstraction: 1945 - 1965 Jack Jefferson, Frank Lobdell and Charles Strong
  November 11, 2011 - December 31, 2011
  MORE INFO

Associated News

• May 11, 2023
  The Necessity of Painting: James Kelly: Seven Decades of Painting and the Origins of Bay Area Abstraction at David Richard Gallery
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  May 11, 2023
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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
  February 27, 2023
  
  


• February 26, 2023
  Press Release - James Kelly even Decades of Painting, From California Abstract Expressionism to New York’s Downtown Scene


• August 8, 2012
  
  DEBORAH REMINGTON: SELECTED WORKS FROM 1964 to 1975
  Santa Fe New Mexican
  Pasatiempo, 07/20/2012
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• July 1, 2012
  Press Release - Deborah Remington "Selected Works from 1964 to 1975"


• May 1, 2009
  American Abstract
  Library Acquires Charles Randall Dean Collection
  May 2009 - Vol. 68, No. 5
  


• December 17, 2011
  THE BAY WINDOW - SAN FRANCISCO'S INFLUENCE CAN BE SEEN THROUGH ARTISTS' WORKS
  Albuquerque Journal / Journal Santa Fe / Journal North, 12/16/2011
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• December 17, 2011
  BAY AREA ABSTRACTION: 1945 - 1965
  Visual Art Source, 12/17/2011
  
  


• November 30, 2011
  BAY AREA ABSTRACTION 1945 - 1965
  THE Magazine, December, 2011
  
  


• November 11, 2011
  'BAY AREA ABSTRACTION: 1945-1965' AT DAVID RICHARD CONTEMPORARY'
  Antiques and The Arts Weekly, 11/11/2011