Abraham Walkowitz
20 x 16 1/2 inches (framed)
Provenance
Ex. Coll:
Estate of Helen Getler, American Art Consultant, Roslyn, NY until 1998; by descent in the family until 2018.
Exhibitions
Exhibited:
Salt Lake City, Utah, Utah Museum of Fine Art, University of Utah, Abraham Walkowitz Retrospective, Oct. 27 - Dec. 1, 1974 and Wichita, KS, Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, May 7 - June 29, 1975
Abraham Walkowitz
American (1878-1965)
Figures on a Balcony Overlooking the Beach
Oil monoprint with oil handwork
12 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches
20 x 16 ½ inches framed
Signed and dated (at lower right): A. Walkowitz 1908
Framed to museum conservation standards with an 8 ply acid free mat, a fine gilt frame and Tru-Vue museum glass.
A native of Siberia, Walkowitz immigrated to New York as a child. After studying at the National Academy of Design in New York City, he attended the Académie Julian in Paris from 1906 to 1907 where he saw the first exhibition of Fauve paintings. Figures on a Balcony Overlooking the Beach was executed upon his return to New York in 1908. The influence of the Fauves on this oil monoprint with handwork is evident throughout. It is probably one of the earliest Fauve-inspired works by any American artist.
The Coney Island scene is an early beach scene, but beach life remained a favorite subject for the artist throughout his long career. Another subject that Walkowitz is closely identified with is the pioneering modern dancer Isadora Duncan. Over a thirty-year period, Walkowitz documented Duncan's dances in watercolor and oil. Walkowitz was an exhibitor at Alfred Stieglitz's 291 Gallery and the all- important 1913 Armory Show. He is inextricably tied to the advent of modernism in American Art.