Albert Swinden
r h y t h m i c g e o m e t ry
Albert Swinden r h y t h m i c g e o m e t ry
Essay by Susan C. Larsen, Ph.D.
Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 east 74th street suite 1 new york ny 10021 tel 212 744 7306 info@meredithwardfineart.com
Preface As a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group in , Albert Swinden has long been recognized as an important proponent of abstraction in mid-twentieth-century America. His work has been known primarily through individual paintings in public collections, most notably his mural for the Williamsburg Housing Project, now at The Brooklyn Museum, which is considered one of the most important nonobjective wall paintings in the United States. Swinden’s oeuvre is relatively small, and much of his early work was tragically destroyed by a studio fire in . As a result, there have been few opportunities to see and study the range of his mature work. This exhibition brings to light a group of fresh and dynamic works on paper that have remained in the artist’s family, many of which have never before been shown. In these paintings, we see Swinden’s unique language of abstraction at work—a process whereby he organizes form and color to create highly refined compositions. In his essay “On Simplification,” published for the American Abstract Artists exhibition that year, Swinden explained his method of abstraction not as a break from the art of the past, but as an extension and continuation of it: “What we examine and are affected by in any work of art, past or present, are the relationships expressed in it.… By first limiting oneself greater concentration is made possible, permitting progression to fuller, richer forms.” These works bear witness to Swinden’s vibrant and innovative presence on the New York scene at mid-century. Our deepest gratitude goes to Alice Swinden Carter, the artist’s daughter, for her generosity in sharing her knowledge, as well as lending important archival materials that enrich our understanding of her father’s work. Susan Larsen, who did the groundbreaking work on Albert Swinden more than thirty years ago, has added to the scholarship with her insightful and sensitive essay. As always, Hilary Goldsmith has been invaluable in the planning and execution of all aspects of the exhibition and catalogue.
Meredith E. Ward
Albert Swinden in Washington Square Park, New York, c. 5
Untitled Abstraction No. , Gouache on paper, ¼ x ⅛ inches 6
Albert Swinden by Susan C. Larsen, Ph.D New York modernists of the s spoke warmly of their British-born colleague, Albert Swinden (-). His architectonic and intricate abstractions had a strength and refinement that earned Swinden a place at the center of the New York artists’ community. His quiet leadership led to the broader participation of abstract artists on the WPA Mural Division and to the founding of the American Abstract Artists group in . Swinden’s paintings, so beautifully crafted, rich with passages of subtly colored geometry, appeared in important exhibitions of the thirties and forties. Critics noted his mature personal style and his sophisticated syntax created of bright colored rectangles. He worked freely in an elegant planar geometry indulging in a broad range of colors forbidden by European precedents such as DeStijl and Constructivism. Swinden was born in Birmingham, England in to modest circumstances. He lived with his family in Canada from the age of seven until he immigrated to the United States in . He settled in Chicago for eighteen months then found his way to New York City. He studied briefly at the National Academy of Design and transferred to the Art Students League in . There he embraced the teaching program of Hans Hofmann who arrived at the League in . So esteemed was Swinden that he taught classes at League from until his graduation in . He formed a close association with fellow students Burgoyne Diller and Harry Holtzman. Swinden functioned as the calm center in the eye of a cultural storm. He shared a studio with the worldly and polemical abstract painter, Balcomb Greene. A new generation of American modernists frequented their studio, exchanging ideas and nursing grievances against the major New York museums, which often heralded European modern masters while ignoring younger Americans working in the modernist idiom. In November of a group gathered to discuss the possibility of creating a studio workshop and artists’ alliance supportive of abstraction. Among the attendees were: Ilya Bolotowsky; Byron Browne; Willem de Kooning;
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Burgoyne Diller; Arshile Gorky; Balcomb Greene; Gertrude Greene; Ibram Lassaw; Alice T. Mason; George McNeil, Albert Swinden and almost a dozen others. Early meetings deteriorated when Arshile Gorky put himself forward as an instructor by virtue of his superior background and ability. De Kooning never did engage the group and merely stood by the door waiting for his friend Gorky. Harry Holtzman offered himself as a leader, an idea that was quickly rejected by his peers. After a few meetings the assembly turned toward the possibility of creating an artists’ group staging exhibitions to counter the prevailing taste for realism and the American Scene. Thus the American Abstract Artists group came into being with Albert Swinden as its first secretary. The group held its first exhibition at the Squibb Galleries on Fifth Avenue in April of . From that day forward, younger American modernists had a place in the New York art world as AAA annual shows and publications received critical attention and a substantial public audience. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Swinden did not serve a long apprenticeship to the ideals and style of Hans Hofmann. He began working abstractly in the late s and was a mature artistic personality when the turmoil of the mid-thirties began in New York. Swinden’s style evidenced a sophisticated understanding of DeStijl, perhaps also an enthusiasm for the Orphic Cubism of the Delaunays. His experiments with still life subjects in the midst of abstracted space parallel those of the French Purists in Paris. He did not embrace the cult of the machine so admired by many New Yorkers who spent time the engaging and persuasive cubist, Fernand Leger. Instead, Swinden’s world is one of pure form seen directly without the filter of theory. Swinden played a prominent role in the WPA Mural Division in New York. He created a major mural in - for the Williamsburg Houses in Brooklyn designed by architect William Lescaze. Swinden’s Williamsburg mural, lost for decades, was recovered and restored in the s along with companion murals by Ilya Bolotowsky, Balcomb Greene and Paul Kelpe. They now reside, on loan from the New York Housing Authority, at the Brooklyn Museum. Burgoyne Diller, head of the WPA Mural Division in New York, invited Swinden to paint a work for the Chilean Pavilion of the New York World’s Fair (-). It existed for the twoyear run of the Fair before being destroyed.
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Abstract Still Life, Gouache on paper, ¾ x inches
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Untitled Abstraction No. , Gouache on paper, ⅝ x ⅛ inches 10
In , just as Albert Swinden had gained a measure of acclaim, fire consumed the contents of the studio he shared with Balcomb Greene. Both artists lost the greater part of their life’s work. Their style of the late s is now known by a handful of works on public view at the time of the fire and those sold or given to friends and family. Installation photographs of early AAA shows and other public exhibitions feature wonderful paintings by Albert Swinden. They were often praised by critics as the signal works in public exhibitions. But we will never have the pleasure of knowing them in their original form. The vitality and beauty of Swinden’s mature style lives in a group of gouache compositions on paper created in the years immediately following the studio fire. These have the same intricate and graceful geometry, the same sure hand and most of all, his clarity of conception. It is obvious that Albert Swinden thought a great deal about color. His handling of color balance is absolutely unique. He would often emphasize one color by presenting it in as a clustered geometric core, risking a state of imbalance only to restore order by the intricately calibrated structure of his interwoven planes. It is a distinctive and amusing strategy, highly dramatic and completely his own. These vibrant compositions breathe with the grace and confidence of Swinden’s work at the peak of his career.
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Tabletop Still Life No. , Gouache on paper, ¼ x inches 12
Untitled Abstraction, Gouache on paper, ¼ x inches 13
Untitled Abstraction No. , Gouache on paper, ⁷⁄₈ x ¾ inches 14
Untitled Abstraction No. , Gouache on paper, x ¾ inches 15
Abstract Still Life No. , c. - Gouache on paper, x ¼ inches 16
Cubist Study (No. ), , gouache on paper, ¼ x ⅛ inches Cubist Still Life (No. ), , gouache on paper, x ⁷⁄₈ inches 17
Untitled Abstraction, Gouache on paper, ¼ x ¼ inches 18
Untitled Abstraction, Gouache and pencil on paper, ½ x ¼ inches 19
Abstraction with Red Flower (No. ), Gouache on paper, x ⅜ inches 20
Untitled Abstraction No. , Gouache on paper, ⁷⁄₈ x ¾ inches 21
Untitled Abstraction, Gouache on paper, ¾ x ⅛ inches 22
Abstract Still Life, Gouache and pencil on paper, ¾ x ⅛ inches 23
published in conjunction with the exhibition
Albert Swinden r hy t h m i c g e o m e t ry November – December 30,
Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 east 74th street suite 1 new york new york 10021 tel 212 744 7306 fax 212 744 7308 info @ meredithwardfineart.com www. meredithwardfineart.com
design The Grenfell Press, New York printing Permanent Printing, Ltd., Hong Kong photography Joshua Nefsky edition of 1300
cover Untitled Abstraction No. ,
gouache on paper, ⁷⁄₈ x ¾ inches frontispiece Untitled Abstraction No. ,
gouache on paper, ¾ x ¼ inches
copyright © meredith ward fine art
Meredith Ward Fine Art 44 east 74th street suite 1 new york ny 10021 tel 212 744 7306 info@meredithwardfineart.com