Works on paper remain at the core of what we know and love. There is a clarity and intimacy attainable when working on paper that can be lost when artists choose other, perhaps more ambitious media. The scale is often more manageable or even intimate and its quotidian nature encourages risk-taking and a “first thought, best thought” attitude. Such freedom brings forth an unadulterated art, at times experimental and perhaps vulnerable, it allows the viewer a revealing look inside the artist’s process and unique perspective on life. Covering six decades of American and European Art, we invite you to explore this selection of drawings and works on paper by a diverse range of artists that illuminate these aspects in a variety of themes and subjects. We celebrate these artists with you and encourage you to engage with them here, virtually, or in person by visiting us in Philadelphia near Rittenhouse Square.
Within this group of artists are many connections and some cases life-long friendships and a few marriages. Atelier 17 in Paris and New York were a heavily trafficked meeting point. Likewise, the Art Students League, and Philadelphia’s WPA Print Workshop. Artists included: Stanley William Hayter, Irene Rice Pereira, Charles C. Dawson, Gabor Peterdi, John Ferren, Benton Spruance, Earl Horter, Norman Guthrie Rudolph, Palmer Hayden, Dox Thrash, Julius Bloch, Reginald Gammon, Claude Clark, Norman Lewis, Paul Bough Travis, Andre Masson, Julian Trevelyan, Leon Kelly, Fred Becker, Jimmy Ernst, Francine Felsenthal, Ralph Stackpole, William Fett, Theodoros Stamos, Sue Fuller, Morris Blackburn, Jean Morrison, Alfred Russell, Romare Bearden, Dorothy Dehner, Gail Singer, Enrique Zanartu, Samuel Joseph Brown, Larry Day, Helen Phillips, Beauford Delaney, Maria Helena Viera da Silva, Paul Keene, Terry Haass, Pierre Alechinsky, Minna Citron, Jerome Kaplan, Robert Gwathmey, Bob Thompson, Gündüz Gölönü, Norma Morgan & Keith Haring.
