Pioneer of new abstractions
A student of Hans Hoffman and Fernand Léger as well as a teacher to generations of artists, Michael Loew had a long distinguished career. Early examples of his work included seated portraits as well as ambitious murals for the WPA. After the war, he left behind the figurative techniques he had acquired at the Art Students League and became a pioneer of new abstractions.
Across the following decades, Loew moved fluidly through changing styles and mediums - this group presents paintings from a variety of periods. Emotional abstractions from the middle 1950s use of subtle tonal transitions and gestural brushstrokes are evident in Untitled #292 and Untitled #291 (Lots 52 and 53). With Sketch for Basket triptych and Adjacents #1 from Loew's early 1960s Basket series (Lots 49 and 50), we find Loew deep in exploration of bending grids and contrasting hues. Anvil and Red Curveture (Lots 47 and 48), are masterful canvases of his later technique employing immense curved color fields.
