Grants

Grant Recipients in 2000

alston $20,000

Charles H. Alston1907-1977

Note
Cinque Gallery
Location
New York, NY

$20,000 toward the exhibition and accompanying catalogue Charles Alston and the “306” Legacy, organized by guest curator Julia Hotton. In 1935, Alston established the WPA-funded “306” group, which served as a supportive network for artists such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and Norman Lewis. Through a rich vocabulary of abstraction and realism, Alston’s paintings and sculpture explore themes of both everyday life in Harlem and the American landscape.

baron $20,000

Hannelore Baron1926-1987

Note
Smithsonian Institution - Traveling Exhibition Service
Location
Washington, DC

$20,000 toward the catalogue that will accompany the traveling exhibition Hannelore Baron: Works from 1967 to 1987, with a lead essay by independent curator and art critic Ingrid Schaffner. Born in Dillingen, Germany, Baron and her family escaped Nazi persecution and settled in New York in 1941. Constructed with everyday materials such as torn cloth, paper and string, Baron’s collages explore human fragility and the passage of time through her personal iconography of figures, birds, and letters.

bell $14,000

Leland Bell1922-1991

Note
List Gallery - Swarthmore College
Location
Swarthmore, PA

$14,000 toward the catalogue that will accompany a touring exhibition on the painter, curated by gallery director Andrea Packard. Bell was influenced by early visits to the Phillips Collection, his working relationship with Karl Knaths, and time spent in Paris among the artistic community. His figurative painting, which pursues the tradition of French modernism, explores mythological themes through the use of bold, colorful shapes, clearly defined by black lines.

bischoff $25,000

Elmer Bischoff1916-1991

Note
Oakland Museum of California
Location
Oakland, CA

$25,000 toward the monograph that will accompany the traveling retrospective exhibition The Art of Elmer Bischoff, organized by art historian Susan Landauer with an introduction by Bill Berkson. Bischoff taught at the San Francisco Art Institute and was a central figure in the development of West Coast abstract and figurative art. His paintings combine abstract expressionist scale with the intimacy of portraiture, and are infused with a luminous sense of color.

brainard $20,000

Joe Brainard1942-1994

Note
Berkeley Art Museum - University of California Berkeley
Location
Berkeley, CA

$20,000 toward the traveling exhibition and accompanying catalogue Joe Brainard: A Retrospective, organized by museum curator Constance Lewallen with additional essays by Carter Ratcliff and John Ashbery. Working in New York City, Brainard designed and illustrated book and magazine covers, while also exploring collage, painting and assemblage. Patterned with images of flowers, dogs and pop culture, his work is realized through a detailed awareness of color and texture.

brown $10,000

Joan Brown1938-1990

Note
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Location
San Francisco, CA

$10,000 toward the acquisition of the 1957-60 assemblage sculpture Untitled (Bird) for the museum’s collection. Brown was a painter and sculptor in the Bay Area beginning in the 1950’s who worked in figurative and expressionistic styles. Wrapped stoically in a mummification style using cardboard, gauze and string, Untitled (Bird) reflects Brown’s interest in the religious imagery of ancient Egypt.

doyle $10,000

Sam Doyle1906-1985

Note
High Museum of Art
Location
Atlanta, GA

$10,000 toward the exhibition Local Heroes: Painted Portraits and Sculptures by Sam Doyle, and its accompanying catalogue, organized by museum curator Lynne Spriggs. A self-taught artist, Doyle spent his entire life on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, displaying his paintings and sculptures in his backyard. Doyle was part of a community known as “Gullah,” which developed a unique mingling of languages, beliefs and customs. Considered a storyteller for this community, Doyle portrayed local people and island lore, incorporating such unconventional materials as house paint, tar, roofing tins and wood doors.

fasanella $20,000

Ralph Fasanella1914-1997

Note
Fenimore Art Museum - New York State Historical Association
Location
Cooperstown, NY

$20,000 toward the catalogue that will accompany the exhibition Ralph Fasanella’s America, organized by museum curator Paul S. D’Ambrosio. Fasanella discovered his interest in painting years after being politically active with the New York labor movements. Faithful to his ties with the unions, Fasanella created complex paintings that depict interior and exterior space simultaneously, reflecting both the concerns and the environments of the working class.

kohlmeyer $10,000

Ida Kohlmeyer1912-1997

Note
Newcomb Art Gallery - Tulane University
Location
New Orleans, LA

$10,000 toward the exhibition and accompanying catalogue Signs and Symbols: The Abstract Language of Ida Kohlmeyer, curated by Tulane art history professor Michael Plante. Kohlmeyer began painting in her thirties after a trip to Mexico where she was inspired by ceramic folk art. After studying in New York with Hans Hofmann, Kohlmeyer returned to New Orleans where she taught painting at the Newcomb Art Department of Tulane University. Her paintings and sculpture represent a complex system of hieroglyphs and abstract symbols, all expressed through a vivid use of color.

overby $25,000

Robert Overby1935-1993

Note
Armand Hammer Museum of Art
Location
Los Angeles, CA

$25,000 toward the exhibition and accompanying catalogue, Robert Overby: Parallel, 1978-1969, organized by art critic Terry Myers. Trained as a graphic designer and based primarily in California, Overby began his career as an abstract painter. His later work evolved into monumental wall hangings made from rubber latex casts of architectural structures such as doors, cabinets and walls.

takal $10,000

Peter Takal1905-1995

Note
Arkansas Arts Center
Location
Little Rock, AR

$10,000 toward the exhibition and accompanying catalogue, Peter Takal: Draftsman, co-curated by Brian Young and Townsend Wolfe of the Arkansas Arts Center. Born in Bucharest, Romania, Takal moved to the United States in 1939 after exhibiting in Chicago in a two-person show with Picasso. Principally a draftsman, Takal made complex and delicate drawings that explore both landscape and figuration and reflect his belief that subject matter is a “point of departure for a network of lines.”

yunkers $10,000

Adja Yunkers1900-1984

Note
Bayly Art Museum - University of Virginia
Location
Charlottesville, VA

$10,000 toward the traveling retrospective exhibition Adja Yunkers: To Invent a Garden, and its accompanying monograph, organized and written by art critic and historian Marek Bartelik. Yunkers, both a painter and a printmaker, was born in Latvia and immigrated to America in 1947. Known primarily for his abstract expressionist style, Yunkers also participated in the development of other artistic movements such as surrealism and Mexican social realism.

z_group_e $15,000

Group Exhibition

Note
Worcester Art Museum
Location
Worcester, MA

$15,000 toward the traveling exhibition and accompanying catalogue The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints, organized by museum curator David Acton with additional essays by David Lehman and David Amram. Drawn from the museum’s collection, this exhibition of prints, many rarely before viewed by the public, explores the impact of abstract expressionism on the graphic arts through the work of one hundred artists, many of whom are lesser-known.

Total: $209,000