For its inaugural show, the Lewis Glucksman Gallery is delighted to work with the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, to present a major exhibition of Modern American Painting. This is the first time these paintings have been shown in a European venue and offers a unique opportunity to encounter first hand some of the most significant artists of the 20th Century.

This exhibition looks at the development of American painting from the 1940s to the 1970s. It proposes a new understanding of the period of the New York School, by placing the work of artists generally associated with Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art among their peers who pursued figurative art or geometric abstractions. The early paintings in this show are rooted in European pre-war movements such as Cubism and Constructivism while later works point towards Conceptual Art and hint at the important shift in contemporary art practice to other media.

Abstract Expressionism, generally understood as referring to the first generation of post-war avant-garde American artists, and the New York School, identified as a loose confederation of second-generation painters working in and around New York City during the 1950s and 60s, are still potent terms in current discussions about art and painting, in particular. This exhibition suggests that this period was more diverse than we tend to believe; that a plurality of styles co-existed in post-war New York; and that the key figures of the period need not dominate our understanding of this well-documented moment in American art.

The selected body of work forms part of the New York University Art Collection, which has its home at the Grey Art Gallery. The Collection was initiated in 1958 so that NYU students would have direct, frequent and sustained contact with original works of art. This concept of a presence of modern art on campus was inspired by The Living Art Gallery, established by A.E. Gallatin in 1927 on the Grey Art Gallery’s current site. It was in this gallery that Gallatin, an artist as well as an art collector, housed his own personal collection of avant-garde art, making it the United States’ first gallery devoted exclusively to contemporary art.

The catalogue that accompanies this exhibition examines the history of the NYU Art Collection and considers in detail the issues raised by this grouping of artists. It also asks questions about the place of such an exhibition in a global, historical and Irish context. You may wish to keep some of these questions in mind as you view the works on display:

- Is the New York School fundamentally American?
- What are the different concerns of the paintings on show?
- How do you situate artists such as Rauschenberg and Frankenthaler between gestural and conceptual ways of painting?
- What does this exhibition tell us about the development of painting?

Fiona Kearney, Curator

This exhibition has been organised in conjunction with the Grey Art Gallery, New York University. All works are from the New York University Art Collection, which receives vital support from the Grey Art Gallery Collections Committee.

There is a full colour catalogue to accompany this exhibition on sale at the Glucksman shop. RRP EUR17.99 ISBN 0-9502440-1-5

You can download the introduction to the catalogue here