American Abstract Artists Celebrate the First Fifty Years

Geierhaas, Franz. “American Abstract Artists Celebrate the First Fifty Years”Journal of the Print World, Vol. 10, No. 3, Summer 1987, p. 14.

Any organization composed of artists which survives a decade is worth noticing. When a group of artists can gather to celebrate 50 years of their existence, it is something truly special. Both Die Bruckeand Der Blaue Reiter barely made it into second decades. Why has this group of American Abstract Artists survived for 50 years? Susan C. Larsen in her introduction to the Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio mentions several reasons for this unusual longevity:

Primarily an exhibiting society, the AAA created an open and generally egalitarian forum for the exhibition of abstract and non-objective art stressing the common bond between artists who understood form as a vital physical and visual vehicle for content. The AAA has been for most of its history, a remarkably democratic organization tolerant of many points of view and, in recent years, the scope of its exhibitions has seemed to widen, including a variety of styles, attitudes to form, and a broad philosophical base which can include the aesthetic, the mathematical, the scientific and even the mystical.

The reasons for establishing the group in the first place had to do with a widespread resistance to, and ignorance of, the modernist revolution in Europe during the first three decades of the twentieth century. During the thirties in ever increasing numbers due to Hitler’s rise in power and his hostility towards modernism in art, European avant-gardists such as Piet Mondrian, Fernand Leger and Lazio Moholy-Nagy landed on these shores and supported and joined this courageous group of abstract artists. George L.K. Morris, Harry Holtzmann and Carl Holty organized meetings and, in the fall of 1936, the American Abstract Artists was founded. Burgoyne Diller who at the time was [Project Supervisor] of the WPA Mural Division in New York [City] became the group’s leader and was able to employ a number of these modernists in his program. A.E. Gallatin was an early ardent supporter of American modernists. At his Gallery of Living Art at New York University he exhibited many of AAA’s works, wrote about them and contributed to their cause. Gertrude Greene, Alice T Mason and Esphyr Slobodkina belonged to the most energetic group of exhibition organizers, publication- and symposia- directors. (The significant role of American women in support of the arts has not been written; it is a unique American phenomenon!)

Another special aspect of the American Abstract Artists is that they published a major portfolio to celebrate their founding and now, fifty years old, they published another major portfolio to commemorate this milestone. The former portfolio, supervised by Vaclav Vytlacil, a founding member of AAA, and teacher at the Art Student League, consisted of 30 lithographs (the entire membership of AAA at that time was 39). The Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio contains 44 original lithographs by that many members of AAA. (Current membership stands at 70). Two artists have the distinction of being represented in both portfolios: Esphyr Slobodkina and Ibram Lassaw.

Any publisher of original print-portfolios would consider it a daunting task to produce a portfolio with 44 participating artists. AAA set up a Publications Committee in 1984. This group developed the format and rules for this mamouth undertaking. Every current member was invited to submit one design for a black and white lithograph. The edition has 140 numbered copies. Each print has been individually numbered and signed by the artist. Ten additional copies designated A/P have been reserved for each artist. The prints are dated 1986 and 1987. Print size is 12 3/4" x 9 3/4". (When will American publishers ever learn to give sizes in metric terms?) The paper used is Arches Vellum, 200 grams. Not every artist in the AAA is a printmaker or even primarily a printmaker. The astonishingly high number of 44 participants indicates a keen interest in the project. Artists prepared their images on mylar sheets. These were then sent to L’Atelier Frank Bordas in Paris where the images were transferred onto metal plates. The plates were then mounted over a lithostone on a motor driven lithographic press. Since we are dealing with moments in art history, it seems worth mentioning that this same press had been used by Bordas’ grandfather, Fernand Mourlot, to print works by Braque, Magritte, Miro and Picasso. Several of the AAA members went to Paris to help supervise the printing, chief among them was John Goodyear who had prior experience with the superbly able printers at the Bordas Studio. The result of painstaking attention to detail and quality shows in the finished prints. They are immaculate and most are really very fine artistic creations. The finished edition had to be shipped back to the United States where the artists—many of them fortunately residents of the New York Metropolitan area—had to number and sign them.

A handsome portfolio cover was produced in the color gris fumé which enhances the attractiveness of the “package” considerably. Naomo Boretz and John Goodyear of the Publications Committee must be congratulated on a task magnificently completed. As a footnote, I should mention that they tried to find printers in the United States to do the job but found it would have cost many time more than the Paris printers’ bill. When asked about the financial arrangements for this publication, Goodyear told me that each artist was assessed $50 for which he or she then received one complete portfolio. Some bills have still to be paid and intake from sales will help defray the remaining cost. During the summer of 1987 the Condeso-Lawler Gallery on Greene Street in Soho will exhibit the entire portfolio. [1]

Notes

1. A mailing address and information about purchasing the AAA 50th Anniversary Print Portfolio through Condeso-Lawler Gallery and American Abstract Artists were included in the review. That information has been omitted because it is out of date. Inquiries about AAA Print Portfolios can be made through this website.