Artist: Harold Baumbach (American, 1904-2002) Title: Untitled Audio: Date: 1980 Dimensions: 50″ x 40″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Harold Baumbach. © Artist’s Estate Description: A self-taught painter, Baumbach became well known in the 1930’s for his densely patterned street scenes and Brooklyn interiors. He later turned to landscapes, which were less figurative and more impressionistic and expressive. A review in ARTnews explained, “His real subject was not the world outside of himself but the stuff and texture and light of paint.” This painting, which contains dreamlike trees in an abstract setting, explores color and spatial relations. Baumbach taught painting at Brooklyn College from 1946 to 1966. Related Websites– Harold Baumbach at PicassoMio– Harold Baumbach at Julie Heller Gallery
Untitled
Artist: Philip Guston (Canadian, 1913-1980) Title: Untitled, From the Suite of Ten Lithographs Audio: Date: 1966 Dimensions: 22 1/2 x 30 inches Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Lithograph on paper works on paper Owner: Brooklyn College Description: Guston is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. He is best known for his abstract paintings during the 1950’s and early 1960’s when he established a reputation as a major abstract expressionist artist, and then later, in the 1970’s, when he created cartoonlike imagery. These two lithographs were made during the pivotal time when the artist began to question his role as an abstract artist. Guston began to feel that his abstractions made it difficult to respond to the social and political upheavals of the period. Marks on the lithographs are repeated and suggest solid forms and hinting at recognizable shapes. These types of drawings evolved into more figurative elements, everyday objects and cartoon shapes that would typify the painter’s work during the last decade of his life. Related Website – Philip Guston at MOMA
American, 1911-1972 Untitled (Landscape), c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 16 1/2” x 24” The Brooklyn College Library Collection After immigrating to New York, the Russian born Pantuhoff lived in Greenwich Village where he came into contact with the emerging Abstract Expressionists. Pantuhoff, however, followed a different path. Although he first painted portraits of distinguished individuals such as Princess Grace of Monaco and Laurence S. Rockefeller, he eventually became best known for his big-eye portraits in the 1960s. In this eerie landscape, Pantuhoff uses abstract forms to create the swirling patterns of an uneven hillside. The uncanny, delicate trees evoke movement and emotion. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Untitled (Ships at Sea), c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 20” x 23 1/2” The Brooklyn College Library Collection This moody painting of a fully rigged ship at sea was likely inspired by the waterways surrounding New York City during the mid19th century. These types of ships were known for their cargo capacity and speed. Federal Art Project Living New Deal