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Untitled

$15,000.00

Description

Howard Mehring is best known for his hard-edged geometrical color field paintings and screenprints. But he first proved his worth as a painter in far more abstract expressionist work.

This untitled composition in Gray, Black, Red, White, and Cranberry is one of the very few of Mehring’s early works which remain extant. With layering of paint spread on an unprimed canvas, the work is simultaneously bright and dark, ordered and chaotic.

The artist was close friends with fellow Washingtonian artist James F. Hilleary, to whom Mehring gifted numerous works. There came an occasion during which Mehring, with Hilleary in Hilleary’s studio, suddenly picked up a pencil and scribbled out his name on all of the canvases he had given Hilleary, convinced that his work was unworthy. Time has proved Mehring wrong.

Additional information

Condition

Very Good Condition

Date

Type

Paintings, Washington Artists

Framing

Medium

Oil on canvas, Painting

Signing, Dating, and Titling

Details

Medium:
Oil on Canvas, Impasto
Date:
c. 1955
Signature:
Signed by the artist in pen, en verso, but signature defaced by the artist.
Framing:
Professionally framed in a pewter-painted wood frame with a cloth-wrapped liner. Retaining the hang tag attached by the Marin-Price Gallery.
Condition:
Very good condition. Minimal hairline cracking in paint; no losses.
Size:
43.75 in. (h) × 36 in. (w) x 1.875 in. (d)
Provenance:
From the Estate of Washington Color School painter James F. Hilleary, a close friend of the artist, by gift from the artist
Exhibitions:
Exhibited at Marin-Price Gallery, 2014

Price & Purchase

Price:
$15,000