The New York Times
Arts | Long Island
In the Hamptons, a Painting Season and More
Published: August 16, 2009
Spanierman Gallery, confirming its credentials as a frequent home of serious painting on the East End, has almost 40 paintings of Montauk by the late Balcomb Greene, a member of the original generation of American abstract artists and among the pioneers of Montauk’s early art colony. In the mid-1940s, however, he turned away from pure abstraction, reintroducing figuration into his work.
Mr. Greene is one of those artists described as “a painter’s painter,” which really just means that he should be better known and more assiduously collected by those with a serious interest in art. His talent is beyond doubt, as the many wonderfully dynamic scenes of shorelines, sailboats and water in this exhibition reveal. “The Sailboat” (1968), a medium-sized oil, is especially riveting.
The exhibition also includes a series of large images of nudes on the beach, notable for the way in which the monumental bodies of the figures fuse with the sand. Mr. Greene gave the scenes an erotic charge without making them offensive. That’s an impressive feat for any painter.
“BALCOMB GREENE’S Montauk Paintings,” Spanierman Gallery, 68 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, through Sept. 7. (631) 329-9530 or www.spanierman-at-easthampton.com.
See the entire article on The New York Times website.
If you wish further information, please email Info.easthampton@spanierman.com |
