Art Market Monitor

The New York Times has Irving Kriesberg’s obituary:

Where hard-line Abstract Expressionists shunned figural elements in their work, Mr. Kriesberg used them lavishly. As a result, he was often called a Figurative Expressionist; the term applied to midcentury Expressionists whose work was not strictly abstract.

But as often as not, Mr. Kriesberg’s work transcended category. Though it teemed with figures — frogs, birds, people, angels and much else — it was anything but representational. Normally small creatures tower and loom, dancers weave through space at unorthodox angles, and customarily static objects appear fluid and sinuous. All these things gave his work a sense of wit and mystery. [...]

Mr. Kriesberg came to wide attention in 1952 with his inclusion in the major exhibition “Fifteen Americans” at the Museum of Modern Art. (The exhibition also included the Abstract Expressionists Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still.) He was given his first solo exhibition in 1955, at the Curt Valentin Gallery in Manhattan.

Irving Kriesberg, Artist of Dreamlike Landscapes, Dies at 90 (New York Times)

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