Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

John Von Wicht
Abstract Pastel Crayon Drawing Color Abstract, Seasonal Letter John Von Wicht

About the Item

Provenance: Virginia Field, arts administrator; New York, N.Y. Assistant director for Asia House gallery. (she was friends with John von Wicht, Bernard Childs, John Ford and Andy Warhol) Johannes Von Wicht was born in Holstein, Germany on February 3, 1888. His mother moved the family to Oldenburg when Von Wicht was in elementary school and he began to visit the artist Gerhard Bakenhus. Von Wicht’s mother had arranged for him to apprentice at the studio of master painter F.W. Adels. There he learned to prepare paints with linseed oil and later commented on the lasting impression of colors throughout his career. Interior of a Farmhouse was his first painting completed in 1907. Gerhard Bakenhus was able to include the painting to in the Bremer Kunsthalle exhibition in 1908. Due to the critical success of this piece Von Wicht was accepted to the private art school of the Grand Duke of Hesse in Darmstadt. Fundamental themes of simplicity, nature, and poetry were instilled in the students. The students also studied ancient art, Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, as well as Mathias Grünewald, Albrecht Dürer, Martin Schongauer, Hans Memling, and other German masters whose work was in local collections. Von Wicht subsequently studied printing methods at the Royal School for Fine and Applied Arts in Berlin, but said he skipped class frequently to visit exhibitions of the newest painting—van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Paul Gauguin, Wassily Kandinsky, and Franz Marc. Von Wicht continued to pursue the arts with a three-year scholarship to the Royal School of Fine & Applied Arts in Berlin. There he was influenced by the city’s avant-garde art scene. In 1911 his work was included in the Free Berlin Secession exhibition. During his service in WWI Von Wicht was wounded and partially paralyzed. While recovering he worked on book designs and illustrations. In 1923 Von Wicht immigrated to the United States, leaving a post-war Berlin and its economic hardships. He found his place at the Ardsley Art Academy in Brooklyn and secured a job at the U.S. Printing and Lithography Company, later moving to work at Ravenna Mosaic. While working for the mosaic company, Von Wicht designed a vestibule for the St. Louis Cathedral in a classic Byzantine manner. After a few years he had established enough contacts to become an independent mosaic contractor, setting up an office on Park Ave to handle private commissions, with a studio in Brooklyn Heights. Von Wicht’s first attempt at abstraction was not until 1937 when he created his “Force” series in watercolor, commemorating Juliana Force, the first director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. This group of paintings were clearly influenced by Kandinsky’s geometrical abstractions. In 1941 Von Wicht was accepted into a show at the Whitney, whereupon he was recognized and acknowledged both by his critics as well as his peers. Challenged by cubism and surrealism, Von Wicht had yet to find his own personal artistic vocabulary within abstract expressionism. By 1950 Von Wicht was painting full time and able to explore his personal expression of abstraction as a mature artist, returning to drawing in order to solve problems of content and composition. Far Eastern calligraphy was a major influence for Von Wicht that moved his works into a more vertical format. In 1951 Von Wicht had his second solo exhibit at the Passedoit Gallery, which won him much critical acclaim. He held another show at the Passedoit in 1954 with works based on musical symphonies, using elements of abstraction to provide a spiritual analysis of the music itself. He created innovative works on rice paper while spending a winter at the McDowell Colony, an artist-in residence program in New Hampshire. He attempted automatic sketching as a direct translation of inner movement to find equilibrium within his work. Towards the end of the 1950’s, Von Wicht contract with the Passedoit Gallery ended and he moved to the Bertha Schaefer Gallery (She introduced the work sculptors Kenneth Armitage and Eduardo Chillida, championed the paintings of Marsden Hartley and Alfred Maurer and Bauhaus artists). His first European show was in held 1959 in Paris, with others following in Brussels, Liege, and Belgium. Select Solo Exhibitions 1924 Brooklyn Institute of Art and Science 1936 Architects Building, NYC 1939 Theodore A. Kohn & Son, NYC 1944 Artists’ Gallery, NYC 1947 University of California, Los Angeles 1950 Passedoit Gallery, NYC 1959 Galerie Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France Galerie Europe, Brussels, Belgium Association pour e Progrès Intel et Artistique de la Wallonie (APIAW), Liége Belgium Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara 1960 Galeria Mayer, Madrid, Spain 1960 The Bertha Schaefer Gallery, NYC (1962, 1964, 1966) 1962 Galerie Neufville, Paris 1964 Galerie Leonhard, Munich, Germany 1966 Joseph Grippi Gallery, NYC 1973 Oscar Krasner Gallery, NYC 1979 Marden Fine Arts, NYC 1989 Galerie Kaupa, Germany 1990 “Kunstverein March,” Germany 1992 Galerie Michael Rasche, Freiburg, Germany (2000) 1993 Gallery Berman-Daferner, NYC (1995) 1993 Susan Teller Gallery, NYC 1999 Kraushaar Gallery, NYC 2002 Ostholsteinisches Landesmuseum, Eutin, Germany Select Group Exhibitions 1940 Galerie St. Etienne, NYC 1941 Metropolitan Museum of Art 1945-48 Brooklyn Museum 1941 Whitney Museum of American Art Annuals and Biennial 1946 National Academy Galleries, NYC 1946 Kleeman Gallery, NYC Grand Central Art Galleries, Inc., NYC Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Palais des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris, France New School for Social Research, NYC Museum of Modern Art National Arts Club, NYC Bertha Schaefer Gallery The Print Club, Philadelphia, PA Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. “The Second Wave: American Abstraction of the 1930s and 1940s,” Worcester Art Museum, MA “A Century of MacDowell Colony Artists,” The Currier Art Gallery, Manchester, NH Museu de Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain “The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Paintings,” Worcester Art Museum, MA He was a member of American Abstract Artists, Audubon Society of Artists, Brooklyn Society of Artists and Salons of America.”
  • Creator:
    John Von Wicht
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)Width: 5 in (12.7 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    good. minor wear. on fine paper. Please see photos.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3825894752
More From This SellerView All
  • Abstract Expressionist Gestural Oil Pastel Drawing Women Figures Anthony Triano
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Anthony Thomas Triano (1928–1997) was an abstract expressionist painter, sculptor, illustrator and teacher. His works feature natural forms, especially the human form, and tend towar...
    Category

    1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Oil Pastel

  • Large Colorful Modernist Pastel Abstract Expressionist Painting Sylvia Carewe
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Framed 33 X 45.5 image is 29 X 41.5 Hand signed lower left Signed and titled verso Sylvia Carewe (1906-1981) was an American woman artist, painter, writer and poet. Born in New York City to Russian immigrant parents, Louis and Esther Kerewsky, she changed her surname to "Carewe" in 1930. Carewe attended Columbia University and studied further with Yasuo Kuniyoshi at Atelier 17 in New York, with Hans Hoffman in New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts, and at the New School for Social Research. During World War II Carewe worked as an advertising copywriter and artist for agencies in New York. She became a prolific abstract artist in a range of media, including tapestry designs for the Aubusson tapestry carpet company in France, felt banners, collage reliefs, and what she termed "blown paintings," which were assemblages (predominantly of children's toy components) overlaid with spray paint. One of the most common subjects in her semi abstract paintings was New York City at night. She also worked in traditional artistic media, including watercolors, oils, lithographs and pastels. In October 1944, she married Marvin Small (formerly Smalheiser, executive for Carter's Little Liver Pills). They had one child, John Marvin, in June 1947. Carewe had her first one-woman show in Poughkeepsie in 1947, after which she opened in New York City at the ACA Gallery in 1948. She had some twenty other American solo shows and her works hung in many exhibits across the United States as well as in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Her works are represented in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, Musée de l'Arte Moderne, Paris, Brandeis University, the Butler Art Institute, Howard University, the Tel Aviv Museum and the National Museum in Djakarta, Indonesia. Her work has been described by French critics as "violent, colorful art, in hard contrasts, not exempt from cold lyricism." ["Les Girls...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil Pastel, Paper

  • NYC School Abstract Expressionist Russian-American Painter Pastel Drawing
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Abstract Artwork (drawing or rubbing) laid on a New Years card. Provenance: Virginia Field, Arts administrator; New York, N.Y. Assistant director for Asia House gallery. (she was friends with John von Wicht, Ben Zion and Andy Warhol) During the summer of 1948 in the Cape Cod Massachusetts artists’ colony of Provincetown, Stillman’s experiments with such techniques led to a unique drawing process. Using an inkless pen, or some such tool, the artist impressed the paper with invisible scribbles, which only emerged as white lines when he rubbed a flat stick of charcoal or pastel across the surface. These evocative, subtly modulated, works on paper are sophisticated, yet little known, examples of Abstract Expressionist art. He imbued his abstractions with a glowing atmospheric quality that derives from both impressionism and the Old Testament concept of divine light. He subsequently adapted this technique to the graphic arts, experimenting in the early 1950s with color lithograph and woodcut print techniques. Ary...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Pastel, Crayon

  • Homage a Sam Francis, Folded Monoprint Mixed Media Splatter Painting Art Print
    By Richard Royce
    Located in Surfside, FL
    This is a mixed media monoprint titled Homage a Sam (I first thought it was for Sam Gilliam but the artist told me it was for Sam Francis. He has done a number of these Homages as I ...
    Category

    1980s Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media

    Materials

    Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Monoprint

  • Irene Rice Pereira Modernist Gouache Drawing Painting Abstract Expressionist Art
    By Irene Rice Pereira
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Irene Rice Pereira, Mixed Media on Paper (American, 1902-1971) Titled "The East Wind Carries the Seed" Hand signed l.r. "I. Rice Pereira". Paper: 14.1/8"h x 18.25"w Irene Rice Pe...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Gouache

  • Modernist Abstract Expressionist Watercolor Painting Bauhaus Weimar Pawel Kontny
    By Pawel Kontny
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Abstract watercolor composition bearing the influence of the earlier color-block compositions of Paul Klee. Pawel August Kontny, (Polish-German-American artist) He was born in Laurahuette, Poland, in 1923, the son of a wealthy pastry shop owner. In 1939 he began studying architecture in Breslau where he was introduced to the European masters and to the work of some of the German Expressionists, soon afterward banned as "degenerate artists" and removed from museums throughout Germany by the Nazi regime. His studies were interrupted by World War II. Drafted into the German army, traveling in many countries as a soldier, he sketched various landscapes but in 1945, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Italy. After the war, he studied at the Union of Nuremberg Architects to help design buildings to replace ones destroyed in the war. He recorded his impressions of the local population and the landscapes through his watercolors and drawings. Pawel Kontny thereafter moved to Nuremberg, Germany, becoming a member of the Union of Nuremberg Architects and helping to rebuild the city's historic center. He soon decided to concentrate on his professional art career. He married Irmgard Laurer, a dancer with the Nuremberg Opera. Pavel Kontny 's career as an artist was launched with his participation in an all German exhibition, held at the Dusseldorf Museum in 1952. He held one-man shows in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. During his trip to the United States in 1960, Kontny became instantly enamored with Colorado, and decided to relocate to Cherry Hills with his wife and two children. He quickly established himself in the local art community, being affiliated for a time with Denver Art Galleries and Saks Galleries. His subject matter became the Southwest. During this time he received the Prestigious Gold Medal of the Art Academy of Rome. His extensive travel provided material for the paintings he did using his hallmark marble dust technique. he also worked equally in pastel, watercolor, charcoal and pencil-and-ink. in a style which merged abstraction and realist styles, influenced by Abstract Expressionist painting and South Western American landscapes. This one is influenced by California Abstract Expressionist artist Sam Francis. In the early 1960s he was one of only a few European-born professional artists in the state, a select group that included Herbert Bayer (1900-1985), a member of the prewar Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, Germany, and Roland Detre (1903-2001), a Hungarian modernist painter. As a Denver, Colorado resident, Pavel Kontny exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the United States, Germany and Japan. There, he was inspired by frequent trips to Native American pueblos in the Southwest, as well as by the study of the Plains Indians of Montana and Wyoming. Over the years Kontny had a number of students and generously helped young artist by hosting exhibitions at his Cherry Hills home. For many years he generously donated his paintings to support charitable causes in Denver. Influences during his European years included German pastelist C.O. Muller, German Informel painter Karl Dahmen and Swiss artist, Hans Erni. In the early 1950s his painting style showed the influence of the Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905 who had a major impact on the evolution of modern art in the twentieth century in Germany. By the middle of the decade his style incorporated more referential abstraction and total abstraction, resulting in part from his study of Hans Hartung, a German artist based in Paris who exhibited his gestural abstract work in Germany. The American moon landing in 1969 inspired Paul Kontny...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor, Archival Paper

You May Also Like
  • "Black Band Abstract" achromatic black and white pastel abstract signed noir
    By Valerie Christell
    Located in Milwaukee, WI
    "Black Band Abstract" is an original pastel drawing by Valerie Christell. It features abstract markmaking that forms a dark band in the center of the drawing. The artist signed the piece. Artwork Size: 30" x 44" Frame Size: 45 1/4" x 31 1/8" Artist Bio: Valerie J. Christell lives, works and maintains a studio in the Milwaukee area. She’s taught a variety of classes at Alverno over the years and is the former gallery director. Currently she’s teaching Figure Drawing classes and is a member of Alverno’s Art and Environment Committee. After receiving her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign, Christell received her Master’s of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee. Since then, she has continued her education with post-graduate study in art history. In creating her art, Christell works in a variety of media, including drawing (clayboard, charcoal and pencil), found object, digital photography collages...
    Category

    1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Pastel

  • Abstract Emotional Brush Painting. Joyful Impulse
    Located in Zofingen, AG
    "Joyful Impulse" is an improvised impulsive drawing conveys an impulse born in the space of sensations. Artwork is done in ink and ocher pastel on thick white paper. "Every time ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Pastel, Ink

  • Abstract Calligraphic Brush Drawing. Free flow movement
    Located in Zofingen, AG
    "Free flow movement" is an improvised gestural drawing conveys an impulse born in the space of sensations. Artwork is done in ink and ocher pastel on thick white paper. "Every time ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Pastel, Ink

  • Abstract Calligraphic Brush Drawing. Combing Sound
    Located in Zofingen, AG
    "Combing Sound" is an improvised gestural drawing conveys an impulse born in the space of sensations. Artwork is done in ink and ocher pastel on thick white paper. "Every time I draw such abstract lines, a flow of energy moves my hand. I paint very fast to give the spontaneous flow as much space as possible. I never know what the result will be. The process of spontaneous drawing is a kind of magic that turns an invisible impulse into a reflection on paper. I feel the vibration in and around my palms and enjoy this dance of vibrations every time I paint. Each drawing is unique and one of a kind." Sve Gri...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Pastel, Ink

  • Expressive abstract artwork. Minimalistic graphics. Expressively Fast .3.
    Located in Zofingen, AG
    "Expressively Fast" This intuitive abstract drawing is made with Chinese ink and pastel on watercolour paper. It conveys an impulse born in the space of sensations. "Every time I draw such abstract lines, a flow of energy moves my hand. For this to happen freely, I need to be calm and focused at the same time. I draw very quickly to keep expression and spontaneity. I never know what the result will be. The process of drawing like this is a kind of magic that turns an invisible impulse into a reflection on paper. Each drawing is unique and one of a kind." Sve Gri...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Pastel, Ink

  • Abstract Monochrome Brush Drawing. Streamlet
    Located in Zofingen, AG
    "Streamlet" is an improvised gestural drawing conveys an impulse born in the space of sensations. Artwork is done in ink and ocher pastel on thick white paper. "Every time I draw...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Pastel, Ink

Recently Viewed

View All