Schoelkopf Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of exceptional American Modernist works from the Estate of a New York private collector.
Drawn entirely from a singular private collection, the exhibition brings together works by artists who—whether widely celebrated or lesser-known—helped define a new artistic identity in the United States in the early 20th century. The works presented evince a deeply personal approach to collecting, and the compositions themselves reveal the tensions and triumphs of a nation negotiating modernity through their depictions of industrial growth, shifting landscapes, and the emergence of new techniques.
Featuring paintings, works on paper, and sculptures from the 1900s through the 1950s, the exhibition highlights the evolving vocabulary of American Modernism, its restless experimentation, its move toward abstraction, and its pursuit of a uniquely American visual language.
The exhibition includes works by George C. Ault, Milton Avery, George Bellows, Oscar Bluemner, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Walt Kuhn, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Charles Sheeler.
As a trusted global leader in the field of American art, Schoelkopf Gallery’s expertise in American Modernist works aligns with the vision and focus of this private collection.
Among the works on view will be Stuart Davis’ 1956 painting Memo No. 2, a piece that offers an informative summary of the artist’s method in the 1950s.
As curator and scholar Carol Troyen notes, Davis often revisited and rearranged aspects of his previous works. “Davis gathered favorite shapes, which he turned, revised, and recombined, moving them from a descriptive space to an abstract one, and from highly stylized, almost recognizable objects to almost totally non-representational forms, with witty transpositions occurring along the way.”
Furthermore, the “split-screen” approach evident in the left and right sections of Memo No. 2 was one of Davis’s favorite compositional devices. In this painting, the artist’s signature also plays an important part in the overall picture, which was another hallmark of Davis’ compositional approach.
Another highlight of the exhibition is Charles Sheeler’s 1945 painting, Fugue. Sheeler’s sharp painting aesthetic was directly informed by his photography practice. Self-taught, Sheeler honed his photography skills by documenting local architecture and the interior of his own residence in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In the 1910s, Sheeler became associated with the Precisionists—an informal group of American artists known for their exacting approach, reduced geometric compositions, and smooth surfaces—shortly after turning to his photographs as source material for his paintings.
Sheeler’s artistic investigations are deeply rooted in American identity as seen in his choice of subject matter, often portraying mills, mines, and factories with stately elegance. The subject of Fugue, for instance, is a power plant in New Bedford, Massachusetts, that Sheeler came across during a road trip through New England in 1939 after he received a commission from Fortune magazine to create a series of paintings on the motif of power.
The visual echo created by the repetition of the forms of the overlapping smokestacks evokes the intertwined melodies of a fugue, for which the work is titled. Sheeler’s strong use of contrast between light and shadow contributes to the compelling rhythm of the composition.
One of several works inspired by Gloucester, Massachusetts by various artists in the exhibition, House in Gloucester (1922) by Edward Hopper demonstrates the artist’s skillful draftsmanship and his appreciation of the architecture and natural beauty of the town. Hopper’s affinity for the city and surrounding area began in 1912 when he travelled to Gloucester with fellow artist and friend Leon Kroll. He returned to Gloucester several times in the 1920s, following in the footsteps of earlier generations of American artists such as Sanford Gifford, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, and Maurice Prendergast.
Hopper often used sketches to explore subjects, compositions, and lighting effects that would later become his watercolors or oil paintings. He frequently portrayed the everyday architecture of New England, and scholars have noted the portrait-like quality he brought to these depictions. A large collection of his drawings was bequeathed to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, while additional examples of his charcoal drawings of houses in Gloucester are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Amon Carter Museum of Art in Fort Worth, Texas.
Overall, American Modernism from The Estate of a Private Collector, New York presents a collection built with intellectual curiosity, connoisseurship, and an eye for a transformative moment in the history of American art.
