Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 6

Mercedes Matter
Mercedes Matter, New York School Abstract Figures
circa 1937

Name: Mercedes Matter, New York School Abstract Figures
Brand: Mercedes Matter
Rating: 5 (19 reviews)

$4,950List Price

About the Item

Mercedes Carles Matter (1913 - 2001) Untitled, circa 1937 Pastel on paper 16 x 13 1/2 inches Estate stamped on the reverse Provenance: Estate of the artist Spanierman Gallery, New York Private Collection, Pennsylvania circa 2013 Private Collection, New York, 2021 Mercedes Matter was born in New York in 1913. Her father, the American modernist Arthur B. Carles, had studied with Matisse. Her mother, Mercedes de Cordoba, was a model for Edward Steichen. Ms. Matter grew up in Philadelphia, New York and Europe. She began painting under her father's supervision at age 6, and studied art at Bennett College in Millbrook, N.Y., and then in New York City with Maurice Sterne, Alexander Archipenko and Hans Hofmann. In the late 1930's, she was an original member of the American Abstract Artists organization and worked for the federal Works Progress Administration, assisting Fernand Léger on his mural for the French Line passenger ship company. Léger introduced her to Herbert Matter, the Swiss graphic designer and photographer, whom she married in 1939. The Matters were active in the emerging New York art scene and also traveled frequently to Europe. Their closest friends included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Philip Guston, Alexander Calder and Willem de Kooning. They were also close to Alberto Giacometti, who was an important artistic role model for Mrs. Matter and a frequent photographic subject for her husband. Beginning in 1953, Mrs. Matter taught at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), Pratt Institute and New York University. Based on her teaching experiences she wrote an article for Art News in 1963 titled ''What's Wrong with U.S. Art Schools?'' In it, she lamented the phasing out of the extended studio classes required to initiate ''that painfully slow education of the senses,'' which she considered an artist's life work. The article prompted a group of Pratt students to ask her to form a school based on her ideas, which led, in 1964, to the founding of the New York Studio School. Originally in a loft on Broadway, the school gained almost immediate support from the Kaplan Fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation. It granted no degrees, had only studio classes and emphasized drawing from life. Its teachers, chosen by the students, included the artists Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Charles Cajori, Louis Finkelstein and Sidney Geist; the art historian Meyer Schapiro; and the composer Morton Feldman. The Matters lived on Macdougal Alley, where Mr. Matter had a studio in one of the eight small buildings that had housed what is now the Whitney Museum of American Art. It was his idea that the buildings would make a perfect home for artist estates School, which bought them from the Whitney family in 1967. Mrs. Matter practiced as she preached, spending months, and sometimes years, working on drawings and paintings that usually began as still life's and evolved into near-abstractions animated by thatched lines that attested to her her devotion to the work of Giacometti and Cézanne. In addition to her art and teaching, she wrote articles on artists, including Hofmann, Kline and Giacometti. She wrote the text for a book of her husband's photographs of Giacometti, published in 1987, four years after his death.

Creator:
Mercedes Matter (1913-2001, American)
Creation Year:
circa 1937
Dimensions:
Height: 23.75 in (60.33 cm)Width: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)
Medium:
Paper,Pastel,Oil Pastel
Movement & Style:
Abstract Expressionist
Period:
1930-1939
Condition:
Excellent.
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU184129924302

Carmen CiceroNew York School Abstract Expressionist Drawing Watercolor Painting Carmen Cicero, 1972

$1,800

H 22.5 in W 28.5 in

New York School Abstract Expressionist Drawing Watercolor Painting Carmen Cicero

By Carmen Cicero

Located in Surfside, FL

This is a stylized figurative abstract expressionist nude. This one is hand signed and dated. From the style we are estimating it to the 1970's They have abstract stylized erotic mal...

Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Carmen CiceroNew York School Abstract Expressionist Drawing Watercolor Painting Carmen Cicero, 1972

$1,800

H 22.5 in W 28.5 in

New York School Abstract Expressionist Drawing Watercolor Painting Carmen Cicero

By Carmen Cicero

Located in Surfside, FL

This is a stylized figurative abstract expressionist nude. This one is hand signed and dated. From the style we are estimating it to the 1970's They have abstract stylized erotic mal...

Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Elisabeth Hahn20th Century German Modernist Oil Painting Abstract Figures, 20th century

$528Sale Price|20% Off

H 11 in W 9 in

20th Century German Modernist Oil Painting Abstract Figures

By Elisabeth Hahn

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Artist: Elisabeth Hahn (German 1924-2021), Elisabeth Hahn was born in Dortmund, Germany, where she began her artistic studies. In 1953, she moved to Paris. She continued her studie...

Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Carmen CiceroNew York School Abstract Expressionist Drawing Watercolor Painting Carmen Cicero, 1972

$1,800

H 22.5 in W 28.5 in

New York School Abstract Expressionist Drawing Watercolor Painting Carmen Cicero

By Carmen Cicero

Located in Surfside, FL

This is a stylized figurative abstract expressionist nude. This one is hand signed and dated. From the style we are estimating it to the 1970's They have abstract stylized erotic mal...

Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

KlineUntitled Modernist (Abstract Expressionist Figurative Painting), ca. 1960

$450

H 13 in W 10 in D 0.1 in

Untitled Modernist (Abstract Expressionist Figurative Painting)

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Beautiful Abstract expressionist figure signed Kline. Charcoal on paper measuring 10 x 13 inches. Sheet is glued down to foam board backing. Total measurement 13 x 16 inches.

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Frederic OstAbstract Figure - Czech Art, 1936

$3,700

H 25.99 in W 16.93 in

Abstract Figure - Czech Art

Located in London, GB

The work is hand signed in ink by the artist "b.ost" in the lower right corner, and hand dated "36" next to the signature. The drawing was created in 1936. Provenance: Collection So...

Category

1930s Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Contemporary figures, Vignettes, Abstract figures.

$8,000

H 48 in W 36 in D 1 in

Contemporary figures, Vignettes, Abstract figures.

Located in La Canada Flintridge, CA

it is oil on canvas and artist Koko sighed lower right.

Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Joseph KardonneAbstract Expressionist Dancers, 1978

$300

H 12 in W 14.5 in D 0.05 in

Abstract Expressionist Dancers

By Joseph Kardonne

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Joseph Kardonne (1911-1985). Dancers, 1978. Gouache, watercolor and ink on paper, sheet measures 12 x 14.25 inches; 12 1/2 x 17 5/8 inches mounted on cardboard. Signed, dated and t...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Gouache

Robert LadouTwo Abstract Figures Original French Artwork Acrylic Painting, 20th Century

$417Sale Price|20% Off

H 9.5 in Dm 10.5 in

Two Abstract Figures Original French Artwork Acrylic Painting

By Robert Ladou

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Original French Artwork by Robert Ladou (French 1929-2014) original acrylic painting on thick artist paper stuck on card, unframed size: 9.5 x 10.5 inches condition: very good prove...

Category

20th Century Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Tom BennettGood Friday, abstract female figure, 2018

$450

H 12.01 in W 12.01 in

Good Friday, abstract female figure

By Tom Bennett

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Oil on paper, signature Tom Bennett freedom of rich brushwork, warm colors

Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Oil

More From This Seller

View All

Theresa Bernstein"The Gathering" Theresa Bernstein, Abstracted Figures Ashcan School Artist

"The Gathering" Theresa Bernstein, Abstracted Figures Ashcan School Artist

By Theresa Bernstein

Located in New York, NY

Theresa Bernstein The Gathering, circa 1990 Signed lower right Mixed media on paper 9 x 10 3/4 inches Theresa F. Bernstein was born in Philadelphia in 1895 to cultured, middle-clas...

Category

1990s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Theresa Bernstein"Untitled" Theresa Bernstein, Expressionist Work by American Ashcan Artist, circa 1990

"Untitled" Theresa Bernstein, Expressionist Work by American Ashcan Artist

By Theresa Bernstein

Located in New York, NY

Theresa Bernstein Untitled, circa 1990 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches Theresa F. Bernstein was born in Philadelphia in 1895 to cultured, middle-class immigrant par...

Category

1990s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Louis Stone"Two Figures, " Louis Stone, Abstract, American WPA Modernism, 1980

"Two Figures, " Louis Stone, Abstract, American WPA Modernism

By Louis Stone

Located in New York, NY

Louis K. Stone (1902 - 1984) Two Figures, 1980 Mixed media on paper Sight 52 x 42 inches Signed and dated lower right Louis King Stone was born in Findlay, Ohio in 1902 and received...

Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Gene Hedge 1"Untitled" Gene Hedge, Mid-Century, Gestural, Abstract Expressionist, Colorful, circa 1957

"Untitled" Gene Hedge, Mid-Century, Gestural, Abstract Expressionist, Colorful

By Gene Hedge 1

Located in New York, NY

Gene Hedge Untitled, circa 1957 Oil on paper 23 x 17 1/2 inches Provenance Estate of the artist Gene Hedge was born (1928) and raised in rural Indiana. After military service, he ...

Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Oil

Irene Rice Pereira"Composition with Figure, " Irene Rice Pereira, 1951

"Composition with Figure, " Irene Rice Pereira

By Irene Rice Pereira

Located in New York, NY

Irene Rice Pereira Composition with Figure, 1951 Inscribed, signed and dated Salford/Pereira 2/51 (lr); inscribed I Rice Pereira/2669 Great Clowes St/Sa...

Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Casein

Gertrude Greene"VOP #3" Gertrude Greene, 1952

"VOP #3" Gertrude Greene

By Gertrude Greene

Located in New York, NY

Gertrude Greene VOP #3, 1952 Signed and dated lower left Oil on paper 10 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches Gertrude Glass Greene was a pioneering American abstract artist, sculptor, designer, and...

Category