Sayart.net - Eric Firestone Gallery Showcases Abstract Expressionist Masters at Frieze Masters Seoul 2023

Eric Firestone Gallery, a prestigious American art institution, has made its mark in Korea through its participation in Frieze Seoul. As part of Frieze Masters Seoul 2023, Eric Firestone Gallery is presenting a thoughtfully curated collection of artwork by three distinguished women Abstract Expressionist artists: Elise Asher (1912–2004), Pat Passlof (1928–2011), and Jeanne Reynal (1903–1983). 
 

Notably, Elise Asher's creations are a must-see for Korean and Asian art aficionados. 

▲ Elise Asher, oil on canvas, 116.84h x 106.68w cm ELASH006, Arrivederci, 1959–60, Courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery.

Elise Asher, a prominent figure in the realm of Abstract Expressionism, seamlessly blended calligraphic handwriting with vivid colors and dynamic brushwork in her paintings from the 1950s and 1960s. Her distinctive style of linear abstractions made a significant and unique contribution to the art movement. Asher's calligraphic paintings offer a tantalizing fusion of suggestion rather than literal legibility, drawing inspiration from diverse sources, including her own poetry, that of her husband, Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz, and literary giants such as Yeats, Keats, and Blake. The words she incorporated into her art meld into ethereal clouds of brushwork, leaving viewers captivated.

In a review of her work in 1964, critic Brian O'Doherty wrote, "In a Rimbaud type of association of color and symbol, words flick in and out of recognition, briefly suggesting a thought or image." Asher's artistic journey was a quest for a sense of "otherness" and "a concrete universe of my own, a mythic land of my own making." 

▲ Elise Asher, a prominent figure in the realm of Abstract Expressionism, seamlessly blended calligraphic handwriting with vivid colors and dynamic brushwork in her paintings from the 1950s and 1960s. Her distinctive style of linear abstractions made a significant and unique contribution to the art movement. Courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery

Elise Asher's artistic journey began with her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, followed by her graduation from the Simmons School of Social Work in Boston, MA. Her pursuit of artistic fulfillment led her to leave behind suburban life and relocate to New York City's Greenwich Village in 1947, where she started creating Miro-esque works using her daughter's poster paints. In 1949, she married painter Nanno De Groot, and they spent summers in Provincetown, where they crossed paths with the renowned artist and teacher Hans Hofmann.

Asher's art from the early 1950s featured expressive and dynamic linear brushwork, often evoking the essence of trees and plants through tight color palettes. By 1961, Asher began integrating text into her artwork, blurring the line between brushwork and writing, creating what O'Doherty described as "the poem lies half-exploded in an energized lyric bouquet." Despite her thriving career in art, Asher remained passionate about poetry, publishing her work in literary journals and magazines and releasing three volumes of poetry in 1955, 1994, and 2000.

▲ Cover of the exhibition catalog for Letting by Modern Artists, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1964. Courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery.

In the 1960s, Asher ventured into experimentation with plexiglass as a canvas support, and her distinctive calligraphic style graced both the interior and exterior of various artworks. Her piece titled "Valentine For Stanley" was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in the 1966 Greetings exhibition, alongside other notable works.

▲ Elise Asher, oil on canvas,182.88h x 121.92w cm ELASH083 'The Thing That Eats the Heart', 1960 Courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery.

During the 1970s and '80s, Asher returned to traditional canvas, crafting metaphysical landscapes and scenes featuring recurring motifs like clocks, locks, keys, tombs, marshlands, and peculiar birds and creatures. Her art emanated from poetry, with lines of text serving as "jumping-off points, parts of a text that makes music for me and extends the life of the poem."

▲ Elise Asher, oil on muslin mounted on canvas, 68h x 36w in 172.72h x 91.44w cm, ELASH008 Motet, 19

In 2000, Asher was honored with a retrospective curated by Varujan Baghosian at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. Throughout her career, she held solo exhibitions at prestigious venues, including the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the Washington Women's Art Center in Washington, D.C., and the Benton Museum at the University of Connecticut, among others. Her artwork finds a place in collections at renowned institutions such as the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Grey Art Gallery at New York University, Tougaloo College, and the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, to name just a few.

This captivating exhibition is currently on display at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, running until September 9th, and can be found at the gallery's exhibition booth, M22.

 

About Eric Firestone Gallery:
Since its inception in 2010, Eric Firestone Gallery has been on a unique path, reevaluating and championing significant yet often overlooked artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. Characterized by its scholarly approach, the gallery provides a fresh perspective on postwar art, reintroducing artists to the world of institutions and discourse. Working closely with museums, academics, and collectors, Eric Firestone Gallery actively supports in-depth art historical research and archival exploration, delving into the entirety of an artist's creative vision and life.

Sayart.net
Jason Yim, yimjongho1969@gmail.com