Paintings
of the 50’s and 60’s
November 30- February 12, 2005
This exhibition will present
some paintings of Ernest Briggs that have not been exhibited since
the 50’s and 60’s. They have been unrolled and stretched
at the Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation a large church built in
1849, 20 West Broadway in Jim Thorpe, PA.
Due to size limitations,
we will only show some of the paintings. The many other works
of the 50’s and 60’s remain at the foundation and
may be seen there next summer or by appointment, as well as at
upcoming museum exhibitions.
Ernest Briggs was born
in San Francisco, CA in 1923. He studied painting at the California
School of Fine Arts in San Francisco under the faculty assembled
by Douglas MacAgy. They included Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt and
Clifford Still, who had a strong influence on Briggs.
He moved to New York in
1953 and from 1954 on he had several one man and group exhibitions
at the Stable Gallery. He participated in several Whitney Museum
Annuals and in 1956 was included by Dorothy Miller in MOMA’s
powerful exhibition “12 Americans”.
Briggs paintings are non-representational,
but their breezy composition and strong colors remind us of nature.
The paintings have a fresh quality. We are trapped in illusion,
reading the shape on a canvas as something real, but apart from
its interpretation. We see wood, grass, animals, but paintings
contain neither. The colors are pure and emotional; the brush
strokes are energetic, volcanic, exploding in front of our eyes.
The canvases are monumental and impressive; they catch our eyes
and trap us in their powerful intimate world. Their physicality
excites the senses of the viewer.
The 1960’s work
begins to darken and light focuses the eye into a deeper pictorial
space and a different emotional intensity. Until his death in
1984, Briggs continued to experiment with painterly strategies
and compositional layouts.
The Anita Shapolsky gallery
and the AS Art Foundation are proud to exhibit paintings of this
active and splendid artist whose full recognition is yet to come.
