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E A R L Y    A B S T R A C T S  ( 1 9 4 5 - 1 9 5 6 )

Excerpted from Reminiscences, by Frances Stillman, 1988

Ary's painting had undergone a radical change.

This had been brewing ever since the early part of World War II. Ary was, of course, profoundly shaken by the war, by the enormity and brutality and hideousness of it, and especially by the tragic fate of six million Jews. He was in an emotional upheaval that affected every phase of his being, and of course this included walks we would take in Central Park on Sunday afternoons; we would wind up in some secluded spot and then Ary would give voice to his thoughts and feelings. He would say, "I cannot continue to paint the way I have been doing, I am sure that every creative person will have to make some change. For me, the world of surface realities is no longer paintable. For nothing is as it formerly seemed. It is not the surface of things—the look of things—that is real—it is that which is hidden beneath the surface—an inner reality of some sort that is real. And that is what I must search for. I can no longer set up a still-life, or paint the view of a city street, no matter how much of my own perception and sensitivity I put into the painting. I shall have to dig down deep within myself—back to my subconscious, if possible—and bring out what will be an inner reality."

Click on images to enlarge.

Gold and Blue Tapestry #1 Remembrance
Gold and Blue
1948
oil on canvas
27 x 21
Tapestry #1,
Indian Fantasy

1948
oil on canvas
36 x 26
Remembrance
oil on canvas
24 x 20

Unnamed Oncoming Dream Vista Mistique
Unnamed
c. 1950s
oil on canvas
26 x 38
Oncoming Dream
c. 1950s
oil on canvas
Vista Mystique
1951
oil on canvas
30 x 40

Rhythms in Gray Unnamed Composition with Parakeet
Rhythms in Gray
1951
oil on canvas
44 x 36
Unnamed
1952
oil on canvas
18 x 15
Composition with
Parakeet

c. 1948
oil on canvas
20 x 16

Calligraphics Interplay #1 Interlacing Colors
Calligraphics
1953
oil on canvas
20 x 32
Interplay #1
1953
oil on canvas
24 x 20
Interlacing Colors
c. 1950s
oil on canvas
20 x 24

Structural Small Structural Small Structural
Structural
c. 1950s
oil on canvas
30 x 24
Small Structural
c. 1950s
oil on canvas
16 x 13
Small Structural
c. 1950s
oil on canvas
13 x 16

Abstraction Fragment of Textural Canvas Corner of Space Laboratory
Black, Brown
Abstraction

c. 1955
oil on canvas
22 1/2 x 17
Fragment of
Textural Canvas

c. 1950s
oil on canvas
16 x 30
Corner of
Space Laboratory

c. 1950s
oil on canvas
24 x 18

Small Structural Movement in Space Black, Green, Yellow Structural
Small Structural
c. 1950s
oil on canvas
16 x 13
Movement in
Space

c. 1954
oil on canvas
36 x 45
Black, Green,
Yellow Structural

c. 1955
oil on canvas
22 1/2 x 17

See more Abstract Paintings in Private Collections.



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