Lot 585
Fritz Bultman (American/New Orleans, 1919-1985), "Horizon: Glutton of Autumn", 1957, oil on canvas, signed, titled, dated, "Martha Jackson Gallery, NYC", 2 "Gallerie Stadler, Paris", "Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany", "Stadtische Kunst Galerie, Bochum, Germany", 2 "Agence, Maritime Delamare & Cie with shipping from Stadler to Munich and Bochum" labels, handwritten German inscription and 2 custom-stamps en verso, 72 in. x 48 in., framed. Provenance: Acquired from the artist by Rodolphe Stadler, Paris; Jeanne Bultman, Provincetown; purchased at Vincent Smith-Durham, Embreeville, PA, 2011. Exh.: Fritz Bultman, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, Jan. 27-Feb. 21, 1959; 20 Quadri, Galleria dell'Ariete, Milan, 1959 and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue, p. 19; Fritz Bultman, Galerie Stadler, Paris, 1960; Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Jan. 14 - Feb. 26, 1961; Profile I, Städische Kunstgalerie, Bochum, Jan. 13-Oct. 2, 1963; Fritz Bultman, Albert Merolo Gallery, Provincetown, 2003; Fritz Bultman: Irascible, II, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, 2004 and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue. Note: The subject of his paintings, of course, is not any particular place in New Orleans, but his own warm response to his experience, or memory, of this queen among southern cities. -Dore Ashton (New York Times, Jan. 31. 1959) In 1950, Fritz Bultman, along with several other New York school painters including Robert Motherwell, Hans Hofmann, Ad Reinhardt, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning all signed and published the historic open letter to the Metropolitan Museum of Art criticizing the institutions indifference towards Abstract Expressionism and other advanced art. The press in turn labeled the outspoken group The Irascibles and in 1951, Life magazine published the iconic photo of the group taken by Nina Leen. At the time, Bultman was studying sculpture in Italy, so he is notably missing from the group portrait - his standing amongst his contemporaries was quite solid however with Motherwell proclaiming in 1987 that Bultman is one of the most splendid, radiant, and inspired paintings of my generation. The highly important work offered here by Fritz Bultman comes from a key period within the artist's career, a time in which his abstract expressionist style reached full maturity and creative inspiration. The years from 1955 to 1962 marked the best painting time of his life for Bultman, according to his wife, Jeanne. The couple moved to a townhouse in New York which included a large top floor studio where Bultman was able to take full advantage of the expansive space to create his expressive and dynamic canvases in even larger dimensions. With several exciting sales and interest from renowned New York galleries such as the Stable Gallery, Martha Jackson Gallery, Gallery Mayer and Galerie Stadler in Paris, Bultman was arguably in the prime of his career. According to April Kingsley in the exhibition catalogue for New York Paris 12 Paintings featuring works by Bultman, one Paris dealer, Rodolphe Stadler, who was introduced to Fritzs work by French critic Michel Tapies, bought many paintings outright and showed and sold them in galleries in Munich, Turin, and Rome as well as Paris. He kept twelve canvases for his own collection and in turn sold them to Bultmans wife when he retired and closed his gallery. Horizon: Glutton of Autumn is one of the afore-mentioned twelve canvases of the Stadler collection and features many exhibition, gallery and custom labels detailing its extensive showings in both New York and Europe. The works from this period often can be informed by their unique titles, endowing the seemingly abstract compositions with new and almost narrative meaning. With "Horizon: Glutton of Autumn," the addition of exaggerated black and white lines on the orange background energizes the canvas and hints at a fall landscape in abstraction. Ref.: Ashton, Dore. Art: Respect for Subject; Fritz Bultman and Peter Lanyon, Both Abstract Expressionists, Have Shows. New York Times Jan. 31, 1959.; Kingsley, April. Fritz Bultman: a Retrospective; New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1993, p. 9.; Kingsley, April. Fritz Bultman: New York-Paris 12 Paintings. Provincetown: Torcello Publications, 2004.
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