Description:

Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer (American/New Orleans, 1912-1997), "Tropism", 1958, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, "Orleans Gallery, Royal St., New Orleans" label with title and "Fourth Annual Painting of the Year, Atlanta Art Association and Mead Atlanta Paper Company, 1958" entry form with title en verso, 48 in. x 48 in., framed. Note: In 1956, Ida Kohlmeyer traveled to Provincetown, MA to do a three month workshop with famed Abstract Expressionist, Hans Hofmann. This period of time ignited a major turning point in her approach to painting. Inspired by Hofmann’s advice that painting should be an “invention and not an imitation,” she began to approach her work in a more impulsive and physical way. Her new methodology shifted her focus to the process of making art rather than the outcome and thus 1956 marked the beginning of her evolution from figurative painting to Abstract Expressionism. Mark Rothko came to New Orleans in 1957 as a visiting artist for Newcomb College, reinforcing the influence of Abstract Expressionism on Kohlmeyer’s work. He lived in Kohlmeyer’s late mother’s house and worked in the garage. Rothko’s friendship had a lasting impact on her paintings, as is evident in her later usage of defined fields of color. The important painting from 1958 offered here clearly shows the contemporaneous influence of these two important artists on Kohlmeyer’s work and also provides a window into her successful development as an artist in her own right. Ref: Ida Kohlmeyer: Thirty Years. Charlotte: the Mint Museum, 1983, pp. 102-103; Plante, Michael. Ida Kohlmeyer: Systems of Color. New York: Hudson Hills in Association with Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane U, 2004, pp. 146-147.

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May 7, 2016 10:00 AM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US

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