Addison Gallery of American Art

Philips Academy

Andover, MA

ARTHUR DOVE: A Retrospective Exhibition:

Above: Sunrise, 1924, Oil on panel, 18 1/4 x 20 7/8 incles,

For more than three decades, Alfred Stieglitz, his dealer and friend, promoted Arthur Dove as an American original, alongside Georgia O'Keeffe and John Marin. Dove catapulted to fame in 1912 with abstractions conveyed in a style independent of European and earlier American models.

Arthur dove remained a major figure in the history of American Modernism throughout the twenties while he continued to break new ground with a series of 25 assemblages which place flowers, leaves, caper, cloth, even wood and metal, in witty and poetic juxtapositions. Over the course of the next decade Dove's painting gained in scale.

Right: Plant Forms, ca. 1912, paster, 17 1/4 x 23 78 inches,

Below: Fields of Grain as Seen from Train, 1931, Oil on canvas, 24 x 34 1/8 inches,

During the 1930s Dove revitalized his palette experimenting with new combinations of wax emulsion and tempera. The vitality of the late work, with its boldly contrasting geometric forms moving freely in open fields of color underscored the vigor of Dove's imagination, and set remarkable precedents for America's post-war abstraction. This exhibit reveals the currency and significance of Arthur Dove's work to late twentieth-century modernist art.

The Arthur Dove retrospective contains approximately 80 paintings, assemblages, pastels and charcoal drawings. It explores a remarkable artistic career spanning the years from 1909 to 1946. The exhibition will be at the Addison Gallery from April 24 through July 14, 1998. For information please call (508) 749-4015.

We selected for your viewing images which depict transition from realism to abstract forms, retaining representational elements.

Right: Starry Heavens, 1924, Oil and Metallic paint, 16 x 16 inches

Article and images courtesy of Addison Gallery of American Art.

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