Abraham Walkowitz (1878-1965) emigrated from Russia to New York as
a child and studied at the National Academy of Design in New York, and
then, in 1906, traveled to Paris to attend the Académie Julian. As with
so many ex-patriot artists in Paris at the time, he was profoundly
influenced by the 1907 memorial exhibition of Cézanne’s work in the
Salon d’Automne. In Paris, Walkowitz also befriended fellow American
artist and early Cubist, Max Weber, who introduced him to Isadora
Duncan, at the sculptor Auguste Rodin’s studio.
The artist and sometimes art critic, Oscar Bluemner (lots 178-183), was
among the first to laud Walkowtiz’s work, which he felt successfully
combined European Modernism with Walkowitz’s own personal style.
Returning to New York in 1909, Walkowitz became part of the modernist
circle that formed around Alfred Stieglitz and his 291 Gallery, with fellow
artists Bluemner, Marin, Maurer, Hartley and Halpert. At the time, this
was the only place in America to view both European and American
modern works, and under this influence, Walkowitz fine-tuned his
individual style of abstraction and energtic draughtmanship for which
he is best known today.
Prior to the 1913 Armory Show, the climate for modern abstract art in
America was hostile and without significant patronage. Walkowitz
featured a total of 12 works in the Armory Show variously priced from
$100 for drawings and monotypes (around $2,300 today) to $500 for
oils (around $12,000 today). The period after the exhibition was a
vindication both for himself, and for the small group who exhibited at the
291 Gallery, as so many other American artists turned to experimenting
with new modernist styles and New York saw the opening of several new
modern art galleries. There is a distinct departure towards abstraction in
Walkowitz’s work before and after the Armory Show. His 1909 watercolor
of New York (lot 184) can be compared to his New York lithograph from
1927 (lot 186), in which the buildings are interwoven and swaying, not
unlike John Marin’s seminal 1913 etching
Woolworth Building (The Dance)
(lot 208).
