Lorser Feitelson: The Late Paintings

Best known for his ground breaking Hard Edge paintings from the mid-twentieth century, Lorser Feitelson’s late elegantly minimal “ribbon” paintings are as fresh-eyed, technically sumptuous and flat out gorgeous as ever.  Executed during the last decade of his life and featuring a palette of vibrant color, these works offer a powerful summation of Feitelson’s far too long unrecognized genius.

From the very beginning of his career, Feitelson possessed great natural gifts.  His early sketches reveal a striking sense of composition, strong lines executed in washes of rich nuanced color.  His representational drawings from the early 20’s display an emotional imagination to match his technical facility.

As his work became more abstract, moving from Post-Surrealism on to Hard Edge, Feitelson worked more consistently on larger canvases.   Cream-colored ribbons twist and flow vertically on a 72-inch chartreuse plane.  Neon yellow/orange loops swing across a 60-inch canvas.  Feitelson’s sensitivity to color and form, and the tremendous innovation of each canvas, is on glorious display in these later works.  Towards the end of his life, with the simplest of compositions, Feitelson creates the illusion of endless space and engenders a sense of movement that feels as true as life itself.

The gallery represents the estate of Lorser Feitelson and this exhibition marks LSFA’s third in a series of ongoing presentations of his work.