print April 1964

John Willenbecher

Given, the following materials: Ornate gold letters and numbers for window signs, various sized balls, shallow boxes with glass lids, and a palette ranging from white to black. Problem: Place materials named in pleasing compositions which may suggest various games. There is nothing surprising or inappropriate for an artist to pursue such an endeavor today and Willenbecher’s imaginative constructions lack neither serious consideration nor wit. The field of three-dimensional constructions is still only slightly exploited and it is satisfying to discover there are artists who are devoting their

print April 1964

Charles White

To be labeled “an incurable romantic” suggests the artist to be beyond serious consideration and relegates him to a kind of artistic purdah. Mr. White is a romantic and, we sincerely hope, immune to well-intentioned nostrums. His exhibition of lino-cuts and Chinese Ink stick drawings at the Heritage Gallery could be called a sort of box-office smash in the field of commercial exhibitions. Charles White, a Negro artist, was born in Chicago, 1918, and has established an exhibition record of shows and honors second to few others. He is a splendid draftsman.

White’s figure studies are not portraits

print April 1964

Karl Kanol

The exhibition of recent canvases by veteran painter Karl Kanol at the Silvan Simone Gallery inspired disappointment. The enormously impressive background of this artist would predicate works of equal stature, but for some reason it does not. The greater portion of the pictures concentrate on the Mexican landscape and populace but does justice to neither. If it were possible to mix Kokoschka (omitting the sensitive and sweeping color harmonics), with the peasantries of a Chagall (withhold the wit and romance), and stir in a Soutine (without the potent brush), you might come up with something

print March 1964

Rico Lebrun

One of the most important single events to grace an otherwise prosaic California art history was the 1950 showing of Rico Lebrun’s “Crucifixion” series at the Los Angeles County Museum. This awesome presentation was either attacked as being merely extensive exercises based on Picasso’s Guernica or rigorously praised as the work of a newly recognized master. In any event, it was not, nor could be ignored. Its impact on the local art scene was both immediate and lasting and initiated not only a dedicated following for Lebrun but ignited a long-delayed pride in the domestic product. His work provided

print March 1964

“Recent Acquisitions”

The one unifying aspect of this display is the fact that all the works represent recent gifts to the Fine Arts Department of U.S.C. Material on view ranges from Roman and Egyptian glassware to Russian icons; from Kanjiro stoneware to a monumental map of Paris, and from a paper globe of the world to a painting someone has attempted to ascribe to Goya.

To list a few of the items and their donors, we have thirteen drawings and watercolors dating around 1904 to 1929 by the lyrical Abraham Walkowitz. Included here are some studies of lsadora Duncan in less active poses as well as some other patterns

print March 1964

“Directions: Six Artists”

Under the capable direction of Helen Wurdemann, the Los Angeles Art Association’s gallery continues to encourage young promising talents by displaying their wares in the very shadow of the giants of La Cienega. Keeping this admirable policy in mind acts very much as a pair of rose-colored glasses—one tends to overlook the shortcomings in order to preserve the purpose of the exhibition program. In view of the restricted number of works allowed per artist (in this case never more than six) it might be assumed that what we see represents the cream of the artists’ crop. It is discouraging to

print February 1964

Elias Friedensohn

It is probably not important to know whether New Yorker Friedensohn’s careful disrobing of figures in his pencil drawings is due to a fascination with nudity or some personal psychoanalytical commentary best expressed in this fashion, but nude they are and when this aspect is coupled with the curious expressions implanted on their faces, the artist lures your full attention. The fragilely constructed but monumental figures stand or sit in stunned immobility, leer evilly, stare questioningly, or look directly out at you in utter disbelief, much as if you were being escorted through a mental

print February 1964

Thomas Knitch

Robert Speaker, a young successful medic, has fulfilled a long-desired ambition to participate in the local art scene by opening a small intimate gallery next to his home above the Sunset Strip. Being in a residential zone, the gallery can receive visitors by invitation and appointment only. Knitch, whose paintings make up the second offering of this new showcase, barely merits the honor. A former Art Center student now turned art director for television, he demonstrates an admirable facility in the use of his materials and obtains a richness of color and texture which he wastes on hackneyed

print January 1964

“Collectors Drawings 1860–1920”

This first-rate collection of drawings and small watercolors by what are for the most part second-rate French and English artists from 1860 to 1920 is as refreshing as a long-overdue Spring rain. Some of the artists selected for inclusion by the genial Mr. Evans possess names of considerable stature, such as Rossetti, Burne-Jones, John, Sargent, and Legros while less celebrated are Guillaumin, Harpignies, Loiseau, Lhermitte, Sickert, Luce, Orpen, Shannon, Winterhalter, and others.

A review of this discerningly selected display encourages second thoughts about some of the artists represented and

print January 1964

Ben Abril

As was stated in the forward to the exhibition catalog, Ben Abril does not worry overmuch about the esthetic problems. There are, nevertheless, few artists among the many Southern California scene painters who so obviously enjoy their profession and also manage to convey this exuberance to the observer as does Abril. Whether his subject is taken from the rolling hills, beaches, sunlit slums, or suburbs, he makes swift bold statements in pure blazing colors that emphasize his enthusiasm as well as his often injudicious composition. He apparently accepts his vision without question, recording what

print January 1964

Leonard Creo

For an artist to be able to sequester himself artistically, if not physically, from the brutalities of our contemporary world is a sometimes enviable accomplishment. Painter Leonard Creo, American-born but currently working in Italy, has managed this neatest of tricks by isolating his gentle but impersonal vision on only the most ingenuous of subjects, children at play in the streets, in the marketplace, in school yards, and in just plain space. The obviously organized groupings are seemingly observed from on high by Creo acting as some sort of a hovering guardian angel recording in oil the

print January 1964

“15 Under 50”

Apparently parently aimed at the holiday trade, this young out-of-the-way gallery has virtually plastered the walls and loaded the shelves with paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, ceramics and jewelry, all priced below $50. For the most part trivia, there is one member, of 15 shown, Philip Lewis, whose small but handsomely executed pencil and pen drawings are head and shoulders above anything else in the place and who will be blessed with a one-man show on these premises in the near future. Also on hand are photographs by Lou Jacobs, a sensitive portrait of a young boy by Joseph Ma Dena,

Curt Opliger