
Ralph DuCasse, Anne van Kleeck
Oakland Art Museum
Ralph Ducasse further pursues his personal symbolism with thin gauzy colors from the red side of the wheel. His latest paintings here, follow a developing series of Austerites 1, 2, 3, and 4 (1961). Also included, is a gigantic shape with certain primitive Polynesian qualities despite its rainbow sherbet colors. It is titled Spring (1962). Ducasse seems more at home in these “transparencies” developed in glazes over white canvas than with the scattered chips and thick bands of color used in his series on Nao, two of which are included in this show. Anne van Kleeck encompasses both Giacometti and Epstein in her small sculptures, and does so with great skill and great respect. Her figures may be her most lasting works, but for sheer expressiveness, her spirited little horse, a linear development reminiscent of the Etruscans, is a masterpiece.
