1953
Dorothy Dehner was one of the important women artists in the United States in the mid-century American abstraction movement (the Museum of Modern Art in New York has more than a dozen of her works in its collection). Unfortunately, she has been overshadowed by the titanic presence of David Smith (the most important sculptor of the Abstract Expressionist period), whom she married when they were both young artists experimenting with abstraction in the 30s. Though she, too, devoted an amount of time making sculpture, she was the more talented painter of the two (they separated in the 40s, allegedly due to Smith's feelings of competition with Dehner). Her pen and ink and watercolor works are the most moving, expressive and original of her creations. When the Museum of Modern Art decided to buy one of her works for its permanent collection in 1953, it was one of these watercolors it chose. The Jewish Museum and Cleveland Museum of Art have held major retrospectives of Dehner's work. In 1993, the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased one of Dehner's watercolors from this same period. Her work is also in the British Museum, Hirshhorn Museum, Phillips Collection (Washington D. C.), Philadelphia Museum of Art and Museum of American Art, among others.
Affinities
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Despite her artistic cont...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Angular Rhythm
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Despite her artistic cont...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Bicep
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Dehner's legacy has been overshadowed by he...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Untitled - Marten
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Despite her artistic cont...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Athens
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Despite her artistic cont...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Woman in a Tantrum
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Dorothy Dehner (1901–1994) was an influential American multidisciplinary artist who worked with drawing, painting, printmaking, and most notably sculpture. Dehner's legacy has been overshadowed for many years by her ex-husband, the acclaimed sculptor David Smith. Stifled by their tumultuous relationship, Dehner only fully committed to her practice after divorcing him in 1951. This break was highly fruitful for her artistic output and reputation in the following years. After the divorce, Dehner refined her artistic voice and expanded her practice to include printmaking and sculpture. Her new-found independence and renewed ambition led to a pivotal relationship with the esteemed printmaking studio Atelier 17. Working there she formed a close and enduring friendship with Louise Nevelson. Today Dehner has been re-embraced and repositioned in the American art canon. Her work is best understood and appreciated in the context of not only David Smith but other artists dedicated to sculpture including Lee Bontecou, Louise Bourgeois, and of course Louise Nevelson. This energetic and hypnotic work on paper is somewhat of a departure from Denher's structured and intricate approach. Bold, frenetic strokes of ink loop chaotically across the surface, revelling in a sense of fluid dynamism that is in contrast with the artist's architectural arrangements. While it is notably looser and bolder then some of the drawings we expect from this era, we find the artist creating forms that are a harbinger of the muscular sculpture she would create in the following decade. Click here to see an example of a bronze sculpture from 1966 sold at Wright auction house...
Ink, Watercolor
Dorothy Dehner, Mid Century Modern signed abstract sculptural drawing, Framed
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in New York, NY
Dorothy Dehner Untitled Mid Century Modern abstract sculptural drawing, 1955 Marker and graphite on paper Signed and dated by Dorothy Dehner in black felt tip pen on the front Frame ...
Mixed Media, Permanent Marker, Graphite
Dorothy Dehner - Sculptural Drawing for Sculpture, Signed ink on paper, Framed
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in New York, NY
Dorothy Dehner Untitled mid century modern sculptural study, 1955 Brown marker on paper drawing Drawing on collectors stationery Hand signed, titled and dated lower right front (The...
Permanent Marker, Paper
The Dead Tiger Watercolor on Paper, Abstract Style, Signed, 1955
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Fairlawn, OH
The Dead Tiger Ink and watercolor on paper, 1955 Signed and dated in ink (see photo) Condition: Aging to the entire sheet (it's 78 years old) Image/Sheet size: 18 1/4 x 23 inches On...
Watercolor
The Dead Tiger Watercolor on Paper, Abstract, Signed, 1955, 18.25x23
By Dorothy Dehner
Located in Fairlawn, OH
The Dead Tiger Ink and watercolor on paper, 1955 Signed and dated in ink (see photo) Condition: Aging to the entire sheet (it's 78 years old) Image/Sheet size: 18 1/4 x 23 inches On...
Watercolor
Sutherland Project VII: Cubist Abstract Graphite Drawing with Antique Frame
By David Dew Bruner
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative abstract cubist style drawing in an antique wood frame, inspired by artwork by Graham Sutherland “Sutherland Project VII” by Hudson Valley artist, David Dew Bruner, made ...
Paper, Graphite
"Third Theme"
By Burgoyne Diller
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Signer Lower Right
Paper, Crayon, Ink
