Walter Quirt’s Art 1942‑1944
The seminal years in the painting career of Walter Quirt were 1940 and 1941. Paintings completed after this period were continuations of themes and technical explorations he began during those years. Interlacing ribbons of color, found originally in Happiness in Fast Tempo 1940, dominated most paintings from 1942 to 1944. This technique was Quirt's individualized form of surrealistic automatism. Swirling lines of color led the viewer into interestingly designed areas throughout the composition but did not focus on any one section. William Steig observed this characteristic when he wrote in the foreword to the brochure for the exhibition at the Associated American Artists Gallery: "Many things happen at once, as in life. There are many emotions, many ideas, all at once, as in the mind. Movement is in all directions, as in a complicated machine."
Although the elliptical ribbons of color might initially have been derived from the hard‑edged color forms found in the paintings of Stuart Davis, they were also remnants of the clearly defined shapes present in American painting of the twenties and in Quirt's paintings from the mid‑thirties. Samuel Kootz defined Quirt's unique type of surrealism in his book New Frontiers in American Painting, "It is Baroque in the sense that the form volatizes itself. It differs from the art of Sheeler, Spencer and Crawford, which is a static art where poise is a constant, where volume is enclosed in a tangibly closed space. Quirt's planes move from color to color like Du‑champs…… Quirt's painting savors of automatism, being drawn on a canvas as the emotional urge permits. He allows his subconscious free reign as he places his images together".
Two different moods and slightly varying styles emerged about 1943. Paintings shown at the Associated American Artists Gallery in April 1943 exuded a feeling of creative excitement in their use of whirling laces of paint. Intense, highly keyed color and strident color relationships produced a feeling of constant movement. Quirt continued to use dramatic themes and figure placement. These elements were particularly apparent in Eternal Pageant (1942; cat. no. 68) and Nature's Children 1942.
The second group of paintings from this period, most of which were exhibited at the Durlacher Brothers Gallery in April 1944, also contained theatrical compositions and ritualistic themes. However, the color was lower in key, and the content was angry, almost vitriolic. Labeling Quirt "one of the most impassioned artists alive today,'' critic Robert Coates wrote that he found torment and violence in Quirt's exhibition at the Durlacher Gallery. He observed the rolling, angry designs in the canvases, the prevailing mood of bitterness in such titles as Vortex,(No photo) The Crucified, Shipwreck, The Damned , The Hard Woman, and Unending Torment. (No photos)
IMAGES NEEDED
The seminal years in the painting career of Walter Quirt were 1940 and 1941. Paintings completed after this period were continuations of themes and technical explorations he began during those years. Interlacing ribbons of color, found originally in Happiness in Fast Tempo 1940, dominated most paintings from 1942 to 1944. This technique was Quirt's individualized form of surrealistic automatism. Swirling lines of color led the viewer into interestingly designed areas throughout the composition but did not focus on any one section. William Steig observed this characteristic when he wrote in the foreword to the brochure for the exhibition at the Associated American Artists Gallery: "Many things happen at once, as in life. There are many emotions, many ideas, all at once, as in the mind. Movement is in all directions, as in a complicated machine."
Although the elliptical ribbons of color might initially have been derived from the hard‑edged color forms found in the paintings of Stuart Davis, they were also remnants of the clearly defined shapes present in American painting of the twenties and in Quirt's paintings from the mid‑thirties. Samuel Kootz defined Quirt's unique type of surrealism in his book New Frontiers in American Painting, "It is Baroque in the sense that the form volatizes itself. It differs from the art of Sheeler, Spencer and Crawford, which is a static art where poise is a constant, where volume is enclosed in a tangibly closed space. Quirt's planes move from color to color like Du‑champs…… Quirt's painting savors of automatism, being drawn on a canvas as the emotional urge permits. He allows his subconscious free reign as he places his images together".
Two different moods and slightly varying styles emerged about 1943. Paintings shown at the Associated American Artists Gallery in April 1943 exuded a feeling of creative excitement in their use of whirling laces of paint. Intense, highly keyed color and strident color relationships produced a feeling of constant movement. Quirt continued to use dramatic themes and figure placement. These elements were particularly apparent in Eternal Pageant (1942; cat. no. 68) and Nature's Children 1942.
The second group of paintings from this period, most of which were exhibited at the Durlacher Brothers Gallery in April 1944, also contained theatrical compositions and ritualistic themes. However, the color was lower in key, and the content was angry, almost vitriolic. Labeling Quirt "one of the most impassioned artists alive today,'' critic Robert Coates wrote that he found torment and violence in Quirt's exhibition at the Durlacher Gallery. He observed the rolling, angry designs in the canvases, the prevailing mood of bitterness in such titles as Vortex,(No photo) The Crucified, Shipwreck, The Damned , The Hard Woman, and Unending Torment. (No photos)
IMAGES NEEDED
These paintings are potentially available from The Quirt Family Collection
Other Examples of Walter's Paintings from this period
