Walter Quirt’s Art 1945‑1947
Walter Quirt left New York in the summer of 1944 to teach at theLayton School of Art in Milwaukee He taught there during 1944‑45 and then at Michigan State University in East Lansing the following two years. Although Quirt entered several national competitive exhibitions during these years and continued to work prolifically, his paintings were not shown as frequently in New York after he left.
He exhibited pictures at the Durlacher Brothers Gallery in October 1945, which were described as having tapes of glaring colors gliding in curvilinear, yet controlled movements. Although critics responded enthusiastically to the exhibition, Quirt was disappointed with his work and wrote to Stuart Davis that he apologized to "all New York'' for his current exhibition. Davis replied that the compositions appeared to move in several stylistic directions at once and agreed with Quirt's evaluation, Many of the canvases have subsequently been lost, although it is possible that they were only repainted since Quirt liked to paint over his older work.
Perhaps Quirt's disappointment with his work from 1945 accounted for the stylistic transition by 1946 into more tightly structured compositions comprised of angular shapes. Quirt explained this transition from the serpentine ribbons of color to more geometric designs: "The deeper I went into the curvilinear, the more I felt I was losing the image in sheer decoration.'' He deliberately incorporated a more angular group of forms within his compositions during the next two years.
Two slight stylistic variants were apparent in work completed during 1946‑47. Both used background and foreground shapes interchangeably, and color and compositions were not predetermined. Quirt worked spontaneously when mixing colors and designing compositions. The earlier paintings from 1946‑47 combined flat, angular, colored forms that served as spatial planes. Masks and remnants of figures appeared within geometric grid works in Triumphant Child 1946; cat. no. 79), Tittering Female (1947; cat. no. 88), and Man Meets Woman, Tips Hat 1947. Colored shapes appeared to be connected onto a series of teetering, rectangular frames in works comprising the second stylistic direction. Compositions were almost totally abstract, as in Origin of Life 1947, Origin of the Sexual Myth, and Nudes Without Staircase (Photo needed) (1947; cat. no. 85).
Since Quirt did not have a major exhibition in a New York gallery again until 1957, few of the paintings completed after 1944 were reviewed in national periodicals or texts. Quirt worked more prolifically after he left New York and exhibited within the Midwest, but there was scarcely any written evaluation of his paintings, except for Origin of Life (1947). In leaving New York, Quirt did not leave inspiration or his drive to paint, but he did lose connections that had been useful in exhibiting and publicizing his work.
Walter Quirt left New York in the summer of 1944 to teach at theLayton School of Art in Milwaukee He taught there during 1944‑45 and then at Michigan State University in East Lansing the following two years. Although Quirt entered several national competitive exhibitions during these years and continued to work prolifically, his paintings were not shown as frequently in New York after he left.
He exhibited pictures at the Durlacher Brothers Gallery in October 1945, which were described as having tapes of glaring colors gliding in curvilinear, yet controlled movements. Although critics responded enthusiastically to the exhibition, Quirt was disappointed with his work and wrote to Stuart Davis that he apologized to "all New York'' for his current exhibition. Davis replied that the compositions appeared to move in several stylistic directions at once and agreed with Quirt's evaluation, Many of the canvases have subsequently been lost, although it is possible that they were only repainted since Quirt liked to paint over his older work.
Perhaps Quirt's disappointment with his work from 1945 accounted for the stylistic transition by 1946 into more tightly structured compositions comprised of angular shapes. Quirt explained this transition from the serpentine ribbons of color to more geometric designs: "The deeper I went into the curvilinear, the more I felt I was losing the image in sheer decoration.'' He deliberately incorporated a more angular group of forms within his compositions during the next two years.
Two slight stylistic variants were apparent in work completed during 1946‑47. Both used background and foreground shapes interchangeably, and color and compositions were not predetermined. Quirt worked spontaneously when mixing colors and designing compositions. The earlier paintings from 1946‑47 combined flat, angular, colored forms that served as spatial planes. Masks and remnants of figures appeared within geometric grid works in Triumphant Child 1946; cat. no. 79), Tittering Female (1947; cat. no. 88), and Man Meets Woman, Tips Hat 1947. Colored shapes appeared to be connected onto a series of teetering, rectangular frames in works comprising the second stylistic direction. Compositions were almost totally abstract, as in Origin of Life 1947, Origin of the Sexual Myth, and Nudes Without Staircase (Photo needed) (1947; cat. no. 85).
Since Quirt did not have a major exhibition in a New York gallery again until 1957, few of the paintings completed after 1944 were reviewed in national periodicals or texts. Quirt worked more prolifically after he left New York and exhibited within the Midwest, but there was scarcely any written evaluation of his paintings, except for Origin of Life (1947). In leaving New York, Quirt did not leave inspiration or his drive to paint, but he did lose connections that had been useful in exhibiting and publicizing his work.
The Quirt Family Collection has no paintings available for the years 1945-1947
Examples of Walter Quirt's Art from this period
