Abraham Walkowitz Signed Early 20th Century Gouache Painting

Lot description

Keywords: impressionistic style, interior scene, domestic setting, American modernism, coastal view, quiet interaction, historical art piece, visual storytelling Abraham Walkowitz early 20th-century gouache painting, Volendam, Holland, 1906, captures an intimate domestic scene of everyday life. Executed in gouache on paper, the work is signed, titled, and dated in ink lower right. Abraham Walkowitz (American, 1878–1965) is perhaps best known for his watercolor studies of Isadora Duncan and dance. However, he also laid claim to being the first artist to exhibit truly Modernist paintings in the United States. After 1909, he became closely associated with Alfred Stieglitz's 291 Gallery, where he participated in the debate over Modern Art in America. Walkowitz was an outspoken advocate for continuous experimentation in the arts, which he regarded as the essence of Modernism. As an artist, he embodied the changing role of the Modernist painter in the United States, as Modernism evolved from an avant-garde challenge to established conventions into an accepted style and tradition.