The Radical Mark, Jack Tworkov and the Advent of Abstract Expressionism

Southampton, New York: Jeff Lincoln Art + Design is pleased to present an important group of paintings representing the most prolific period in the long career of Jack Tworkov. A seminal member of the abstract expressionist New York School, the show reflects the artist’s signal practice of the radical or gestural “mark” in painting.

An artist at the forefront of American painting for seven decades, Tworkov was born in Biala Podlaska, Russian Empire in 1900. He emigrated to the United States and studied English at Columbia University, intending to pursue a career as a writer. After seeing paintings by Cezanne and Matisse, and with the encouragement of his sister, Tworkov switched to art, enrolling at the National Academy of Design and later the Art Student’s League.

In 1949, along with Philip Pavia, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and other likeminded artists, Tworkov was a founder of The Club, where members would meet in a loft on 8th street every Friday night for lively discussions on art.

From these discussions and with $75 from future dealer Leo Castelli, the landmark “Ninth Street Show” opened in a basement space on May 21, 1951. Largely considered a watershed event in the history of art, the Ninth Street Show featured works by Tworkov, De Kooning, Franz Kline — who produced the now famous poster for the show — Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell, among many artists who formed the basis of first and second generation Abstract Expressionism. Tworkov engineered a late entry by a young Robert Rauschenberg.

From that point on, although there were no sales, the critical and popular success of the show established Abstract Expressionism as the dominant school in art in the new capital of art, New York City.

“The Radical Mark, Jack Tworkov and the Advent of Abstract Expressionism” runs through September 5th.