Albert Kotin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Albert Kotin
Born 1907
Russia
Died 1980
New York City
Occupation Abstract Expressionist Painter

Albert Kotin (1907 – 1980) belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including Paris. New York School Abstract Expressionism, represented by Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Franz Kline and others became a leading art movement of the post World War II era.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Albert Kotin was born August 7, 1907 in Minsk, Tsarist Russia and emigrated to the USA in 1908. He became a US citizen in 1923.

Albert Kotin studied: (1924-1929) at The National Academy of Design, New York City, NY; with Charles Hawthorne, Provincetown, MA; (1929-32) at the Academie Julian, the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and at the Atelier de Fresque and Colarossi, Paris, France; (1947-1951) at The Art Students League of New York, New York City, NY; under the GI Bill he went to study with Hans Hofmann in Provincetown and in New York City.

He participated in the Federal Art Project: Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) (1933-34) and Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project (WPA/[FAP) (1935-40). Albert Kotin won competitions that were funded through commissions under the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture (later known as The Section of Fine Arts) in Ada, Ohio[1], and in Arlington, New Jersey[2].

Albert Kotin served in the US Army military service during World War II (1941-1945).

After the war Albert Kotin found a studio on 10th Street. He soon joined the "Downtown Group"[3] which represented a group of artists who found studios in lower Manhattan in the area bounded by 8th and 12th street between First and Sixth Avenues during the late 1940s and early 1950s. These artists were called the "Downtown Group" as opposed to the "Uptown Group" established during the war at The Art of This Century Gallery. In 1949 Albert Kotin joined the "Artists' Club"[4] located at 39 East 8th Street. Albert Kotin was chosen by his fellow artists to show in the Ninth Street Show held on May 21-June 10, 1951[5]. The show was located at 60 East 9th Street on the first floor and the basement of a building which was about to be demolished. "The artists celebrated not only the appearance of the dealers, collectors and museum people on the 9th Street, and the consequent exposure of their work but they celebrated the creation and the strength of a living community of significant dimensions." [6]

Albert Kotin was among the 24 out of a total 256 New York School artists included in the Ninth Street Show and in all the following New York Painting and Sculpture Annuals from 1953 to 1957.[7] These Annuals were important because the participants were chosen by the artists themselves.

Harold Rosenberg, New York art critic listed Albert Kotin among the "Tenth Street Artists: Individuals Prevail over the Group:" [8]

Albert Kotin was also a poet who inspired his fellow artists.

Alexander Calder wrote in 1968, "As long as there are people such as Al Kotin, there is no danger to art."[9]

Albert Kotin died in February 6, 1980 in New York City from lung cancer.

[edit] Selected Solo Exhibitions

  • 1951: (first) Hacker Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1958: Grand Central Moderns Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1959: Tanager Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1960: Galerie Iris Clert, Paris, France; Pollock Gallery, Toronto, Canada;
  • 1961: Mili-Jay Gallery, Woodstock, NY;
  • 1964, 1965  : Byron Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1968: "Ten Year Retrospective of Albert Kotin's Work," Long Island University; Brooklyn, NY; "Kotin and Carton," Art Faculty two man show, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY;
  • 1982: "Albert Kotin, 1907-1980," Memorial Exhibition, Barron Arts Center, Woodbridge, NJ.

[edit] Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 1935: "Exhibition of Oil Paintings," WPA Federal Art Project, Federal Art Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1936: An American Group, Inc., New York City, NY;
  • 1946: "First National Print Competition Exhibit," Associated American Artists, New York City, NY;
  • 1947: "J & E.R. Pennell Exhibition of Prints," Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.;
  • 1948: "46th Annual Exhibition," The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA;
  • 1949: "8 & 2 Exhibition" The New School for Social Research, New York City, NY;
  • 1951: ‘’’Ninth Street Show’’’, the first “New York Painting and Sculpture Annual”, New York City, NY;
  • 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957: "New York Painting and Sculpture Annual," Stable Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1956: "Painters and Sculptors on 10th Street," Tanager Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1957: "First Spring Annual Exhibition," March Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1958: "A to Z in American Arts," Provincetown Arts Festival, M. Knoedler & Co., New York City, NY; Camino Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1959: "10th Street," Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX;
  • 1960: "New York Artists: A Drawing Show," Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL; Galerie Iris Clert, Paris, France; Pollock Gallery, Toronto, Canada;
  • 1960-61: Mili-Jay Gallery, Woodstock, NY;
  • 1961: Allyn Gallery, St. Louis, MO;
  • 1962, 1972: Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY;
  • 1963: "Multiples," Graham Gallery, New York City, NY; Key Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1963-64: "Hans Hofmann and His Students," circ. by The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY;
  • 1963, 1964: Aegis Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1965: "79 painters who paint," held simultaneously in: Grace Borgenicht, Graham, Martha Jackson, Kornblee and Poindexter Galleries, New York City, NY;
  • 1966: "New York '66," College Museum, Hampton Institute, Hampton, VA;
  • 1971: Roko Gallery, New York City, NY;
  • 1994: "Reclaiming Artists of the New York School. Toward a More Inclusive View of the 1950s," Baruch College City University, New York City, NY; "New York-Provincetown: A 50s Connection," Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA;
  • 2004: "Reuniting an Era Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s.," Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL.

[edit] Catalogs which include Albert Kotin

  • 10th Street The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX October 15 - November 8, 1959
  • Albert Kotin Byron Gallery, Inc. New York City, NY April 7 - April 25, 1964
  • Albert Kotin 1907-1980 Memorial Exhibition Long Island University, The Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn, NY. October 6 - October 29, 1982
  • Albert Kotin Retrospective: Paintings, Drawings, Prints Artfull Eye Exhibition Gallery, Lambertville, NJ. October 30 - November20, 1988
  • Mishkin Gallery Reclaiming Artists of the New York School Toward a More Inclusive view of the 1950s Baruch College CUNY March 18 - April 22, 1994
  • Provicetown Art Association New York-Provincetown: A 50s Connection Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA July 8 - August 1, 1994
  • Rockford Art Museum Reuniting an Era abstract expressionists of the 1950s Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL November 12, 2004 - January 25, 2005

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ohio murals
  2. ^ New Jersey murals
  3. ^ Downtown Group
  4. ^ Artists' Club
  5. ^ 9th Street Show Poster
  6. ^ Bruce Altshuler, Avant-Garde In Exhibition New Art in the 20th Century, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1944, Chapter 9, p.171
  7. ^ New York Painting and Sculpture Annuals Poster
  8. ^ Harold Rosenberg, "Tenth Street: A Geography of Modern Art," Art News Annual XXVIII, 1959, New York: Art Foundation Press, Inc. pp.:120-143
  9. ^ From a monograph by Mathias Goeritz: "Alexander Calder", 1968 Private Collection

[edit] Books

[edit] See also

[edit] External link for image reproduction