MID-CENTURY AMERICAN

November 9, 2012 - December 31, 2012
Untitled

MID-CENTURY AMERICAN Original prints from the 1930s, 40s & 50s November 9 - December 31, 2012 Opening Reception for the exhibit Friday, November 9th, 6-9 pm A RARE GROUP of original prints goes on display in the November exhibit at Adam Cave Fine Art with an opening reception from 6-9pm on November 9th. The roughly 25 works, all from private collections, track the progression in American art from the social realism of the WPA years to the full-fledged development of abstract expressionism. The middle of the 20th Century was marked by great social and economic changes, wars in Europe and Asia, and the rise of the United States as the world's leading super power. It should be no surprise that art went through equally dramatic changes during the same period. Within just a few decades American art moved from the patriotic realism that was promoted by the WPA programs in the 30s, to an embracing of European abstraction, to a whole new, home grown abstract expressionism. Although the most iconic images from the period have tended to be paintings, printmaking had taken hold in America during the 30s and artists explored all the same movements with lithographs, etchings, wood blocks, and silkscreen prints. Some of the most famous works in this show are by artists that flowed freely from painting to printmaking. "Down the River" by Thomas Hart Benton and "Which Way" by Martin Lewis are both strong examples of the dramatic storytelling that characterized art from the 30s. By the 50s we have the pure abstraction of artists such as the Californian Leonard Edmondson and the longtime Brown University professor Walter Feldman. In between we find lighter works full of humor and satire as well as deeply expressionistic images of life in both urban and rural America. "Mid-Century American" will be on exhibit in the gallery through December 31st. ADAM CAVE FINE ART is located in downtown Raleigh, NC on the second floor of an historic building at 115-1/2 Hargett Street.