Coreen Spellman "Expansion and Contraction #2" c.1950 Early Modernist Watercolor

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Coreen Spellman (1905-1978) Modernist Watercolor "Expansion and Contraction #2" c. 1950 This watercolor is an excellent example of an artist going back and revisiting a subject they may have painted years before and interpret it in a new way. This is particularily true of artists whose careers spanned the twentieth century when styles changed dramatically from realism to abstract non-objective. In this watercolor Coreen Spellman watercolor re-interprets her well exhibited painting "Contour Plawing". Spellman's Regionalist watercolor "Contour Plowing" was exhibited in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Fort Worth Art Association, and was a part of the Dallas Museum of Fine Art's Rental Program in 1952. In it Spellman uses the pattern of furrows plowed to the contour of the landscape (to help resist erosion) as a basis for the composition in her painting. In this watercolor, Spellman even further abstracts the scene to the point that you no longer recognise it as a landscape. The curve and winding of the rows become the complete theme of the watercolor, everything else is not rendered. The resulting watercolor is seemingly inorganic geometric abstraction when in reality it is an abstraction based completly on the landscape. Coreen Spellman was one of Texas' most renowned artists in the 1930's through the 1970's, and probably the most important of all the Early Texas Woman artists. Among the woman artists of her era, Coreen Spellman's desirability is unmatched with auction results of up to $40,000! Her major Exhibitions include the Edgar B Davis Wildflower Competition, the 1936 Texas Centennial, Texas General Exhibitions (numerous), Dallas Allied Arts Exhibitions (numerous), the Witte Museum, the Kansas City Art Institute (numerous), the Southern States Art League Circuit Exhibitions (numerous), the National Exhibition of American Art at Rockefeller Center New York, the 1939 Worlds Fair (American Art Today, 1939), the Whitney Museum, the National Academy of Design, the Chicago Art Institute (numerous), the Brooklyn Museum, the Joslyn Museum among many others. Spellman was also a charter member of the Texas Printmakers and participated in their circuit exhibitions for many years. Her primary media were watercolor and printmaking. This watercolor was among a group of modernist works Spellman completed in the early 1950's. From her earliest days as an artist, Coreen Spellman's art was cutting edge. In the 1940's her work became progressively abstract, and by the 1950's her painting is almost entirely free of the figurative element. In this watercolor her mastery of form, visual rhythm, and color are evident. Besides her own art, Coreen Spellman influenced countless numbers of younger woman artists as professor of painting, illustration, and drawing at the College of Industrial Arts from 1925 until 1974 (which later became known as Texas Womans University). She also taught art at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. This watercolor was purchased from the Estate of Mick Spellman. It is being sold non reserve! It is an excellent opportunity to purchase a fine piece of Early Texas Art and a piece of Texas Art history by one of Texas' most important artists. Note: Local Buyers can pick-up the item in Arlington, Texas and I will waive the shipping fee. Title: "Expansion and Contraction #2" Media: Watercolor Size: 19 1/4" x 12 1/8"; Matted 27 1/4" x 20 1/8 Signature: Signed and Titled at lower corners; Framing: Unframed; Matted by the artist; Provenance: Estate of Nick Spellman (Coreen Spellman's Brother). Biography of Coreen Spellman (1905-1978) Coreen Mary Spellman was a fine-art teacher as well as a painter, designer, illustrator, lithographer and muralist. Many of her paintings depicted human-made structures and industrial landscapes in a style combining realism, precisionism and abstraction. Often the central subject such as in "Railroad Signal" was the only suggestion of humanity aga... read more

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