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Abraham Walkowitz was one of the first generation of American modernists. Although he experimented with several different styles and subjects, he is best known for his depictions of New York City life, combining elements of geometric abstraction with an emphasis on the expression of motion through line.
Walkowitz was born in Tyumen, Siberia and emigrated to the United States with his mother around 1889. Settling in Brooklyn, the artist studied painting and etching at the National Academy of Design from 1898 to 1900. He served as an art instructor at the Educational Alliance from 1900 until 1905.
In 1906, Walkowitz traveled to Paris, studying briefly at the Academy Julian, where he was a classmate of Max Weber. Through Weber, he was introduced to the artistic circle of Leo and Gertrude Stein, and became acquainted with the work of the French modernists: Cézanne, Matisse, Rousseau and Picasso.
In 1907, Walkowitz returned to New York City, where he was one of the first painters to promote modern art. He had his first one-man show at the Hass Gallery in 1908. From 1912 to 1917, he exhibited regularly at Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Secession Gallery. His work was included in the 1913 New York Armory Show and the 1916 Forum Exhibition.
Walkowitz's fauvist inspired compositions depict a variety of subjects park strollers, city skyscrapers, dance improvisations inspired by Isadora Duncan and works of social realism painted during the 1920s and 1930s.
By the mid-1930s, failing eyesight greatly curtailed Walkowitz's output. Nonetheless, he remained active in the New York City art scene throughout the 1940s and 1950s. His work was the subject of a major retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum in 1939.
Abraham Walkowitz is represented in the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio; the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan; the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Newark Museum, New Jersey; the Phillips Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and in many other public and private collections.
LB
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