kimber smith (1922 - 1981)
Kimber Smith was an American abstract painter. Best known for his lyrical compositions and distinctive lexicon of personal symbols, he eschewed the aggressive monumentality of the Abstract Expressionist era to focus on relatively small paintings of simple, entropic forms and colors. Smith went on to study at the Art Students League of New York shortly after the end of World War II. He would subsequently move to Paris, France in 1954, where he befriended fellow American ex-patriate painters Sam Francis and Joan Mitchell. Upon his return to New York in 1966, Smith had gained significant critical acclaim, which led to his mounting a solo exhibition at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio in 1967 and garnering a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971. Today, his paintings among the collections of the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Zurich Art Museum, among others.
Kimber Smith was an American abstract painter. Best known for his lyrical compositions and distinctive lexicon of personal symbols, he eschewed the aggressive monumentality of the Abstract Expressionist era to focus on relatively small paintings of simple, entropic forms and colors. Smith went on to study at the Art Students League of New York shortly after the end of World War II. He would subsequently move to Paris, France in 1954, where he befriended fellow American ex-patriate painters Sam Francis and Joan Mitchell. Upon his return to New York in 1966, Smith had gained significant critical acclaim, which led to his mounting a solo exhibition at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio in 1967 and garnering a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971. Today, his paintings among the collections of the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Zurich Art Museum, among others.
Kimber Smith was an American abstract painter. Best known for his lyrical compositions and distinctive lexicon of personal symbols, he eschewed the aggressive monumentality of the Abstract Expressionist era to focus on relatively small paintings of simple, entropic forms and colors. Smith went on to study at the Art Students League of New York shortly after the end of World War II. He would subsequently move to Paris, France in 1954, where he befriended fellow American ex-patriate painters Sam Francis and Joan Mitchell. Upon his return to New York in 1966, Smith had gained significant critical acclaim, which led to his mounting a solo exhibition at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio in 1967 and garnering a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971. Today, his paintings among the collections of the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Zurich Art Museum, among others.
Norbert Prangenberg was an abstract painter, sculptor, and engraver. Though he had no formal training and did not fully engage with art until his 30s, Prangenberg did finally come up with a style that was uniquely his own, not fitting comfortably into the neo-expressionist or neo-geo movements of his time, in the 1970s and 1980s. At this time, he was considered a major figure in contemporary German art. Though he got his start with abstract paintings, he also became known for making sculptures of all sizes; and while his work initially appears abstract, the titles given sometimes allude to the human body or a landscape. As a trained gold- and silversmith, as well as a glassblower, he always showed an attention to materials and how they could be physically engaged with. He was interested in how his own two hands could affect the painting or sculpture's surface. Traces of the artist's hand appear literally throughout his entire oeuvre, before he lost the battle with liver cancer in 2012.
Norbert Prangenberg was an abstract painter, sculptor, and engraver. Though he had no formal training and did not fully engage with art until his 30s, Prangenberg did finally come up with a style that was uniquely his own, not fitting comfortably into the neo-expressionist or neo-geo movements of his time, in the 1970s and 1980s. At this time, he was considered a major figure in contemporary German art. Though he got his start with abstract paintings, he also became known for making sculptures of all sizes; and while his work initially appears abstract, the titles given sometimes allude to the human body or a landscape. As a trained gold- and silversmith, as well as a glassblower, he always showed an attention to materials and how they could be physically engaged with. He was interested in how his own two hands could affect the painting or sculpture's surface. Traces of the artist's hand appear literally throughout his entire oeuvre, before he lost the battle with liver cancer in 2012.