APRIL 25–JULY 31, 2015
After securing a place as a highly accomplished figurative artist, Alfred Maurer (1868–1932) went on to join the ranks of the avant-garde. From his cross-fertilization of Fauvism between French and American circles to his channeling of abstraction in his late radical works, he proved to be a formidable creative force in expanding the potential for artistic expression in American art.
Though Maurer is often characterized as a painter of divergent, seemingly contradictory aesthetics, careful study of his oeuvre reveals steady interest in thematic ideas as well as formal experimentation with color, form, and abstraction. This exhibition, the most comprehensive to date to assess Maurer’s singular
contributions to American art, traces his work from fin-de-siècle figure paintings to scenes of contemporary leisure, Fauvist landscapes, still lifes and florals, and adventurous heads and figures, culminating in the late Cubist still lifes.
Generous support for this exhibition was provided by The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc., Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the Maurer Family Foundation, Mary L. Craven, The Karen and Kevin Kennedy Foundation, the Keamy Family Foundation in memory of Yvonne and Donald Keamy, and the Sidney R. Knafel Fund.