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Exhibition: Carol Wax: Extraordinary Objects from April 5, 2024 to May 24, 2024 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Carol Wax: Extraordinary Objects

Press Release:

BOSTON, MA – Carol Wax's masterful mezzotint engravings depict the ordinary as extraordinary. Using dramatic lighting effects, exaggerated perspectives, and a dose of wit, Wax transforms commonplace objects into astonishing icons, cleverly revealing "the anima in the inanimate".  

Wax originally trained as a classical musician at the Manhattan School of Music, earning a bachelor's degree in 1975 with a major in flute performance. While continuing to work as a musician, Wax took printmaking courses at the Lake Placid School of Art during the summers of 1975 and 1976. She subsequently studied at the Pratt Graphics Center in New York City, where she was first introduced to mezzotint engraving.  

Developed in the 17th century, images in mezzotint engraving are achieved by roughening a copper plate using a tool with a curved serrated blade, called a rocker. The rocker's teeth plow up a field of burrs that, when inked, produces a rich black background. Images are drawn by erasing the burrs in increments so they hold less ink to print as lighter tones and print white where burrs are removed entirely. The resulting wide range of tonal gradations and textures made it ideal for reproducing paintings. 

Though mezzotint fell out of favor in the 19th century with the advent of photography, it experienced a resurgence as a means for creating original works of art in the 20th century due in large part to the publication of Wax's book The Mezzotint: History and Technique

In addition to her virtuoso work as a mezzotint artist, Wax is regarded as an authority on the history of the medium as well. Her groundbreaking publication on mezzotint is the result of the artist's frustrations with the limitations of technical knowledge available in the 1980s. This led Wax to conduct her own research into historical techniques, uncovering methods long out of use that could be revived for contemporary artists. The updated and expanded upon Second Edition of The Mezzotint: History and Technique, recently published by Schiffer Books, will be available for sale throughout the duration of the exhibition. 

Extraordinary Objects highlights Wax's use of mezzotint's unique qualities to reinvent antiquated machinery and vintage wares into lively gadgets and anthropomorphic objects. In her words, the work "…speaks to an inner life perceived in inanimate objects." Marrying the hardness of everyday items with the soft richness of mezzotint, Wax's subjects take on a life of their own, often with cheeky titles further humanizing the cameras, fans, phones, and other objects appearing in her work.  

Venturing through several decades of the artist's prints, Carol Wax: Extraordinary Objects is on view in the Childs Gallery Print Department April 5 through May 24, 2023.

This exhibition begins April 5th, 2024
Exhibition: Portals & Passages: Works by Robert Freeman & Max Stern from March 14, 2024 to May 19, 2024 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Portals & Passages: Works by Robert Freeman & Max Stern

Press Release:

Portals & Passages explores the possibilities of liminal space through the paintings of Robert Freeman and photographs by Max Stern. Both artists depict images sited on the threshold: windows, doorways, tunnels, tree-lined passages, and other found openings. Such portals and passages function as transitional spaces that connect or separate worlds: interior and exterior, known and unknown, before and after. As such, these intermediary places can represent exciting possibilities or harrowing rupture. A simple door can be a portal to freedom or a formidable barrier, a symbol of hope and catharsis or estrangement and loss.    

Robert Freeman's paintings explore the darker side of this experience. Inspired by a recent trip to Ghana, where he spent part of his childhood, Freeman's paintings depict the slave castles at Elmina and Cape Coast. These fortresses were used to hold enslaved Africans before they were loaded onto ships and sent to the Americas as part of the transatlantic slave trade. Freeman's paintings attempt to process and purge the grief and anger he experienced after spending hours in the dungeons where his ancestors were forced to live in captivity.  

A prominent feature of the slave castles are the Doors of No Return, passages through which enslaved people were taken from the castles to the slave ships, never to return. Freeman depicts these Doors in several of his paintings, actual physical thresholds marking the boundary between the enslaved person's free life before and the brutal unknown life of slavery beyond. The Doors are powerful, visceral markers of the enslaved person's ruptured experience. Freeman's two largest paintings in the exhibition, Afrika and Modern Day Slave Ships, extrapolate further on the transatlantic slave trade, the Middle Passage, and the movement of people and material resources from Africa to the Americas.  

Freeman's work in the exhibition is rounded out by colorful paintings of the Aburi Botanical Gardens, located outside of Ghana's bustling capital city of Accra. The sunny gardens were a childhood favorite to visit for Freeman, and a cathartic balm to paint as an adult. The heavy contrast between the colorful garden paintings and stark slave castle imagery produces its own, unseen, liminal space within this body of work; a transitional void contemplating the disparity between freedom and enslavement. 

Max Stern's photographs depict a multifaceted experience of architectural and natural openings. Stern is captivated by a still photograph's ability to create mystery or stimulate curiosity.  His images of portals and passageways inspire a myriad of questions in the mind of the viewer: What is on the other side? Where does this lead? Where are they going? His photographs capture the tension of liminal space, the anticipation of the unknown. Drawn to these transitional, in-between spaces throughout his career, Stern has found such moments in locations around the world, from Germany to Barbados. 

To Stern, a photograph - a snapshot of a single moment – has the potential to be more exciting than live action. As an undefined moment in time, a still image possesses limitless possibilities for storytelling. Stern's images are small peeks into another world, and merely suggest what has, is, and will take place. As the artist, Stern creates these worlds, but it is up to the viewer to flesh them out - to determine what lies at the end of the passage, beyond the portal. 

Freeman and Stern are longtime friends and have previously exhibited jointly with vibrant paintings and photographs of Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans. Portals & Passages represents their second showing together. The artists both see their work as interpretive, provoking questions of which neither has the answers. In both bodies of work, the audience is just as integral as the art itself, filling in the blanks, becoming the storytellers who determine what these portals and passages mean and where they lead. Though only two works in the exhibition directly reference each other - Freeman borrowed from the imagery in Stern's Rothenberg for his own Door of No Return – the paintings and photographs are complementary, each exploring the transitory and uncertain nature of the threshold as a conduit for a multitude of often contradictory emotions and experiences. 

Portals & Passages: Works by Robert Freeman and Max Stern is on view March 14 through May 19, 2024. Please join us for a reception with the artists, Thursday, March 14, 6-8pm.

On exhibit until May 19th, 2024
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Exhibition: Henry Botkin Watercolors from February 16, 2024 to March 30, 2024 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Henry Botkin Watercolors

Press Release:

Best known for his work in and promotion of Abstract Expressionism, Boston-born artist Henry Botkin was also a prolific watercolorist during the earlier stages of his productive, decades-long career. After spending seven years immersed in the Parisian art scene (a sojourn partly supported by his cousins George and Ira Gershwin), Botkin returned to the United States heavily influenced by the impressionistic flourishes of European Modernism. Henry Botkin Watercolors presents works from this post-European period of the mid-1930s and early 1940s, where the artist explored a variety of genres including landscapes, harbor scenes, and still lifes, through a Modernist lens.     

Botkin began his early career in his hometown of Boston, studying at the Massachusetts College of Art, before continuing his education at the Art Students League of New York. In his eight years in New York, he also worked as an illustrator for Harper's, The Saturday Evening Post, and Century magazines. In the early 1920s, Botkin moved to Paris; he was fortunate to have a close relationship with his first cousins, the famous composers and lyricists George and Ira Gershwin, whose backing during this time allowed him to devote himself exclusively to art. Upon his return many years later, Botkin based himself out of New York, but traveled often (including a notable trek to Folly Island, South Carolina with George Gershwin where Porgy and Bess was composed). During these trips, Botkin documented his surroundings in the free-flowing brushstrokes of watercolor, capturing scenes across the country with the strong echoes of French art learned during his time in Paris.

Starting in the 1940s, Botkin would shift his style towards figurative abstraction, before completely abandoning representational imagery in favor of purely abstract art. This exhibition thus illuminates a little shown period of Botkin's while also highlighting a lesser explored, but thoroughly engaging media for an artist most often associated with painting and collage.

Henry Botkin Watercolors is on view in our upstairs gallery February 16 through March 30, 2024. 

On exhibit until March 30th, 2024
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Exhibition: Hannah Barrett: Monsters from February 6, 2024 to March 9, 2024 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Hannah Barrett: Monsters

Press Release:

Hannah Barrett has previously described her paintings as "invented portraits based on collage: copies of photos or in some cases, copies of paintings are cut apart and reassembled into figures of ambiguous gender. Fusing the features of both sexes creates a range of androgynous characters that may be straight, queer, hermaphroditic or just cross-dressing." Her aim is to create portraiture that deviates from the conventional male or female, and to explore the resulting pictorial and conceptual possibilities in a fun and unexpected way.

In her latest series Monsters, Barrett has pushed beyond human attributes and created creatures that are fully of her own imagination, with no singular reference to reality. In this way her Monsters are entirely fictional, and the viewer can project their own character onto the portraits. Part fantastical being, part modern-day Dandy, the artist reconsiders the figure through a theatrical lens, creating a mise-en-scene exploring the ideas and ideals of otherness with a sense of humor, style, and whimsy. Barrett creates magnificent wallflowers, tender beasts flitting about inside an eccentric universe. The figures, both bursting out of and ensconced within their tight, monochromatic surroundings, are interchangeable: malleable beings filled with personality but tied to no specific identity.

Hannah Barrett: Monsters is an online exhibition available to view on our website through March 9, 2024.

On exhibit until March 16th, 2024
Exhibition: Lee Essex Doyle: Dancing on the Ceiling from January 18, 2024 to March 9, 2024 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Lee Essex Doyle: Dancing on the Ceiling

Press Release:

Lee Essex Doyle's mastery of light, color, and pattern is on full display in her latest series of mixed media paintings, Dancing on the Ceiling. These luminous paintings depict jewel-like lanterns and radiant chandeliers – architectural details drawn from her extensive travels across India, Africa, and Europe. Doyle deftly captures the play of light and shadow across richly patterned surfaces, blurring the line between representation and abstraction to dazzling effect. 

As with Doyle's earlier series, the works in Dancing on the Ceiling are drawn from her frequent and far-flung travels. Inspired by the art and culture of each new location, Doyle combines architectural elements, ornate design motifs, and vibrant color to evoke an authentic sense of place. The focused subject of Doyle's most recent work further highlights her remarkable ability to fix the impression of a particular location using only small details. Here Doyle distills the essence of a place down to its most basic elements: light, color, and pattern. 

In Dancing on the Ceiling, brilliant light fixtures cast intricate patterns of light and shadow across the ceilings they adorn. The heightened contrast of radiant light increases the visual perception of line and shape. Doyle's layered arrangements of light and shadow merge with architectural ornamentation and design motifs to push her paintings further into abstraction than she has yet ventured. At times, the physical light fixtures appear almost obliterated by their own brilliance. The resulting paintings offer a dazzling array of vibrant hues and tessellations, pushing the limits between representation and abstraction. 

Doyle employs a variety of media and processes in the execution of these new works. First, she snaps a photograph of eye-catching patterns and chandeliers spotted during her travels. The captured images are then digitally combined and printed at an enlarged size. Doyle builds atop this 'footprint' image with ink, watercolor, colored pencil, and oil pastel, layering the different materials to achieve an ethereal luminosity amidst a background of jewel-toned decorative arrangements. 

Lee Essex Doyle: Dancing on the Ceiling is a colorful romp around the globe, exploring space through the unconventional manner of simply looking up and observing details often overlooked. The exhibition is on view January 18 through March 9, 2024. An opening reception with the artist will be held Wednesday, January 24, 6-8pm.

On exhibit until March 10th, 2024
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Exhibition: Chuck: Photographs by George Platt Lynes from December 13, 2023 to February 3, 2024 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Chuck: Photographs by George Platt Lynes

Press Release:

The distinct figure of Charles 'Chuck' Howard can be found in the works of artists such as Bernard Perlin, George Tooker, Jared French, Margaret French, and Paul Cadmus. However, it was his time as model, muse, and lover of George Platt Lynes that yielded perhaps the most intimate and striking depictions of the late Howard. A veteran, fashion designer, and restaurateur, Howard became a highly sought after model and central social figure of Queer Modernism in New York City.  

Photographer George Platt Lynes was famous in his lifetime for his commercial photographs in fashion magazines and work with the American Ballet Theater. Throughout his mainstream career, Lynes secretly produced a substantial body of nude and homoerotic photography. Though kept secret due to obscenity laws of the time, Lynes considered these private photographs to be his finest work.  His models were often friends, lovers, and acquaintances - gay artists, dancers, and writers from Lynes' social circle. 

Chuck Howard was born in Cochran, Georgia in 1927. After graduating high school, he joined the Naval Air Force and became a tail gunner in World War II. He subsequently studied fashion in France on the G.I. Bill, afterwards returning stateside to New York to begin a career in the industry. 

Lynes and Howard were introduced around this time at a party hosted by Bernard Perlin. After the meeting, Chuck quickly moved into Lyne's apartment and was noted as having a stabilizing influence on the notoriously spendthrift photographer. The relationship lasted just over two years.  In January 1951, Lynes wrote to his mother, "Late last week, Chuck decided to go off and live by himself. It's a pity, for I shall miss him; but I don't disapprove… I'm afraid that my influence is too often all-pervading, all-inclusive." 

Howard would go on to enjoy a long career in fashion working for designers such as Bill Blass and Anne Klein (to whom he introduced Donna Karan), before launching his own label. In 1981, he left the industry and opened the eponymous restaurant 'Chuck Howard' with his partner Edward Vaughn, where a young Anthony Bourdain ran the back of house. After retiring to the Netherlands Antilles and then Santa Fe, New Mexico, Howard passed away on October 5, 2002. 

Chuck: Photographs by George Platt Lynes presents a rare collection of vintage photographs dating circa 1948 - 1951 that celebrates the collaborative work between George Platt Lynes and Chuck Howard.  Featuring both studio poses and candid shots, Chuck reveals the spectrum of Howard's skills as a model and offers a unique and intimate look into his somewhat brief but impactful relationship with Lynes.  

On exhibit until February 10th, 2024
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Looking at Roses], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1014×912IN.
[Chuck Howard Looking at Roses]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Self portrait with Chuck Howard], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
10×11IN.
$6,000
[Self portrait with Chuck Howard]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Laying Down with Arrow], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
8×734IN.
$6,000
[Chuck Howard Laying Down with Arrow]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Sitting], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
914×712IN.
$5,000
[Chuck Howard Sitting]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard with Elbows on Bar], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1012×1014IN.
$5,000
[Chuck Howard with Elbows on Bar]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Standing Against Wall], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
10×9IN.
$5,000
[Chuck Howard Standing Against Wall]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Standing in front of a Portrait Wall], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
912×712IN.
$4,500
[Chuck Howard Standing in
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard in Provincetown], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
914×712IN.
$4,500
[Chuck Howard in Provincetown]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard in Christmas Tree], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
9×712IN.
$4,500
[Chuck Howard in Christmas Tree]
Photograph By George Platt Lynes: [chuck Howard Posing Among An Adorned Tree I] At Childs GalleryQuick View
9×738IN.
$4,500
[Chuck Howard Posing Among
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Posing Among an Adorned Tree II], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
712×714IN.
$4,500
[Chuck Howard Posing Among
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard with a Jared French Painting], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
934×8IN.
$4,000
[Chuck Howard with a Jared French Painting]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Resting], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
912×10IN.
$4,000
[Chuck Howard Resting]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
914×712IN.
$4,000
[Chuck Howard]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard in Profile], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
934×8IN.
$4,000
[Chuck Howard in Profile]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard in Bodysuit Against a Wall], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
912×734IN.
$4,000
[Chuck Howard in Bodysuit Against a Wall]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard Leaning Against a Wall], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
912×712IN.
$4,000
[Chuck Howard Leaning Against a Wall]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard with Walking Stick], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
914×7IN.
$4,000
[Chuck Howard with Walking Stick]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
8×712IN.
$3,500
[Chuck Howard]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard with Dog], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
9×712IN.
$3,500
[Chuck Howard with Dog]
Photograph by George Platt Lynes: [Chuck Howard], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
712×738IN.
$3,500
[Chuck Howard]
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Exhibition: Interlaced: The Fabric of Art from November 16, 2023 to January 6, 2024 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Interlaced: The Fabric of Art

Press Release:

What makes one object a work of art and one object a work of craftsmanship? The answer is steeped in decades of discourse that touches on issues of economic, gender, and racial inequity.  

Interlaced: The Fabric of Art is an exhibition of fiber artists connected through a shared commitment to the rigor of craftsmanship and high quality artistic and aesthetic achievement. Objects thought of as functional become aesthetic and the aesthetics then beget further functionality. What is a tea towel you don't wipe the corners of your mouth with? A quilt that doesn't live on your bed? A pair of swimming trunks you cannot wear to the beach? 

The materials at play in fiber arts inevitably evoke questions of materiality, domesticity, social class, and accessibility, and textile exhibitions often find themselves laden under this framework. Examining the contextual realities surrounding fiber works is, of course, not only incredibly important but also integral to the history of the artform. Interlaced acknowledges this truth, but also strives to further ask its audience to consider the aesthetics on display. The exhibition elevates the work of textile artists beyond the trappings of the often singular function of social commentary and into an overdue position of holistic artistic expression. The materials are not separate from the work. The artist's hands are present. The alchemy of this reality is the object in front of you. In Interlaced, artistry is just as paramount to the experience as the who and the why – the artistic value inseparable from the historical context. 

Though fiber shows are not new to Boston, Interlaced marks the first exhibition of its kind at Childs, one solely highlighting textile arts. The show does, however, follow the gallery's longstanding practice of featuring traditional artistic media both by historic and contemporary artists. Paintings, sculpture, photography, prints, and various other works on paper have been on view throughout the gallery's eighty-six years in operation; Childs is pleased to now add fiber arts to our storied inventory. 

The exhibition will include art quilts by Rodger Blum, lace work by Pierre Fouché, weavings by Christine Jablonski, needlepoint by Natalie Hays Hammond, an appliqué by Samuel Ojo Omonaiye, and additional works by Patrick Carroll, Alexander Davis, Fidencio Fifield-Perez, Andrew Sedgwick Guth, Joan Hall, and Alison Saar.  

Please join us for an opening reception with several featured artists in attendance, Friday, November 17, 2023. Interlaced: The Fabric of Art is on view November 16, 2023 through January 6, 2024.

On exhibit until January 12th, 2024
Textile by Pierre Fouché: 06.642 or Temporal Consciousness Access, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
19634×5814IN.
06.642 or Temporal Consciousness Access
Mixed Media by Andrew Sedgwick Guth: Troubadour in a conjurer’s garden [Detail], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
3334×2512IN.
Troubadour in a conjurer’s garden [Detail]
Textile by Christine Jablonski: Cocktails for Four, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
24×24IN.
Cocktails for Four
Textile by Alexander Davis: Singlet, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
3334×2634IN.
[Singlet]
Mixed Media by Andrew Sedgwick Guth: To bring you flowers, to remind you of your magic (self portrait between the sun and the moon), available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
6312×51IN.
To bring you flowers,
Textile by Alexander Davis: Posing Straps, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1434×1534IN.
[Posing Straps]
Painting By Jorge R Pombo: Variation On Singer Sargent's 'the Daughters Of Edward Darley Boit' (6) At Childs GalleryQuick View
3178×2512IN.
Variation on Singer Sargent's
Painting By Jorge R Pombo: Variation On Singer Sargent's 'the Daughters Of Edward Darley Boit' (7) At Childs GalleryQuick View
3178×2512IN.
Variation on Singer Sargent's
By Jorge R Pombo: Variation On Singer Sargent's 'the Daughters Of Edward Darley Boit' (5) At Childs GalleryQuick View
3178×2558IN.
Variation on Singer Sargent's
Mixed Media by Rodger Blum: Event Horizon No. 1, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
81×9314IN.
Event Horizon No. 1
Textile by Samuel Ojo Omonaiye: Applique, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
68×5512IN.
Applique
Mixed Media by Joan Hall: Catch a Miracle, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
58×71IN.
$16,000
Catch a Miracle
Textile by Rodger Blum: Event No. 5, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
8112×38IN.
$13,500
Event No. 5
Textile by Rodger Blum: Event No. 6, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
8012×39IN.
$13,500
Event No. 6
Textile by Rodger Blum: Sticks and Stones No. 2, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
62×41IN.
$12,500
Sticks and Stones No. 2
Mixed Media by Rodger Blum: Uncertain Grid, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
6512×3912IN.
$12,500
Uncertain Grid
Sculpture by Joan Hall: Ocean Library, Stack 2, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1112×14IN.
$12,500
Ocean Library, Stack 2
Textile by Rodger Blum: Event No. 1, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
58×4112IN.
$11,500
Event No. 1
Textile by Rodger Blum: Itajine #1, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
42×24IN.
$5,000
Itajine #1
Painting By Andrew Sedgwick Guth: All The Places I've Yet To See (waiting For You In My Dreams) At Childs GalleryQuick View
3334×2512IN.
$4,800
All the places I've
Textile by Rodger Blum: Veiled Pansy Red No. 1, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
4112×2212IN.
$4,500
Veiled Pansy Red No. 1
Textile by Rodger Blum: Veiled Pansy Red No. 2, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
4112×2212IN.
$4,500
Veiled Pansy Red No. 2
Textile by Pierre Fouché: Sampler[]3×4 or The Burden of Excess, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
2912×20IN.
$4,500
Sampler[]3x4 or The Burden of Excess
Textile by Rodger Blum: Itajine #2, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
4812×2012IN.
$4,200
Itajine #2
Textile by Rodger Blum: Angry Bugman: he just woke up that way, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
4012×1812IN.
$4,200
Angry Bugman: he just
Textile by Christine Jablonski: Table for Three II, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
38×22IN.
$2,200
Table for Three II
Textile by Christine Jablonski: Table for Three, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
38×22IN.
$2,200
Table for Three I
Mixed Media By Fidencio Fifield Perez: Salmon Colored Kid At Childs GalleryQuick View
16×16IN.
$2,000
Salmon Colored Kid
Mixed Media By Fidencio Fifield Perez: Salmon Colored Kid At Childs GalleryQuick View
16×16IN.
$2,000
Salmon Colored Kid
Textile by Christine Jablonski: Breakfast, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
20×20IN.
$1,800
Breakfast
Textile by Christine Jablonski: Late for Dinner, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
21×14IN.
$1,600
Late for Dinner
Collage By Henry Botkin: Soft Pink At Childs GalleryQuick View
8×6IN.
$1,500
Soft Pink
Textile by Alexander Davis: Swim Trunks, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
2034×2934IN.
$1,200
[Swim Trunks]
Textile by Alexander Davis: Jock Strap, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1334×1734IN.
$1,200
[Jock Strap]
Textile by Alexander Davis: Kneepad, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1634×1834IN.
$1,200
[Kneepad]
Collage By Henry Botkin: Etude No. 4 At Childs GalleryQuick View
7×4IN.
$975
Etude No. 4
Textile by Natalie Hays Hammond: The Four Corners of the World, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
914×9IN.
$500
The Four Corners of the World
Textile by Natalie Hays Hammond: The Multiform Activites of Mankind, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
912×834IN.
$500
The Multiform Activites of Mankind
Textile by Natalie Hays Hammond: Nergel, Idol of the Cuthites Was Represented In the Form of a Cock, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
912×912IN.
$500
Nergel, Idol of the
Textile by Natalie Hays Hammond: "The Divine Goose, or Great Cackler" which laid the Cosmic Egg… Egyptian, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
912×912IN.
$500
"The Divine Goose, or
Textile by Natalie Hays Hammond: Part of a Bronze Luristan Horse Bit, c. 500 B.C. (From "Archaeological Magazine), available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
8×814IN.
$475
Part of a Bronze
Textile by Natalie Hays Hammond: Sign of Aries, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
812×8IN.
$475
Sign of Aries
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Exhibition: David Avery: Macabre Minutiae from October 5, 2023 to December 9, 2023 at Childs Gallery, Boston

David Avery: Macabre Minutiae

Press Release:

Revisiting the works of Old Masters with the intricate detailing of a contemporary sardonic eye, David Avery's etchings are witty updates of classic motifs. Macabre Minutiae presents prints from the artist's multi-decade career, exploring the foibles and follies of the modern world through the complex and endless possibilities of the etching medium. 

Working out of his studio in San Francisco, Avery eschews color and exclusively produces etchings in traditional black and white, finding the tonalities of this sparse palette most suitable for the psychological mood of his artwork. Avery trained as a classical musician, and only discovered etching by accident in a class at a local community college. After learning the basic techniques, he set forth exploring the medium on his own and is essentially self-taught.  

Within Avery's works are elements of both the past and present, referencing master etchers and engravers of the past 400 years and their literary counterparts, alongside contemporary iconography. Avery thus creates pieces that bridge old and new – prints that look akin to something from the studios of Goltzius or Dürer but comment upon our modern concerns. Often working in miniature format, his etchings are skillfully packed with people, monsters, skeletons, and various objects bursting into the image's margins through chaotic energy. These invented worlds are darkly humorous and so full of ambiguous minutiae, as to invite multiple interpretations from the audience beyond anything originally intended by the artist. 

While Avery's prints have previously been included in many group shows at Childs, Macabre Minutiae represents his first solo exhibition with the gallery. His work has been in over 200 competitive and invitational exhibits, garnering several awards, and he is included in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, the New York Public Library, the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, and the Stanford University Library among others. Additionally, his work has been noted in publications such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. Avery is a member of the Boston Printmakers, an international, professional print alliance based in Boston; this exhibition is held in conjunction with the association's 75th anniversary.  

David Avery: Macabre Minutiae is on view in our upstairs print department, October 5 through December 9, 2023. An opening reception with the artist will be held Thursday, October 5, 6-8pm.

On exhibit until December 9th, 2023
Exhibition: Edward Laning and the Fourteenth Street School from September 21, 2023 to November 11, 2023 at Childs Gallery, Boston

Edward Laning and the Fourteenth Street School

Press Release:

In the 1920s and 30s, New York's Fourteenth Street in Lower Manhattan became a hub of commercial activity, with cinemas, restaurants, and stores catering to a middle and working-class clientele. A group of artists, motivated by the legacy of the Ashcan School's embrace of populist urban life, established studios in the area and began to create works inspired by the throng that would daily inundate Fourteenth Street. 

Among these artists was Edward Laning, a midwestern transplant with a studio at 145 West Fourteenth Street and later 12 East Seventeenth. Laning was born in Petersburg, Illinois, and attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago before coming to the Art Students League in New York. Though he initially rejected the conservative instruction received there, he later realized its value and would continue to adhere to many of its tenets throughout his career. Laning, like other artists of the Fourteenth Street School, depicted the lively spectacles of the 'poor man's Fifth Avenue' in his work – the residents, visitors, and vagrants populating the area giving artists a plethora of subjects from which to draw inspiration. Laning, however, did not shy away from difficult subjects as did many of his contemporaries – rather, his paintings explored the less-than-ideal circumstances of daily life for many area denizens. Through his work Laning openly expressed his disenchantment with the uncertainties of post-Depression America. Later, his paintings would take on increasingly surrealistic tones, and fire became a recurring symbol of impending societal doom. 

Of crucial importance to Laning and other artists of the Fourteenth Street School was the tutelage of Kenneth Hayes Miller, an artist and teacher working at the Art Students League, whose classically focused pedagogy provided the group's theoretical and technical underpinning. Espousing a recovery of traditional techniques, Miller would use numerous glazes and underpainting to build up images that imparted a sense of classical order to his frenzied urban subjects. 

Along with Laning, other Miller acolytes forming the core of the Fourteenth Street School were Isabel Bishop and Reginald Marsh. In addition, the brothers Raphael, Moses, and Isaac Soyer's emphasis on the downtrodden working class of the Depression era, along with their location on Fourteenth Street in the 1930s, cemented their position as part of the group. Jack Henderson, a longtime collaborator of Laning's and artist at 30 East Fourteenth, was also counted as a member. 

Among his many students, Bishop was one of Miller's most faithful adherents; his influence is visible in her technical and compositional method, the sculptural execution of her figures, as well as her choice of subject matter. Both Laning and Reginald Marsh departed from Miller's more affirmative view of urban life and paid greater emphasis to the complex realities brought about by the vast economic disparities of the Great Depression. 

In addition to Laning, Miller, Bishop, Marsh, Henderson, and the Soyers, this exhibition includes works by other artists associated with the Fourteenth Street School, such as Peggy Bacon, Alexander Brook, Don Freeman, and Molly Luce. Also included are pieces by George Bellows and John Sloan, members of the Ashcan School and forebearers of the Fourteenth Street School's ideology. 

Edward Laning and the Fourteenth Street School is on view at Childs Gallery September 21 through November 11, 2023. The exhibition is in collaboration with Susan Teller Gallery of New York. A discussion with Teller regarding the Fourteenth Street School will be held at a later date, to be announced.

On exhibit until November 11th, 2023
Print by Peggy Bacon: The Heavenly Twins, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
938×614IN.
The Heavenly Twins
Painting by John Sloan: Bakery Wagon, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
9×11IN.
Bakery Wagon
Print by Isabel Bishop: The Coat, or Taking Off Her Coat, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
738×412IN.
The Coat, or Taking Off Her Coat
Painting by Edward Laning: Attic, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
39×52IN.
Attic
Painting by Edward Laning: The Building, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
3914×5334IN.
The Building
Painting by Kenneth Hayes Miller: Portrait of a Woman Reading a Letter, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
30×25IN.
Portrait of a Woman Reading a Letter
Painting by Edward Laning: The Poet: Union Square, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
72×48IN.
The Poet: Union Square
Painting by Edward Laning: The Fire Next Time (Union Square), available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
72×48IN.
The Fire Next Time (Union Square)
Painting by Edward Laning: Ball of Fire, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
39×66IN.
Ball of Fire
Painting by Edward Laning: The Fire Now: Union Square, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
72×48IN.
The Fire Now: Union Square
Watercolor by Reginald Marsh: [Manhattan Skyline], available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1514×2234IN.
$22,000
[Manhattan Skyline]
Drawing By George Bellows: Mother And Three Children At Childs GalleryQuick View
10×8IN.
$15,000
Mother and Three Children
Painting by Jack Henderson: The Winners, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
40×25IN.
$12,000
The Winners
Painting by Jack Henderson: Exit, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
43×27IN.
$8,500
Exit
Painting by Jack Henderson: Circus, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
49×26IN.
$8,500
Circus
Painting by Don Freeman: The Costume Fitting, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
29×34IN.
$8,500
The Costume Fitting
Painting by Molly Luce: Reading from Frost, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
16×20IN.
$8,500
Reading from Frost
Drawing by Edward Laning: Black Friday, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
14×1014IN.
$7,500
Black Friday
Painting By Isaac Soyer: [seated Woman In Green] At Childs GalleryQuick View
32×20IN.
$7,500
[Seated Woman in Green]
Painting By Alexander Brook: Woman In Gray At Childs GalleryQuick View
3612×29IN.
$7,500
Woman in Gray
Painting by Minna Citron: Lambs' Creel, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
18×2712IN.
$7,000
Lambs' Creel
Mixed media by Edward Laning: The Escape, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
24×18IN.
$6,500
The Escape
Painting by Edward Laning: Portrait of Jessie, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1712×2912IN.
$6,000
Portrait of Jessie
Mixed Media by Jack Henderson: In a Roman Studio, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
27×19IN.
$6,000
In a Roman Studio
Mixed Media by Edward Laning: Lazzaro di Cimolo, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
12×714IN.
$4,500
Lazzaro di Cimolo
Print by Raphael Soyer: In Studio, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×10IN.
$4,500
In Studio
Drawing by Edward Laning: Homecoming – Portferraio, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
11×15IN.
$4,500
Homecoming – Portoferraio
Print by Isabel Bishop: Looking Over the Wall, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
6×4IN.
$4,250
Looking Over the Wall
Painting by Don Freeman: Two Drunks, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
19×23IN.
$3,500
Two Drunks
Drawing by Raphael Soyer: [Two Figures Embracing], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
17×14IN.
$3,500
[Two Figures Embracing]
Drawing by Edward Laning: Study for Seated Matron in Corn Dance, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
10×512IN.
$3,200
Study for Seated Matron in Corn Dance
Painting by Jack Henderson: Standing Studio Model with White Drape, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
24×12IN.
$3,200
Standing Studio Model with White Drape
Print by Reginald Marsh: Skyline from Pier 10 Brooklyn, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
6×11IN.
$2,800
Skyline from Pier 10 Brooklyn
Print By Reginald Marsh: Girl In Fur Jacket Reading Tabloid At Childs GalleryQuick View
12×6IN.
$2,500
Girl in Fur Jacket Reading Tabloid
Print by Isabel Bishop: Isabel Bishop: Eight Etchings, 1925 1931, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1512×12IN.
$2,000
Isabel Bishop: Eight Etchings, 1925-1931
Print by Reginald Marsh: Coney Island Beach, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
9×9IN.
$1,800
Coney Island Beach
Print by Isabel Bishop: Office Girls, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
778×478IN.
$1,800
Office Girls
Drawing by Edward Laning: (Male Figures), available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
834×12IN.
$1,600
(Male Figures)
Print by Don Freeman: Three to Make Ready, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
1112×1334IN.
$1,600
Three to Make Ready
Drawing by Edward Laning: Conte Biancamano, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
914×1258IN.
$1,600
Conte Biancamano
Print by Reginald Marsh: Peoples Follies, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
9×11IN.
$1,500
Peoples Follies
Print by Raphael Soyer: The Seamstress, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
9×11IN.
$1,500
The Seamstress
Print by Raphael Soyer: Young Woman Drying Herself, or Behind Screen, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
19×12IN.
$1,500
Young Woman Drying Herself, or Behind Screen
Print by Raphael Soyer: Waitresses, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
11×9IN.
$1,500
Waitresses
Drawing by Alexander Brook: [Woman Leaning Over], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
16×13IN.
$1,250
[Woman Leaning Over]
Print By Peggy Bacon: The Spirit Of Rain At Childs GalleryQuick View
478×378IN.
$800
The Spirit of Rain
Print by Kenneth Hayes Miller: Nurse and Child, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
6×4IN.
$750
Nurse and Child
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Exhibition: On the Job: Occupations in Print from August 3, 2023 to September 30, 2023 at Childs Gallery, Boston

On the Job: Occupations in Print

Press Release:

On the Job presents prints featuring men and women at work, pulled from Childs Gallery's extensive inventory of etchings, engravings, lithographs, mezzotints, and more. Through these printed media, the exhibition explores various occupations such as construction workers, dancers, professional athletes, shopkeepers, farmers, and vintners, in works dating from the 17th century to today. 

In charting over 400 years of occupations, On the Job documents a changing workforce, from agrarian pursuits to industrial jobs to women entering the labor pool. Highlights include Rembrandt's 1639 etching and drypoint Jan Uytenbogaert, The Goldweigher, portraying a noted Dutch tax collector in his office; social realists such as Louis Lozowick and Harry Sternberg recording the rapid urbanization of America in the early 20th century; Whistler's charming depiction of a bustling fish shop in Chelsea, London; and Otto Bacher's detailed etching of bead stringers working along the canals of Venice. 

On the Job: Occupations in Print is on view in the Childs Gallery Print Department August 3 through September 20, 2023.

On exhibit until September 30th, 2023
By James Abbott Mcneill Whistler: The Fish Shop, Busy Chelsea At Childs GalleryQuick View
538×812IN.
The Fish Shop, Busy Chelsea
Drawing by Seymour Fogel: [The Secretary Pool], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
13×11IN.
[The Secretary Pool]
Print by Irwin D. Hoffman: Barber Shop, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
8×10IN.
Barber Shop
Print by Rembrandt: Jan Uytenbogaert, The Goldweigher, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
934×8IN.
Jan Uytenbogaert, The Goldweigher
Drawing by Seymour Fogel: [We Demand Our Jobs], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
16×20IN.
$9,500
[We Demand Our Jobs]
Drawing By Dean Cornwell: Laying Cable Study For A Portion Of "telephone Men And Women At Work" At Childs GalleryQuick View
36×42IN.
$9,500
Laying Cable - Study
Print By Albert Decaris: Le Pressoir I At Childs GalleryQuick View
2912×33IN.
$5,500
Le Pressoir I
Print By Grant Wood: Honorary Degree At Childs GalleryQuick View
12×6IN.
$4,200
Honorary Degree
Drawing by Seymour Fogel: Construction Worker, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
17×11IN.
$4,000
Construction Worker
Print by Otto Bacher: Bead Stringers, Perleria, Venice, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
1234×9IN.
$2,900
Bead Stringers, Perleria, Venice
Print By Benton Spruance: Design For America, No. 2 At Childs GalleryQuick View
16×9IN.
$2,500
Design for America, No. 2
Print by Jacques Villon: Soldat Astiquant or L'Astiquage, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
7×5IN.
$2,200
Soldat Astiquant or L'Astiquage
Drawing By Dudley Vaill Talcott: Blarney At Childs GalleryQuick View
10×6IN.
$1,800
Blarney
Print by James Penney: Builders, Radio City, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
12×9IN.
$1,500
Builders, Radio City
Print by Louis Lozowick: Above the City, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
17×734IN.
$1,500
Above the City
Drawing By Dudley Vaill Talcott: News From Our Various Departments At Childs GalleryQuick View
5×19IN.
$1,500
News from our Various Departments
Print by Reginald Marsh: Peoples Follies, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
9×11IN.
$1,500
Peoples Follies
Print by Raphael Soyer: Waitresses, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
11×9IN.
$1,500
Waitresses
Print by Raphael Soyer: The Seamstress, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
9×11IN.
$1,500
The Seamstress
Drawing By Dudley Vaill Talcott: Thomas At The Wheel At Childs GalleryQuick View
14×11IN.
$1,200
Thomas at the Wheel
Print by Jean-Emile Laboureur: Le Fureteur, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
512×4825IN.
$1,200
Le Fureteur
Print by Harry Sternberg: Blast Furnace #1, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
11×8IN.
$1,200
Blast Furnace #1
Print by Bernard Brussel-Smith: Hammer Man, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
3×2IN.
$800
Hammer Man
Print by Charles E. Pont: Link Jones, Basketweaver, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
8×6IN.
$475
Link Jones, Basketweaver
Print by Bernard Brussel-Smith: Ringmaster, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
11×5IN.
$450
Ringmaster
Print by Robert von Neumann: Island's Mailboat, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
7×10IN.
$375
Island's Mailboat
Print by Sir William Nicholson: Sir Henry Hawkins, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
9×10IN.
$175
Sir Henry Hawkins
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