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Anne
Ryan (1889-1954) was an accomplished American
modernist painter who was widely respected
during her lifetime by critics, curators and
fellow artists but who has not received the
posthumous attention she probably deserves. This
is possibly due in part to the brevity of her
career (she painted only during the last fifteen
years of her life), as well as to the relatively
intimate and restrained nature of her work when
compared to that of her contemporaries - and
admirers - Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock
and Hans Hofmann. Beginning in the 1940s Ryan's
work was featured in group exhibitions at major
New York institutions including the Museum of
Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art,
and the Metropolitan Museum, and later on she
was given solo exhibitions at these same museums
as well as at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,
the Smithsonian Institution and the Brooklyn
Museum. Ryan was also given solo shows by many
leading New York City galleries, including Betty
Parsons, Kraushaar Gallery, Marlborough Gallery,
and André Emmerich. Her work was extensively
reviewed (and continues to be) in the major art
press. Hilton Kramer was a particular champion
of her art and devoted several of his New York
Times articles to her.
The woodblock print shown here was once in the
collection of the Museum of Modern Art and has
vestiges of their label affixed to the backing
board. Also attached to the back is the
exhibition label of the Arts Council of Great
Britain, which was lent this work by MOMA for
its exhibition "Thirty American Printmakers." |
