Burton Wasserman
Drawings from the 1950s and '60s
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Created over a period of almost twenty years, this small group of drawings shows how the interests and themes in Wasserman's work have evolved, revealing at the same time how comfortable and successful the artist is within this particular vein of abstraction.
The works in this collection from the early-1950s were executed while Wasserman was serving in the military. Stationed in Germany, many of these drawings represent ideas that could be further developed as paintings or prints when back in the United States. The drawings from the 1960s in some cases have much in common with these earlier works, but in other instances show a subtle change; in their simplification of form, or sparser use of shapes.
As a young man Burton Wasserman developed a great interest in the works of Piet Mondrian and the other DeStijl artists. His years as a student at Brooklyn College in the late-1940s, where he studied with Burgoyne Diller and Ad Reinhardt (both of whom he was to maintain a close friendship with until their deaths), allowed this affinity to geometric abstraction to develop, then blossom in his works of the next five decades.
An exhibition of recent paintings, reliefs and prints will be opening at the Villanova University Art Gallery in April.
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