Interactive Timeline of Ary's Artwork

Representational

Palestine Watercolors

Morocco Drawings

Early Abstracts

New York Folio

Drawings

Prints

Early Mexican

Gouaches

Houston-
Cuernavaca

Leyendas

Early Abstracts (1945-1956)

Museum-Gallery Collection

Ary's painting had undergone a radical change.

This had been brewing ever since the early part of World War II. Ary was, of course, profoundly shaken by the war, by the enormity and brutality and hideousness of it, and especially by the tragic fate of six million Jews. He was in an emotional upheaval that affected every phase of his being, and of course this included walks we would take in Central Park on Sunday afternoons; we would wind up in some secluded spot and then Ary would give voice to his thoughts and feelings. He would say, "I cannot continue to paint the way I have been doing, I am sure that every creative person will have to make some change. For me, the world of surface realities is no longer paintable. For nothing is as it formerly seemed. It is not the surface of things—the look of things—that is real—it is that which is hidden beneath the surface—an inner reality of some sort that is real. And that is what I must search for. I can no longer set up a still-life, or paint the view of a city street, no matter how much of my own perception and sensitivity I put into the painting. I shall have to dig down deep within myself—back to my subconscious, if possible—and bring out what will be an inner reality."

Fantasy
Fantasy
1946,
oil on canvas,
24 x 30 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Walpurgisnacht
Walpurgisnacht
1946,
oil on canvas,
24 x 28 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Cinematography
Cinematography
1948,
oil on canvas,
30 x 40 in.,
[Museum Collection]
House and Cliff
House and Cliff
1948,
oil on canvas,
20 x 24 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Jazz
Jazz
1949,
oil on canvas,
22 x 18 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Obligato (Ode to Night)
Obligato (Ode to Night)
1949,
oil on canvas,
21 x 20 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Rondo
Rondo
1951,
oil on canvas,
30 x 24 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Chinese Poem
Chinese Poem
1953,
oil on canvas,
20 x 32 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Imagery
Imagery
1953,
oil on canvas,
40 x 30 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Rhythm in Depth
Rhythm in Depth
1953,
oil on canvas,
40 3/4 x 30 3/4 in.,
[Museum Collection]
The Forest
The Forest
1953,
oil on canvas,
44 x 36 in.,
[Museum Collection]
The Studio
The Studio
1956,
oil on canvas,
39 1/4 x 28 5/8 in.,
[Museum Collection]
Rhythmic Variations
Rhythmic Variations
c. late 1940s,
oil on canvas,
28 x 36 in.,
[Museum Collection]

 

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Ary Stillman: From Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism

From Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism Edited by James Wechsler Foreword by Donald Kuspit

Foundation's Catalog 2007

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