Alfred Jensen
dal 11/11/2001 al 22/12/2001
Segnalato da
11/11/2001
Alfred Jensen
Max Protetch, New York
Although he rarely exhibited his paintings in the United States during his lifetime, Jensen (1903-1981) is now considered one of the foremost painters in Twentieth Century American art. With his unique synthesis of pop and conceptual elements, he managed both to define and expand the currents of painting during the postwar period. As this style developed into its signature phase in the late 1950s, Jensen began to include numerical systems, scientific color theory, and interpretations of Greek, Mayan, Aztec, and Egyptian thought in his work.
From November 13 to December 22, Max Protetch Gallery will feature paintings and works on
paper by American painter Alfred Jensen (1903-1981). This show will run simultaneously with
Jensen's one-person show at the Dia Center for the Arts, and will include The Birth of the
Triglyph: Per I-IV, a large-scale, four-canvas work from 1963, Goethe, a 1957 work on paper
that documents the development of his interest in scientific systems, and other large- and
small-scale works from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Although he rarely exhibited his paintings in the United States during his lifetime, Jensen
(1903-1981) is now considered one of the foremost painters in Twentieth Century American
art. With his unique synthesis of pop and conceptual elements, he managed both to define and
expand the currents of painting during the postwar period.
Born in Guatemala, schooled in Munich (under Hans Hofmann) and Paris, Jensen worked as a
seaman, a farmer, and a cowboy before settling in New York in the late 1920s. Though he was
acquainted with many of the major artists who worked or passed through New York, his style
and practice were entirely his own. As this style developed into its signature phase in the late
1950s, Jensen began to include numerical systems, scientific color theory, and interpretations
of Greek, Mayan, Aztec, and Egyptian thought in his work.
Diagrammatic and mathematical, Alfred Jensen's paintings are colorful, dense compositions
that expose the mythological foundations of rational systems of thought. They use numbers,
symbols, rigorous patterns and primary colors to translate archaic formulas into modern truths,
creating a constant oscillation between the expressive and the decorative, the numerical and
the prismatic.
image: Magic 18, 1960 oil on canvas 53 3/4 x 30 inches
Max Protetch
511 W. 22end Street New York NY 10011-1109 t. 212 6636999 f. 212 6914342
The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 6 pm.