1961 Oil on Paper Color Field Abstract
#C6533
$1,950
Hubert Crehan
This 1961 oil on paper abstract is by Bay Area Abex/Figurative painter and critic Hubert Vincent Crehan (1917-1984). Crehan studied under Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko in San Francisco at the California School of Fine Arts (also known as SFAI) in the late 1940s. He was closely mentored by Still during those two years. Soon after graduating, he moved to New York and exhibited alongside Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Robert Motherwell at the now legendary 1954 Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture at the Stable Gallery. In the 1960s, his second career as an art critic reached its zenith as he interviewed and reviewed shows for Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, and Willem de Kooning, among many others. His friendship with Alice Neel resulted in a portrait she painted of him in 1961. Yet, in spite of all this, Hubert Crehan’s work has gone largely unseen for the past sixty years. At some point in the 1960s, his focus shifted to a more reliable career for a family man—reviewing art for the leading magazines of the day—and his canvases were rolled up and shipped back to family in California, not to be seen again until now.
1961
Oil on Paper
28"x33" framed, 17.25"x21.5" unframed
Estate stamped on the back. Framed in a contemporary walnut wood frame using 8-ply archival matting with a weighted bottom behind conservation clear glass. Excellent vintage condition.
