Jack Tworkov

Auction News (again)!
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Another major painting, the second this week, hits the auction block tomorrow! Sept 26
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Painted in 1964, “Red and Green with a Yellow Stripe” is vivid and vigorous example of Tworkov’s painterly abstraction balancing gestural against ruled lines.

Known for his intellectual stringency and esthetic integrity, Tworkov faced conflicting demands: the expectation of commitment to a consistent style (abstract expressionism) versus his own devotion to artistic free will. This painting is a melding of surface energy and schematic rules that originate from the artist’s well known “Barrier Series” which began in the late 50s.

“All of the Barrier series,” wrote Tworkov in 1968, “stressed large, looming, perhaps threatening masses entering the canvas usually from the top and side. These masses or formations avoided hard outlines and were the result of an accumulation of rather long strokes, which served as a basic structural element akin to the dot in a Seurat painting.”

The painting was included in several major surveys of Tworkov’s work including: Adams-Middleton Gallery, Dallas, 1985; Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1991; Boston College Museum, Chestnut Hill, 1994 among others.
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Supplemental images: installation at Emmerich Gallery, 1991
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Auction News!
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This major painting hits the auction block tomorrow! Sept 25
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Painted in 1976, “Hymnos” represents a merge of narrative and geometry through structured yet expressive compositions. As a celebrated leader in the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 40s and 50s, Tworkov’s late paintings move beyond pure abstraction, incorporated grids, diagonals, and measured systems to convey a contemplative rhythm. This geometric frameworks became a vessel for personal reflection, time, and process—transforming abstract form into narrative content. His use of repetition and variation suggests a journey or unfolding story, blending emotion with mathematical clarity to create deeply introspective, intellectually rigorous visual experiences.

Known to have drawn upon narrative references in by in earlier work in paintings like “Siren Series” (1949-1952) and “House of the Sun Series” (1950-1952) and “Ulysses” (1951), the title of this work “Hymnos” likely references the related collection of poems known as the , which were composed in the same style and meter as the epic title.

The painting is the third in a series of paintings finished in the third quarter of 1976. The two prior paintings carried the titles “Mounting Olympia (Q3-76 #1)” and “Olympia (Q3-76 #2).” The painting was included in Tworkov history survey at the in 1982.
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Collection in focus: During his lifetime, Jack Tworkov participated in over sixteen exhibitions at the . Among these were two solo presentations. The first was a retrospective survey curated by in 1964 which traveled the US, and the second solo was in 1971 curated by .
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In his essay for the 1964 retrospective, Bryant explained:

“Tworkov’s way of painting makes full use of the irrational, the automatic, the arbitrary and even the accidental. The action of painting is part of the content of his work, but it is not an end in itself. It is for him a deliberate means to the final result. At some point in his work, he always seizes control of the elements of chance and gives them a logic and a stability. After an initial automatic plunge, the painting process is an interplay between deliberation and spontaneity.”

In her essay in 1971, Tucker noted Tworkov’s new introspective and reductive approach: “The simplified imagery, which Tworkov sees as an attempt to reduce the machinery between himself and the painting, is both countered and reinforced by a delicate, intimate surface, consisting of myriad tiny strokes.”
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“Q3-74 #2,” 1974, oil on canvas, 72 1/8 x 72 1/8 in (183.2 x 183.2 cm) Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of Altria Group, Inc. (2008.162)
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“Study for ‘Q3-74 #2,’” 1974, Graphite on graph paper, 8 1/2 x 11 in (21.6 x 27.9 cm) Collection of the Estate of Jack Tworkov
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FROM THE ARCHIVE – April 2025 marks 45 years since an exhibition of new paintings by Jack Tworkov opened at the . The exhibition featured a tight curation and debut of paintings from the artist’s “Alternative Series” dating from 1977.
 
In a new post edited by Jason Andrew, we revisit this exhibition with a particular interest in an especially insightful journal entry Tworkov made on the train to RSID on April 22, 1980.
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Link in bio
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Image 1: Installation view (composite): Jack Tworkov: Paintings, April 8–28, 1980, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I. Images Courtesy RISD Archives
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Image 2: Jack Tworkov “Alternative VII (OC-Q1-78 #3),” 1978, oil on canvas, 54 x 54 in (137.2 x 137.2 cm) Private collection [CR 774]
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Final days: “Small is Beautiful” at
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Exhibition ends Friday, April 4
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“Small is Beautiful,” an exhibition of small-scale works by 22 artists, both familiar and new faces to the gallery’s program. The exhibition features works by and .
 
The title of this group show derives from the book Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered by , which challenges the mainstream ethos of “bigger is better” through a collection of essays that propose alternative views on technology and human needs. As society evolves within the structure of capitalism, the value of objects and ideas becomes increasingly dependent on their quality of being measurable or quantifiable, which, more often than not, leads to the misevaluation of the significance of art in our lives.
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Jack Tworkov “Study for Athene,” c.1949, Oil and graphite on paper, 13 7/8 x 11 in. This work is one of the many studies for the painting “Athene” which was originally owned by and donated to the in 2006.
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