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(NOTE: this essay was
originally published in conjunction with the exhibition "Two
Friends," presented at the Great Neck Center for the Visual and
Performing Arts, June 5-July 14, 2004.)
Any exhibition that shows the works
of Esphyr Slobodkina is a tribute to a life well lived, as she was
tireless in her efforts to develop her talents in many directions
and found success in most. As we made selections for this show, we
made an effort to present artworks Esphyr produced that have not had
much exposure to the public.
These works are
dated from the late 1970s until the end of her life in 2002. Esphyr
was a founding member of
American Abstract Artists (AAA), a group of
artists that was very influential in shifting the public opinion of
American abstract painting in the 1930s and
 1940s from one of
rejection or mere tolerance to acceptance. Unfortunately, the
recognition the AAA received for their artistic accomplishments is
restricted to works accomplished during those two decades. Though
these were important developmental years of American abstraction,
artists such as Esphyr Slobodkina went on to develop their ideas in
many fascinating directions. Ironically, the artists that eclipsed
the AAA group’s prominence after 1949 were the abstract
expressionists, who were greatly indebted to these elder abstract
painters. Were it not for the steps painters and sculptors of the
AAA had taken toward developing an American art identity, abstract
expressionism might not have developed as we know it.
If I were to pick
one time in American art history that I could go back and witness
first hand, it would be the early years of the American Abstract
Artists group. The AAA set out to establish an art identity for the
modern painter in the United States.
In the beginning, they were
criticized and even ignored, but the tireless search for something
unique in the world of art culminated in the development of abstract
expressionism. Indeed, the abstract expressionist movement shifted
the center of the art world from Paris to New York City – where it
remains today – and Esphyr and her contemporaries were the
torchbearers, establishing abstraction as a viable form of
expression in America.
Some people have
described early abstraction in this country as derivative of that of
the Europeans. The AAA’s early emulation of European artists'
concepts are often described as misinterpretations by naïve artists.
This description is valid, as most of the American artists did not
have opportunities to travel to Europe to view paintings of their
overseas counterparts firsthand. But, many of these interpretations
were clever innovations that further developed modernism as a whole.
In an attempt to build on modernism – a largely European form of
artistic expression – the Americans incorporated elements of what
was familiar to them. Esphyr was one of these artists. Her life’s
work pulled imagery and objects together into magnificent
compositions time and time again. I equate an artist like Esphyr to
the American mockingbird. A mockingbird borrows and embellishes the
songs of other birds around him. Often he changes the phrasing as he
incorporates each element into an orchestration of birdsong.
We cannot know if
the mockingbird selectively alters the fragments he takes from other
birds or if he simply alters them to suit his composition. Esphyr’s
work can be studied in an endeavor to map her sources of artistic
style or to determine the original function of some small object in
one of her compositions, just as you can also try to break down a
mockingbird’s song to discover his sources. But first it is
important to simply enjoy the composition.
Much of the post war
art that we now see is highly individualistic. Each artist is
striking out to find that next great movement. No longer do we have
the groups of artists searching for answers as a team. Esphyr was
part of the true melting pot of American art. The listing of
original members of American Abstract Artists is largely made up of
people not born on American soil. Each member brought his or her own
set of cultural ideals, biases and passions to the group. Through
their meetings, debates and protests, they shaped the art world and
each other into a whole that was greater than its parts. They were
great examples of the American melting pot. Out of many shards of
art concepts, they forged a style of expression that has not
tarnished from age.
In 1979, Esphyr
moved to Hallandale Florida, a move that symbolized the end of a
chapter of her life. But she was far from done creatively. While
planning this move, she wrote and illustrated
Billy, the Condominium Cat.
When I read this book, I get a sense that Esphyr
was trying to
convince herself that she was at a point in her life where she
should slow down and enjoy some leisure time. Billy, the feline
character in her story, longs for the high-energy life that he lived
in his youth in the northeastern United States. After a visit to his
home, he realizes that he is not the cat he once was and learns to
appreciate the leisurely life of a condominium cat in the sunny
south. If Esphyr was in fact trying to convince herself to slow
down, it did not seem to work. She returned to the northeast – where
she continued to push herself to create works of beauty until the
end of her life. In 2001, Esphyr could still be found mixing her own
paints, banging a hammer and using power tools. Esphyr very often
revisited her old themes (like her peacock shapes) and used them in
new ways. When tired standing and painting, she would sit and
construct or deconstruct; or walk and think; or move to the
typewriter. She always had more than one project going
simultaneously.
Before Esphyr died,
she established a foundation. The foundation’s purpose is to open
young people to the many possibilities they possess within
themselves. By example, Esphyr can teach future generations to give
themselves permission to follow their dreams. Esphyr was a writer,
illustrator, painter, sculptor, designer – and more. She had great
talent, intelligence and creativity, but most of all she gave
herself permission to do anything she wanted to. If the Slobodkina
Foundation can encourage one child to grant herself or himself
permission to follow her or his dreams, then Esphyr’s greatest gift
is delivered.
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