Mid-Century Art + Design - San Francisco

Prints, Paintings, Furniture, and other Mid-20th Century Artifacts. This blog will update our status and inventory. For questions or comments, please contact us at info@dustymodern.com. Or find us on twitter at @dustymodern. We like talking about this stuff.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Richard Reynolds - "Dance of the Atoms" - 1950

Oil on board, 24" x 18" $700

This is pretty exciting to me for a few reasons. First, I think it's lovely. It has a bit of action-painting energy, but with a light touch. As close as I can imagine to a painting capturing effervescence. It's technically odd, looking more like the product of some chemical process than of painting.

Second, it has a place in history. It was exhibited at the San Francisco Art Association's 70th Annual at the SF Art Museum (now SFMoMA) in 1951, along with Bothwell, Kuhlman, Loran, Martin, Pattinson and so on. The SFAA's Annuals featured many of the most important West Coast abstract expressionists.

It has some condition issues. Primarily, nail holes all around the edge of the painting, approximately 1/4" in. But I'd hazard that these were artist-made, as it was placed in a now-gone frame.

Click pictures to enlarge.