Morris Kantor (Russian-American, 1896-1974). Oil on canvas, ca. 1960s. Signed "M. Kantor" at upper right. An elegant abstract painting by Morris Kantor that demonstrates the artist's avant-garde aesthetic. While it is non-representational, the composition alludes to a landscape with a cloudlike form of green, yellow, fuchia, turquoise, and white hues in the skies above, a tone-on-tone aqua curvilinear passage below, perhaps indicating hills or waves, and a bold red, ribbon-like shape accompanied by its shadow on the lower right. Kantor was particularly interesting, because he created both representational still lifes and landscapes as well as abstraction compositions like this piece. A wonderful example of Kantor's oeuvre set in a custom black frame. Size: 48" L x 36" W (121.9 cm x 91.4 cm) Size of frame: 49.625" L x 37.625" W (126 cm x 95.6 cm)

Born in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus) Morris Kantor immigrated to the United States in 1906 when he was just a child. There is some debate as to whether he was with family or alone, but we know that he was very young, lived in New York City, and earned enough money working in the Garment District to enroll in art school by age 20. Kantor began attending the Independent School of Art in New York in 1916 and went on to teach at Cooper Union during the 1940s and the Art Students League from 1936 to 1972. Many of his students - including Robert Rauschenberg, Knox Martin, Susan Weil, and Sigmund Abeles - became quite famous in their own right.

Kantor maintained a studio in Manhattan, close to Union Square, as well as on Cape Cod in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. During the 1920s, he also worked in Paris. His arts circle included notable modernists such as the sculptor Isamu Noguchi. During the 1930s, Kantor supervised a Federal Arts Project Easel Painting Project in Rockland County, New York. The following decade he spent some summers in Monhegan, Maine, and in the 1960s his work was shown at Bertha Schaefer Gallery in New York City. Kantor's work has also been exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other prestigious institutions. His honors include receiving the Logan Medal of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Temple Medal of the University of Illinois. Kantor's oeuvre was vast and impressive, as he explored numerous styles ranging from realism colored by a hint of Surrealism to abstract movements including Cubism and Futurism.

Provenance: Private M. C. collection, Irvine, California, USA; Ex-Morris Kantor collection

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#168231

Signed "M. Kantor" at upper right. Minor scuffs to the attractive custom frame. Wired for suspension and ready to display.