Dora Kaminsky (also known as Dora Deborah Kaminsky and Dora Kaminsky Gaspard - American, 1909-1977). "Koolau Range, Oahu" pastel, n.d. Signed and inscribed "Koolau Range, Oahu" at lower left. A breathtaking pastel depicting Ko'olau Range in Oahu, Hawaii by Dora Kaminsky. Kaminsky's compelling view of the dormant mountainous remains of a shield volcano glows in the light of sunrise or sunset with vibrant hues of pink and orange gracing the skies above. Kaminsky lived and worked in Hawaii during her later years and was clearly captivated by the Ko'olau Range which came to its demise during prehistoric times when the volcano erupted and its eastern half dramatically slid into the Pacific Ocean. A sublime composition of this special place rendered in Kaminsky's signature expressive manner. Size: 22" L x 30" W (55.9 cm x 76.2 cm)

Artist Biography: Born in New York City, Dora Kaminsky first studied at the Educational Alliance alongside impressive artists such as Chaim Gross, Adolph Gottlieb, and Ben Shahn. Then at age 16, Kaminsky studied at the Art Students League of New York. In 1930, inspired by the French Impressionists, she traveled in Europe (Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, Vienna, Stuttgart, and Munich). She also enrolled at the Glass-Palatz Auschstelling Schule in Stuttgart and learned about the German Expressionists. Six months later, Kaminsky returned to the States due to the troubling pre-war climate. During the Great Depression, she joined the Federal Arts Project (FAP) and met Holger Cahill and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in Washington state with other FAP artists. Kaminsky was part of the Graphics and Illustration divisions of a Queens, New York FAP branch, and later taught at the Brooklyn Museum for the FAP. After the FAP dissolved in the 1940s, Kaminsky and colleagues from the FAP formed a group that would become the National Serigraph Society. Kaminsky began visiting Taos, New Mexico in 1944. Thereafter, she spent each summer in Taos before settling in there in 1954. She achieved a respectable level of success, exhibiting her art in Taos and Santa Fe as well as Wichita Falls, Lubbock, Dallas, and San Francisco. Kaminsky also continued to travel. In 1955, she ventured to Greece and established a summer studio there. She also worked in Honolulu later in life. In 1958, Kaminsky married another Taos artist named Leon Gaspard, and they traveled in Russia, Egypt and France. Following Gaspard's passing in 1964, Kaminsky curated exhibitions of his work in Texas and New Mexico, and traveled to Africa and India in the 1970s, just a few years before her death.

Dora Kaminsky created paintings, drawings, pastels, and serigraphs. Her works have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum, the Honolulu Academy of Art, the Southwest Museum of Los Angeles, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her honors and awards included the National Treasury Competition Award (1940); the Metropolitan Purchase Prize (1942); the Wurlitzer Foundation Grant (1956 and 1957), and the purchase award in serigraphy from the Santa Fe Art Museum.

Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010

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#176341

Signed and inscribed "Koolau Range, Oahu" at lower left. Vivid imagery and hues. Slight curling to edges of the paper and just a few minor smudges at peripheries; otherwise very nice.