ALVIN D. LOVING, JR. (1935 - 2005)
Janice.
Acrylic on shaped cotton canvas, 1970. 1525x1321 mm; 60x52 inches (hexagonal). Signed, titled and dated in ink, verso.Provenance: private collection, New York.Janice is an excellent example from Al Loving's 1969-70 series of cube paintings - part of his groundbreaking period of shaped, geometric abstraction. Inspired by Hans Hofmann and Josef Albers, Detroit-born Loving earned an MFA from the University of Michigan in 1965. He began hard edge, acrylic painting of cubes and hexagons in 1967. After his first one-person exhibition at Gertrude Kasle gallery in Detroit in June of 1969, Loving launched his New York career. Gertrude Kasle provided Loving with letters of introduction to Harold Hart of Martha Jackson Gallery and Steven Wilde and Bert Walker, curators at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he was given a critically acclaimed, one-person exhibition in December of 1969. Loving was the first of a group of African American artists whose work was shown at the Whitney during the 1970s, including Frank Bowling, Frederick Eversley, Melvin Edwards and Alma Thomas - all except Edwards were abstract painters. The Whitney purchased his painting Rational Irrationalism. All the other paintings in the exhibition were sold privately and Loving signed with William Zierler Gallery.