From the late 1920s to the early 1940s, many of America's most
inventive and important artists, including Stuart Davis, Arshile
Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Adolph Gottlieb,
forged their identities, dramatically transforming conceptions
of what a painting or sculpture could be. A group linked by
friendship and common aspirations, many had shared experiences
in the classes of influential Czech Cubist Jan Matulka at the
Art Students League and in the Federal Art Project during the
Great Depression. Most significantly, they were all closely
associated with John Graham (1887-1961), the enigmatic Russian-
born artist, connoisseur, and theorist. They, along with others
such as Jackson Pollock and David Smith, all drawn together by
their common commitment to modernism and their eagerness to
exchange ideas, played a critical role in developing and
defining American modernism. American Vanguards: Graham, Davis,
Gorky, de Kooning, and Their Circle, 1927-1942, an exhibition
opening on January 29th at th