in 1948 he had his first show at the charles egan gallery and enjoyed friendships with willem de kooning and elaine de kooning and jackson pollock. in the 1950s, he befriended a younger generation of artists such as knox martin (a fellow artist in the charles egan gallery), reuben nakian, herman rose, peter golfinopoulos and joseph stapleton. in the 1960s he had a series of critically acclaimed one-man shows at the charles egan gallery. in 1973 he received a grant from the mark rothko foundation.