Last fall I purchased and quickly sold a handful of works from a dealer at Brimfield by Adelaide Lawson Gaylor (1889-1986) and Wood Gaylor (1883-1957), which had been acquired from a one time neighbor of the couple on Long Island; last week I went back to him to scoop up a few more. This unsigned watercolor is by her, c. 1930s I believe, with a terrific untamed looseness and radiant energy to it, characteristic of much of her work. Lots out there about her and her work, including auction records.
From Wikipedia: "When Lawson was 93 a critic [Phyllis Braff writing for the NY Times; "An Adventurous Landscapist at 93"] summarized her life's work by describing the particular "vivacity, energy and dynamism" of her modernist style which set her apart from other artists and showed her uniquely American outlook. The critic described Lawson's method as "abstracting rhythms, simplifying descriptions, flattening, generalizing color, eliminating shadow and building an emphatic surface harmony between forms." Noting Lawson's exuberance and spontaneity, she wrote: "Occasionally viewers will associate the weightlessness of form with fantasy, innocence or naïveté. The intention, however, is to emphasize the power of direct landscape sensation." Four years later Lawson's obituary added to this overview that she and her husband had "spearheaded the modernist movement in the early years of this century." [NYTimes obit, 1986].
10 5/8" x 8 1/4". Very good condition. with a bit of minor roughness along the top edge of the paper.
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