Gertrude Abercrombie

(American, 1909-1977)

Shell (For Karl Priebe), 1957

oil on paper

signed Abercrombie and dated (lower left); inscribed Shell/night G Abercrombie ‘57 (verso)

6 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches.

We are grateful for the research conducted by Susan Weininger, Professor Emerita, Roosevelt University.

Provenance:

Karl Priebe Estate, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Lot Essay:

This painting is a rare image by Abercrombie, in that it is a fully rendered painting on paper. Although the subject is one of countless shells painted by the artist, it is distinguished by the initials K. P., referring to her close friend Karl Priebe, on a pennant flying from a pole adjacent to the large shell. The current owner got the painting from the Priebe estate, establishing a secure provenance. In addition to signing and dating the painting in the lower left corner, the artist inscribed the words Shell/night and her signature G Abercrombie ’57 on the verso.

Abercrombie began painting shells in the early 1950s, under the influence of her friend John Wilde, who encouraged her to paint more precisely and carefully, something she attempted with uneven success. My records indicate that many of them were made for, and given as presents to, her artist friends such as Jerry Karidis and Frances Strain Biesel, family members such as her cousin Maurine Campbell, jazz great Dizzy Gillespie and friends Bill O’Nan, Hugh Cameron and Esther Wilcox. Some of these contain personal references in the paintings themselves, such as the 1951 conch painting done for Karl Priebe, the original owner of the painting under discussion, with his initials painted on a rectangle attached to the background of the composition by a painted pin. She personalized a shell painting for Hugh Cameron (Shell, 1952, sold at Hindman 2022) with his name and for Dizzy Gillespie (Shell for DG, 1964, Hindman 2022) and Esther Wilcox (Shell, 1956, Gus Becker Collection) with pennants like the one in this painting.

Abercrombie had a collection of shells that she used as models and some of them are distinctive and recognizable. Often the snail shell has a crack on the left side that looks almost like a window (In For Once in My Life, 1969, originally owned by the musician Orlando Murden, his face appears in this crack). Most of the almost circular, spiraling snail shells that Abercrombie painted are grey, sometimes with blue or pink touches. The shell in this painting is yellowish brown and very worn. Its color is similar to the real shell Abercrombie included in My Second Best Box (1957, Illinois State Museum, Springfield), but differs from the vast majority of the snail shells that the artist painted beginning in the early 1950s. In My Second Best Box, a surreal juxtaposition of real and painted objects, Abercrombie renders the real shell in shades of grey, rather than the yellowish tone of the actual shell. So it was a departure to use this palette.

The shell is interesting in another way as well. It is clearly weathered, cracked along the right upper side and with a series of small holes along the top in addition to the small window-like crack on the left side. The shell was a significant subject for Abercrombie, who was drawn to interior spaces from an early point in her career, painting the austere space that was her own room many, many times. It represented a kind of prison, corresponding to her own feelings of entrapment, insecurity and loneliness. The shell is another kind of room, a simple space from which there is no escape, echoing the constructed spaces she so often represented. This one is certainly damaged, perhaps conveying the pain and loss of trying to attain freedom.

The composition is simple, consisting of the large shell slightly to the left of center on a green-blue ground, the pole with the pennant in the right rear and two delicate white clouds in the upper left. The background is a beautiful deep blue black. Abercrombie’s perfectly tuned compositional sense acts to balance the elements both on the surface and in space. With minimal means, and the most rudimentary subject matter, Abercrombie has created a work of art that is resonant, enigmatic, slightly strange and beautiful.

Shell (For Karl Priebe), 1957