Women’s Work

Provenance:

Estate of the Artist

Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York

Acquired directly from the above

Private Collection, New York

Exhibited:

New York, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Nell Blaine: The Abstract Work, January 27-March 10, 2001 (illus.).

Literature:

Martica Sawin, Nell Blaine: Her Art and Life, New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1998, pp. 26-27, illus.

Jennifer Samet, The Jane Street Gallery: Celebrating New York's First Artist Cooperative, New York: Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 2003, illus.

1623 Studios, The Color of Light: Nell Blaine, Cape Ann, Massachusetts, 2025, video, 8 minutes, https://1623studios.org/watch-content/original-content/

Lot Essay:

A stunning example of Nell Blaine’s early abstraction, Red and Black, 1945 embodies the artist’s beginnings, steeped in the art scene of 1940s New York. Blaine grew up in Richmond, Virginia, certain from an early age of her future career as an artist. A teacher at the Richmond School of Art recommended studying with Hans Hofmann, so Blaine quickly moved to New York City at the age of 20 to begin her career. She helped open the Jane Street Gallery in 1943, a cooperative artist’s gallery she founded alongside Lee Bell, Judith Rothschild and Louisa Matthíasdóttir. Blaine joined the American Abstract Artists as their youngest member the following year, and shortly thereafter had her first solo exhibition at Jane Street in 1945, garnering the attention of Clement Greenberg and Peggy Guggenheim. 

Red and Black exemplifies her work at this early, fruitful stage; bold, biomorphic shapes rhythmically move in and out on a dynamic white ground, pushing and pulling energetically around the canvas. The work shows Blaine at the height of this early juncture of her career, before her trip to Paris in 1950 shaped her move to more figural abstraction and bright, bold color. Women’s Work offers an excellent opportunity to acquire a painting from this critical art historical moment.