Mid-Century Modern Abstract “Arau Potter” Painting by Xavier Gonzalez, 1969

Mid-Century Modern abstract “Arau Potter” painting by Xavier Gonzalez, 1969 Signed and titled by artist. Measures: Painting: 28.5″x 36″. Provenance: From the personal collection of the artist. Gifted to NY’s famed Art Student’s League upon artist’s death in 1996 at age 94. Mr. Gonzalez was born in Almeria, Spain. When he was 8, his family moved to Mexico, where he studied art and mechanical engineering. After moving to the United States as a young man, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, supporting himself by designing display signs at the Carson Pirie Scott department store. Known for his versatility, Mr. Gonzalez painted and made sculpture in several styles, both figurative and abstract. He also executed a number of painted murals and a few carved stone reliefs as public commissions. Among them was “The History of Man,” an abstract relief executed in 1963 for the lobby of David B. Steinman Hall on the uptown campus of City College. Before going to the Art Students League in 1976, Mr. Gonzalez taught at Tulane University, the Brooklyn Museum and Case Western Reserve University. He had his first one-man show in New York City at the Grand Central Galleries in the late 1950s. His sculpture was shown at the Century Association last fall. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Gonzalez was one of the earliest “action painters,” working in the abstract style already in the 1930s and 1940s, but refusing to exhibit the completely abstract works until the 1950s and 1960s. His dark, glorious series dedicated to the Japanese landscape and history spanned from 1969-1971. This work is a part of that series.