Watercolor, Gouache

This bold expressionist portrait of a woman by Tony Magar embodies the bombastic energy of the Abstract Expressionist movement. While better known for his purely abstract work, this particular piece captures a similar expression of the female form to his friend and colleague William de Kooning.

Born in London in 1936, Tony Magar studied at the Royal Albert School of Speech and Literature. The artist traveled extensively for five years through Africa, China, and India. Magar's first artistic endeavor was as an apprentice sculptor to Mark di Suvero, but by 1978 he became focused on painting. His painting career took off when he moved to New York and began working with a group of abstract artists. Magar worked with and became friends with artists such as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Rauschenberg, and was one of the founders of Park Place, the first gallery in SoHo to show abstract art. During the 1950s, Magar experimented with his paintings by lighting the lacquer that covered his painting collages, creating what he termed "burn" paintings. These burn paintings resulted in two fires that ravaged his studio. Eventually he moved to Denver where he taught sculpture at the University of Denver. He continued to paint and carry out commissions about the Vietnam war and the politics of the Nixon era. Magar equates "expression" in art with making a statement that results in a resonance between the painting and the viewer.

H 28.5 in. x W 22.5 in. x D 0.75 in.

H 18 in. x W 14 in.