Ernest Briggs

Ernest P. Briggs Jr. (1923–1984) was a second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter known for his expressive, sometimes calligraphic brushwork, his geometric compositions,[1] and revolution in abstract painting that secured New York City's position as the art capital of the world in the post-World War II period.[2]

Ernest P. Briggs Jr.
BornDecember 24, 1923
San Diego, California, US
DiedJune 12, 1984 (aged 60–61)
New York City, US
OccupationAbstract Expressionist Painter

Biography

Briggs was born on December 24, 1923 in San Diego, California.[3][4] He went on to serve in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II (1943–1946), where he spent 18 months in Tampa and a year in India.[4]

Briggs studied painting at the Schaeffer School of Design, San Francisco, California (1946–47) and later at The California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco (1947-1951), where he thrived under the tutelage of such ab-ex greats as Clyfford Still, Ad Reinhardt, David Park, and Mark Rothko.[5] According to New York Times critic Grace Glueck, Briggs was largely impacted by the "painterly rhetoric" of his teacher Clyfford Still during and after his time at CSFA.[6]

Considered a member of the second generation of Abstract Expressionists, along with Giorgio Cavallon, Briggs left California for New York in 1953 where he began exhibiting at the Stable Gallery. During the 1950s, he was able to make a name for himself through his explosive and dynamic style as part of the New York City avant-garde. Briggs brought to the East Coast a fresh, lively aesthetic, reflecting what has been termed a "radical West Coast style" that he had continued to develop since his days at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. He participated in several Whitney Museum Annuals and in 1956 was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition “12 Americans” curated by Dorothy Miller.[7][8] He taught painting and sculpture at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1961[1] until the time of his death at age 61, and is survived by his wife Anne Arnold, who is also an artist.[9]

The dynamism and at some points discord in Briggs' work is best suggested by the following quote from his obituary, published on June 14, 1984 in The New York Times:

"Sometimes Mr. Briggs's emphasis was on strong, lyrical color and thick brush strokes that called attention to the act of painting. Sometimes, as in his exhibition earlier this year at the Gruenebaum Gallery in New York, his work was more linear and geometric, and the expressive element was dependent upon a strong, almost translucent light within grays and blues."[9]

Selected solo exhibitions
  • 1949: (first) Metart Gallery, San Francisco, California
  • 1954/55: Stable Gallery, New York City
  • 1956: San Francisco Art Association Gallery, California
  • 1960/62/63: The Howard Wise Gallery, New York
  • 1968: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
  • 1969: Alonzo Gallery, New York
  • 1973: Green Mountain Gallery, New York
  • 1975: Susan Caldwell Gallery, Inc., New York
  • 1977: Aaron Berman Gallery, New York
  • 1980: Landmark Gallery, New York
  • 1980/82: Gruenebaum Gallery, New York
  • 1984: Memorial Exhibition, Gruenebaum Gallery
  • 1991: With Edward Dugmore, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York City
  • 1992: With Ibram Lassaw, Anita Shapolsky Gallery
  • 1994: With Clement Meadmore and Erik van der Grijn, Anita Shapolsky Gallery
  • 1996: Two Painters and a Sculptor (with Clement Meadmore and Erik van der Grijn), Anita Shapolsky Gallery
  • 1998: Abstract Paintings from the 1950s to the 1970s (with Michael Loew), Anita Shapolsky Gallery
  • 2001: Anita Shapolsky Gallery
  • 2002: Abstract Expressionist Paintings from the 1950s, Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, City University of New York
  • 2004: Ernest Briggs: Paintings of the 50s and 60s, Anita Shapolsky Gallery
  • 2005: Ernest Briggs: Paintings of 50s & 60s, Anita Shapolsky Gallery
  • 2006-07: Nassos Daphnis & Ernest Briggs: OPPOSING FORCES, Anita Shaplosky Gallery

Selected group exhibitions

Selected public collections

References
  1. "ERNEST BRIGGS, ARTIST AND FOR 2 DECADES A TEACHER AT PRATT". The New York Times. 1984-06-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  2. ‘’Ernest Briggs: Abstract Expressionist of the 1950s’’
  3. American abstract expressionism of the 1950s : An illustrated survey
  4. Three Decades of Ernest Briggs, Anita Shapolsky Gallery & A.S. Art Foundation, New York City, January 26, 2017, page 4.
  5. Oral history interview with Ernest Briggs, 1982 July 12-October 21, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
  6. ART IN REVIEW; Ernest Briggs
  7. Ernest Briggs Monumental Paintings Archived 2010-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
  8. The Artist’s World In Pictures
  9. ERNEST BRIGGS, ARTIST AND FOR 2 DECADES A TEACHER AT PRATT

Books
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