Francis Criss (1901-1973)

Why the Line?

Details

Francis Criss (1901-1973)
Why the Line?
signed 'Criss' (lower left)
oil on canvas laid down on panel
39¼ x 23¾ in. (99.7 x 60.3 cm.)
Painted circa 1934.

Provenance

The artist.
[with]Washburn Gallery, New York.
[with]ACA Galleries, New York.
By descent to the present owner.

Literature

N.L. Kleeblatt and S. Chevlowe, ed., Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900-1945, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1991, p. 151, no. 24.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Restructured Realities: The 1930s Paintings of Francis Criss, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 2001, pp. 6-7, fig. 1, illustrated.

Exhibited

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Surreal City, May 3-July 11, 1985.
New York, The Jewish Museum, Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900-1945, May 16-September 29, 1991, no. 24.
Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Restructured Realities: The 1930s Paintings of Francis Criss, August 4, 2001-October 14, 2002, no. 1.

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Lot Essay

According to the Renee and Chaim Gross Center for the Arts, New York, the figure in the foreground is the artist Chaim Gross and the sculpture in the background is Gross' 'Circus Girls' from 1934. 'Circus Girls' is currently on view at the Renee and Chaim Gross Center for the Arts, New York.

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