
Agnes Pelton’s “Winter” is included in an exhibit highlighting transcendental paintings at LACMA. (photo courtesy of LACMA)
Enjoy “Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group, 1938–1945,” the first comprehensive museum exhibition devoted to the Transcendental Painting Group, on view through June 19 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In 1938, a loose configuration of artists came together in New Mexico to form the Transcendental Painting Group. Led by New Mexico painters Raymond Jonson and Emil Bisttram, and joined by painters such as Agnes Pelton and Lawren Harris, the members of the group sought to explore spiritually heightened abstraction by employing free-wheeling symbols and imagery drawn from the collective unconscious.
According to their manifesto, the group strove, “to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space, color, light and design to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual.” Due to the onset of World War II, the group was short-lived. However, its paintings continue to emphasize how abstraction can be used in service of the spiritual. “Another World” is the first comprehensive traveling museum exhibition devoted to the group.
The LACMA presentation is curated by Leah Lehmbeck, department head of European Painting and Sculpture and American Art. IT is located in LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. For information, visit lacma.org/art /exhibition/another-world.
0 Comment