THOMAS BROWNELL ELDRED, Untitled Watercolor, 1946

Thomas Brownell Eldred

Untitled Watercolor, 1946

Unique watercolor, signed in graphite and dated 1946. Unframed with minor handling marks to sheet otherwise in very good vintage condition. Acquired from the Estate of Thomas Brownell Eldred. This unique work on paper was created at a time when the Guggenheim Museum (Museum of Non-Objective Painting) was collecting Eldred's work. It typifies the artist's eclectic style, reflecting his involvement with Surrealism, the New York School, as well as his strong background in printmaking, which he learned at William Stanley Hayter’s famous printmaking workshop in Paris, Atelier 17. It also highlights Eldred’s excellent draftsmanship through the characteristic bright colors and patterns that he developed during his time as a naval wood pattern maker in the merchant marines.

Thomas Brownell Eldred (1903-1993) was born in Michigan and was admitted to the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago. After serving in the Merchant Marines, he attended The Art Student’s League in New York with Thomas Hart Benton. In the 1930s, he was accepted into the famous artist’s colony Yaddo, but instead took a position teaching at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, funded through the WPA’s Federal Art Project, which established to provide struggling artists with economic support during The Great Depression. Eldred worked amongst other WPA artists, such as, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko and Philip Guston. In Brooklyn, Eldred met the innovative print-maker Werner Drewes, who studied at Bauhaus with major modernists Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger and Wassily Kandinsky. Drewes also served as Director of the Graphic Art Project of the WPA in New York and was a founding member of the influential American Abstract Artists (AAA) group. In the late 30s and 40s, when this painting was created, the Guggenheim's acquired Eldred's work for their new Museum of Non-Objective painting (now the Guggenheim Museum), which focused on international abstraction.

Signed in graphite and dated 1946

Provenance: Acquired from the Estate of Thomas Brownell Eldred