Frederick Hartt and American Abstraction in the 1950s: Building the Collection at Washington University in St. Louis
Garen Gallery
In the 1950s, esteemed Renaissance scholar Frederick Hartt served as curator of the Washington University art collection and professor in what was then known as the Department of Art and Archaeology. Hartt greatly expanded the Museum’s holdings during his tenure, acquiring a number of significant examples of vanguard American modernism, including seminal works by Stuart Davis, Willem De Kooning, Arthur Dove, Lyonel Feininger, Arshile Gorky, Marsden Hartley, and Jackson Pollock, as well as a notable Renaissance painting by El Greco. Frederick Hartt and American Abstraction in the 1950s: Building the Collection at Washington University in St. Louis will offer a unique view into the development of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum’s permanent collection in the 1950s, a critical moment when American avant-garde practices entered the world art scene.
A full-color exhibition brochure is available through the Museum Shop and the Museum's publications office.
Selected works

Abraham Rattner
Job
1949
Carl Holty
Untitled
1950
Stuart Davis
Max #2
1949
Willem de Kooning
Saturday Night
1956
Arshile Gorky
Golden Brown Painting
1943–44
Jackson Pollock
Number 19
1951
Jackson Pollock
Number 8
1951
Jackson Pollock
Number 27
1951
Jackson Pollock
Number 22
1951
Jackson Pollock
Number 9
1951
Jackson Pollock
Sleeping Effort
1953
Lyonel Feininger
Brücke I (Bridge I)
1913
Marsden Hartley
The Iron Cross
1915
Arthur Garfield Dove
Sand and Sea
1943
Jacques Lipchitz
The Joy of Orpheus I
1945
Peter Grippe
The City II
1946
William Baziotes
Night Form
1947
Pablo Picasso
Portrait of Sylvette
1954
Unknown
Retouched counterproof of Parade of the Captured Chiefs
1600–8
Unknown (French, 16th century)
Parnassus
16th century
Luca Cambiaso
Penitent Magdalene
c. 1570–80
Unknown (Italian)
Two Female Figures
late 16th century
Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi
Landscape with Tower (verso: River Scene with Boats)
17th century
El Greco
The Resurrection
c. 1600–5
Hans Hofmann
White Space
1950
Conrad Marca-Relli
The Arrival
1958
Philip Guston
Fable I
1956–57