Photo Credit: David Dietrich

Artist

Will Henry Stevens (Primary)

Title

Untitled

Date

1945

Century

20th century

Medium & Support

Gouache on paper

Object Type

Paintings

Credit Line

Gift of an anonymous donor in honor of Janet Stevens McDowell

Accession Number

2017.22.02

Copyright

In Copyright
© Estate of Will Henry Stevens / Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC

Stevens is considered one of the most important Southern modernist painters. Shaped by his upbringing on the Ohio River, he had a lifelong devotion to nature, and it was a recurring motif in his work, both abstract and representational. This untitled pink abstraction is a small but strong work that contains formal references to the natural world, including clouds, birds, and mountains. In 1906 Stevens studied at The Art Students League of New York under the painter William Merritt Chase. During his time in New York City, he was exposed to the major modernist currents from Europe. His work falls into three overlapping phases: Impressionism, landscape drawings and paintings often containing overt references to the abstract, and later pure abstract work that is sometimes larger in scale. The Museum has over 40 works by Stevens, including representational images of the Smoky Mountains, the bayous around New Orleans, and abstractions.

Exhibition Title: Asheville Art Museum: An Introduction to the Collection
Label Date: 2021
Type: Catalogue entry
Written by: Andrew Glasgow

• abstraction