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Julian Beck: Paintings & Drawings, 1944–1957

April 28, 2001 - June 8, 2001

Best known as the founder—in 1947, along with his wife, Judith Malina—of the itinerant, avant-garde performance ensemble known as The Living Theatre, Julian Beck dropped out of Yale in 1943 at the age of 18 to paint and write in New York City. Alongside Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, William Baziotes, Willem de Kooning and other members of the New York Abstract Expressionist group, he exhibited at Peggy Guggenheim’s groundbreaking Art of This Century gallery in 1945 and at others—including Bernard-Ganymede and Tibor de Nagy—through 1958. The exhibition at Ubu Gallery consisted largely of early “gestural” and “automatic” works on paper, as well as of several works on canvas. Prominently featured in this exhibition is a series of paintings with silkscreen overlay announcing The Living Theatre’s performances at the Cherry Lane Theatre in August, 1952 of Ubu The King (Ubu Roi) by Alfred Jarry and The Heroes by John Ashbery.

ARTIST
Julian Beck

RESOURCES
Exhibition checklist
Press release

A catalogue produced in conjunction with the exhibition is available for purchase at the Ubu Gallery shop.

PRESS
The New York Times / Art in Review / June 1, 2001 / Grace Glueck
The Art Newspaper / On the Loose in New York / May 2001 / S.E. Canning
Art on Paper / Museum & Gallery Reviews / September – October 2001 / Claudia La Rocco / 1 reproduction
Art in America / November 2001 / Jonathan Goodman / 1 reproduction
Night #47 / “Works on Paper: Julian Beck” / Erik La Prade / 1 reproduction

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE FROM THE UBU GALLERY SHOP
Julian Beck: Paintings & Drawings, 1944–1958

SELECTED WORKS FROM THE EXHIBITION