MORDECAI ARDON | LANDSCAPE

Michele Vishny, Cleveland

By descent to the present owner

Michele Vishny, Mordechai Ardon, New York, 1974, p. 233, no. 259, illustration no. 188.

Dalia Ardon Ish Shalom, Mordechai Ardon A Comprehensive Catalogue, Jerusalem, 2019, p. 180, no. 317, illustrated

Clement Greenberg recognized the importance of Ardon's landscapes as early as 1948 after viewing the artist's first solo exhibition which took place at the Jewish Museum in New York: "... Bronstein's [Ardon's] chief direction is expressionist, and in his smaller ... canvases there are many reminders of Soutine. However, his best work - especially the apocalyptic and monumental landscapes... displays an expressionism modified by cubism. These paintings are brought to the verge of the abstract by their texture, which consists of a multiplicity of cross-hatched little brushstrokes that create a surface in which shapes dissolve, and underneath whose seeming monotony rhythmic variations of hue and value work powerfully." (Clement Greenberg quoted in The Nation, March 6, 1948, p. 248). These brushstrokes became one of the most identifiable components of Ardon's mature style.