John Ferren

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York

Private Collection (acquired from the above)

John Ferren was an artistic pioneer, gaining acceptance within both Parisian and New York abstract circles in the early 1920s and 30s. In New York, Ferren was a founding member and eventual president of The Club, an informal group of abstract expressionist artists in Lower Manhattan. In Paris, he attended classes at the Sorbonne, Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and Académie Ranson. Novelist Gertrude Stein described Ferren in 1937 as “the only American painter foreign painters in Paris consider as a painter and whose paintings interest them” (Gertrude Stein, Everybody’s Autobiography, New York, 1937, p. 127). Untitled dates to that same year, painted just before Ferren moved back to the United States.

Untitled is a vibrant work bearing evidence of “Miro’s biomorphic invention, Klee’s whimsy, and Kandinsky’s graphic vitality,” but with an aesthetic and process entirely of the artist’s own (eds. John R. Lane and Susan C. Larsen, Abstract Painting and Sculpture in American 1927 - 1944, New York, 1983, p. 78). Ferren did not have extensive formal education but was a voracious reader, resulting in a variety of conceptual influences. Through his friendship with Chinese modernist artist Yun Gee, he developed an interest in Zen Buddhism and Taoism. Ferren interpreted the philosophies into a system “that prized audacity of color and shape, while seeking an overall balance” (ibid, p. 76). Untitled is brilliantly colorful, enlivened with a variety of rich reds. His use of gradients lend a sense of volume and texture to the forms, which appear to have a soft sheen. The twisting, curved planes resolve into two abstract “personnages” connected by bridge-like entities. Altogether, Untitled has an “intricate color scheme, high energy level throughout, and…rhyming of shapes” which “unifies the picture” (ibid).