Items Similar to Ozymandias (unique, signed Abstract Expressionist painting by renowned painter)
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10
Ben WilsonOzymandias (unique, signed Abstract Expressionist painting by renowned painter)1989
1989
About the Item
Ben Wilson
Ozymandias, 1989
Oil on masonite board
Boldly signed by Ben Wilson on the back
36 × 48 inches
Unframed
Provenance: acquired from the Estate of Ben Wilson
This work is titled "Ozymandias" after the famous sonnet written by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). Shelley's poem is one of the most poignant meditations on the fleeting nature of human power and the inevitability of decline. The poem serves as a reminder that time erodes even the most imposing empires and leaders and that the pursuit of lasting fame and control is ultimately futile.
Depending on how one views Ben Wilson's Abstract Expressionist painting of "Ozymandias" -- some of the imagery might reveal the head of an angry king and a sickle.
Shelley's poem Ozymandias reads:
I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Ben Wilson was one of the youngest artists to be given a show at prestigious ACA Gallery in 1940.
In 2017, he was the subject of a career retrospective at the George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University from September 6 to November 4 and it was accompanied by an illustrated catalogue.
Measurements:
36" x 48"
Provenance: Estate of Ben Wilson
More about Ben Wilson:
Ben Wilson was born in Philadelphia in 1913 to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Kiev and settled in New York City. He was educated in Manhattan public schools and graduated from City College in 1935. To gain exposure to a wider range of styles, he also studied at the National Academy of Design and at the Educational Alliance.
Admired by critics throughout his long career, Wilson was singled out as a “discovery” by the New York Times art critic Edward Alden Jewel even before his first one-man show at the Galerie Neuf in 1946. His paintings of the ’30s and ’40s were expressionistically rendered, often Biblical parables, filled with what he called “the grief of the intolerable” and reflecting an acute awareness of the agony of the time, from the Holocaust to the Spanish Civil War. A WPA artist who identified strongly with the plight of the Jews in Europe, he relentlessly explored themes of war, torment, and futility in his early decades of painting.
When times changed and social pressures subsided, Wilson’s mood lifted. He spent 1952-54 in Paris working at the Academie Julien. During the ’50s his involvement with specific imagery persisted but became more psychological and mythic in orientation. Influenced by Cubism, he created a vocabulary of interlocking shapes and bold, sweeping gestures that served as a transition between his early figurative expressionism and his later abstract constructivist concerns. Towards the end of the decade Wilson reached a crossroads, moving towards abstraction and searching for what he called “a scaffolding under the externals.”
By 1960, influenced by the Russian Constructivists, Mondrian, and Abstract Expressionism, Wilson turned to abstraction. Reexamining the basic elements of painting, he evolved his own personal vocabulary and structure, fusing the cerebral and the emotive. He became increasingly experimental, using house paint, sand, and other unorthodox materials in paintings that he worked from all directions, dripping, spraying, stenciling, and collaging. He employed elements of disjunction, repetitions of geometric motifs, linear networks, and complex overlays to create the transparent, multi-layer development of space that characterizes his later paintings. A consummate draftsman, Wilson filled notebook after notebook with drawings that he amplified in his paintings.
Eschewing popular movements, Wilson was always one to pursue a personal aesthetic. Despite more than 30 one-man shows and 50 years of teaching, he increasingly withdrew from the gallery scene but continued to paint daily until his death at age 88 in 2001 in Blairstown, New Jersey, where he and his sculptor wife Evelyn Wilson lived and worked in their rustic Revolutionary War-era stone house and studio.
- Creator:Ben Wilson (1913-2001, American)
- Creation Year:1989
- Dimensions:Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)Depth: 0.3 in (7.62 mm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Excellent original studio condition; there may be some minor fraying or paint loss around the far edges which will frame out.
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1745213023972
Ben Wilson
Born in Philadelphia, Ben Wilson was a New York Abstract Expressionist painter. His work was exhibited frequently from the mid-1930s through the 1960s, and less frequently but consistently through the rest of the century. Decade by decade beginning in the 1930s his painting comprises a micro history of the period’s art, while depicting what was foremost in the American consciousness of the time.
Wilson’s earliest work shows an intense awareness of social and economic turmoil of the 1930s. Dominating the content was the flow of world events beginning with the Spanish Civil War and followed by the rise of fascism, the Second World War and the plight of the persecuted, displaced and slaughtered minorities. Wilson was concerned with representing humanity and suffering in a changed world.
By the late 1950s Wilson began using abstraction in his paintings, merging himself with the “New York School” of art. He shared many of the values of Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns.
Through the 1960s, Wilson completed his transition to abstraction, exhibited in New York and Paris and received a Ford Foundation artist-in-residence grant. As the decade progressed he became increasingly experimental with his mediums, using house paint, sand and other unorthodox materials.
Ever one to pursue a personal aesthetic path regardless of popular movements and critical reactions, Wilson increasingly withdrew from the New York art scene from the 1970s on.
Throughout his life Wilson painted and drew every day. He left behind a large body of work and an extensive archive, including exhibition catalogues, reviews, and correspondence that are now part of the permanent collection of the George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University. A portion of his archives is in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
Wilson is listed in Who’s Who in Art; Who’s Who in the East; Dictionary of International Biography; American Artists of Renown and International Encyclopedia of Artists. His work is in numerous public collections, including the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ; Rutgers University Art Library and Classics Department, New Brunswick, NJ; Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA; Norfolk Museum, Norfolk, VA; and Fairleigh Dickinson University Collection of Self-Portraits, NJ.
Find original Ben Wilson paintings and other art on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Quogue Gallery)
About the Seller
5.0
Platinum Seller
Premium sellers with a 4.7+ rating and 24-hour response times
Established in 2007
1stDibs seller since 2022
408 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 hour
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Shipping from: New York, NY
- Return Policy
Authenticity Guarantee
In the unlikely event there’s an issue with an item’s authenticity, contact us within 1 year for a full refund. DetailsMoney-Back Guarantee
If your item is not as described, is damaged in transit, or does not arrive, contact us within 7 days for a full refund. Details24-Hour Cancellation
You have a 24-hour grace period in which to reconsider your purchase, with no questions asked.Vetted Professional Sellers
Our world-class sellers must adhere to strict standards for service and quality, maintaining the integrity of our listings.Price-Match Guarantee
If you find that a seller listed the same item for a lower price elsewhere, we’ll match it.Trusted Global Delivery
Our best-in-class carrier network provides specialized shipping options worldwide, including custom delivery.More From This Seller
View AllIn the Sculpture Garden, unique signed oil on canvas painting, Charles Cowles
Located in New York, NY
Donald McLaughlin
In the Sculpture Garden (ex-collection Charles Cowles Gallery), 1985
Oil on Canvas. Framed with labels from Wolff Gallery and Charles Cowles Gallery
Sticker label, ...
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
The City at Twilight: Twin Towers II, signed painting, Gruenebaum Gallery label
By Sonia Gechtoff
Located in New York, NY
Sonia Gechtoff
The City at Twilight: Twin Towers II, 1985
Acrylic and pencil on paper (held in original frame with Gruenebaum Gallery, NY label)
Signed and dated on the front; also b...
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Pencil, Graphite
Rock Candy Mountain (unique, signed Abstract Expressionist painting)
By Ben Wilson
Located in New York, NY
Ben Wilson
Rock Candy Mountain, ca. 1970
Oil on masonite board (Hand Signed, titled and dated)
Hand signed, titled and dated by Ben Wilson on the back
Frame Included: held in artist's original vintage 1970 wood frame
This stunning painting with candy colors is done by the second generation Abstract Expressionist artist Ben Wilson - one of the youngest artists to be given a show at prestigious ACA Gallery in 1940.
In 2017, he was the subject of a career retrospective at the George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University from September 6 to November 4 and it was accompanied by a catalogue.
Measurements:
Frame:
23.5 x 47.5 x 1 inch
Artwork:
25 x 49 inches
About Ben Wilson:
Ben Wilson was born in Philadelphia in 1913 to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Kiev and settled in New York City. He was educated in Manhattan public schools and graduated from City College in 1935. To gain exposure to a wider range of styles, he also studied at the National Academy of Design and at the Educational Alliance.
Admired by critics throughout his long career, Wilson was singled out as a “discovery” by the New York Times art critic Edward Alden Jewel even before his first one-man show at the Galerie Neuf in 1946. His paintings of the ’30s and ’40s were expressionistically rendered, often Biblical parables, filled with what he called “the grief of the intolerable” and reflecting an acute awareness of the agony of the time, from the Holocaust to the Spanish Civil War. A WPA artist who identified strongly with the plight of the Jews in Europe, he relentlessly explored themes of war, torment, and futility in his early decades of painting.
When times changed and social pressures subsided, Wilson’s mood lifted. He spent 1952-54 in Paris working at the Academie Julien. During the ’50s his involvement with specific imagery persisted but became more psychological and mythic in orientation. Influenced by Cubism, he created a vocabulary of interlocking shapes and bold, sweeping gestures that served as a transition between his early figurative expressionism and his later abstract constructivist concerns. Towards the end of the decade Wilson reached a crossroads, moving towards abstraction and searching for what he called “a scaffolding under the externals.”
By 1960, influenced by the Russian Constructivists, Mondrian, and Abstract Expressionism, Wilson turned to abstraction. Reexamining the basic elements of painting, he evolved his own personal vocabulary and structure, fusing the cerebral and the emotive. He became increasingly experimental, using house paint, sand, and other unorthodox materials in paintings that he worked from all directions, dripping, spraying, stenciling, and collaging. He employed elements of disjunction, repetitions of geometric motifs, linear networks, and complex overlays to create the transparent, multi-layer development of space that characterizes his later paintings. A consummate draftsman, Wilson filled notebook after notebook with drawings that he amplified in his paintings.
Eschewing popular movements, Wilson was always one to pursue a personal aesthetic. Despite more than 30 one-man shows and 50 years of teaching, he increasingly withdrew from the gallery scene but continued to paint daily until his death at age 88 in 2001 in Blairstown, New Jersey, where he and his sculptor wife Evelyn Wilson...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil, Permanent Marker
Concert (unique, signed Abstract Expressionist painting by celebrated artist)
By Ben Wilson
Located in New York, NY
Ben Wilson
Concert, ca. 1989
Oil on masonite board (Hand Signed by the artist; also bears the Estate Stamp)
Boldly signed front and back, titled and dated on the back by Ben Wilson and also stamped on the back by the estate of Ben Wilson
42 × 48 inches
Unframed
This stunning painting is done by the second generation Abstract Expressionist artist Ben Wilson - one of the youngest artists to be given a show at prestigious ACA Gallery in 1940. This work "Concert" - depicting instruments, in a light, lyrically abstract painting. Exquisite colors and subtle imagery.
In 2017, he was the subject of a retrospective at the George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University from September 6 to November 4 and it was accompanied by a catalogue.
About Ben Wilson:
Ben Wilson was born in Philadelphia in 1913 to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Kiev and settled in New York City. He was educated in Manhattan public schools and graduated from City College in 1935. To gain exposure to a wider range of styles, he also studied at the National Academy of Design and at the Educational Alliance.
Admired by critics throughout his long career, Wilson was singled out as a “discovery” by the New York Times art critic Edward Alden Jewel even before his first one-man show at the Galerie Neuf in 1946. His paintings of the ’30s and ’40s were expressionistically rendered, often Biblical parables, filled with what he called “the grief of the intolerable” and reflecting an acute awareness of the agony of the time, from the Holocaust to the Spanish Civil War. A WPA artist who identified strongly with the plight of the Jews in Europe, he relentlessly explored themes of war, torment, and futility in his early decades of painting.
When times changed and social pressures subsided, Wilson’s mood lifted. He spent 1952-54 in Paris working at the Academie Julien. During the ’50s his involvement with specific imagery persisted but became more psychological and mythic in orientation. Influenced by Cubism, he created a vocabulary of interlocking shapes and bold, sweeping gestures that served as a transition between his early figurative expressionism and his later abstract constructivist concerns. Towards the end of the decade Wilson reached a crossroads, moving towards abstraction and searching for what he called “a scaffolding under the externals.”
By 1960, influenced by the Russian Constructivists, Mondrian, and Abstract Expressionism, Wilson turned to abstraction. Reexamining the basic elements of painting, he evolved his own personal vocabulary and structure, fusing the cerebral and the emotive. He became increasingly experimental, using house paint, sand, and other unorthodox materials in paintings that he worked from all directions, dripping, spraying, stenciling, and collaging. He employed elements of disjunction, repetitions of geometric motifs, linear networks, and complex overlays to create the transparent, multi-layer development of space that characterizes his later paintings. A consummate draftsman, Wilson filled notebook after notebook with drawings that he amplified in his paintings.
Eschewing popular movements, Wilson was always one to pursue a personal aesthetic. Despite more than 30 one-man shows and 50 years of teaching, he increasingly withdrew from the gallery scene but continued to paint daily until his death at age 88 in 2001 in Blairstown, New Jersey, where he and his sculptor wife Evelyn Wilson...
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Byzantium, original signed painting by renowned Abstract Expressionist, Framed
By Ben Wilson
Located in New York, NY
Ben Wilson
Byzantium, 1975
Oil on Masonite painting
Hand signed reverse, Titled, "Byzantium", dated 1975 by the artist and also with estate stamp - in addition to Ben Wilson's hand s...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Mid Century Modern abstract cityscape, unique oil painting, signed twice, Framed
By Norman Carton
Located in New York, NY
Norman Carton
Mid Century Modern Cityscape, ca. 1951
Oil on canvas painting (signed twice)
Signed twice: hand signed on the front and also signed on the back
Unique
Frame included:
T...
Category
1950s Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
You May Also Like
Victorian Couple with Angel - Figurative Abstract
By David Rosen (b.1912)
Located in Soquel, CA
Moody figurative abstract expressionist painting of a Victorian couple with an angel by artist David Rosen (American, 1912-2004), c. 1970. Signed "Rosen" lower right. Unframed. Image size: 30.25"H x 26.38"W.
Born in 1912, Rosen grew up in Toronto, Canada before pursuing arts in the United States. Upon arriving, Rosen settled in New York City and attended the Cooper Union Art school in 1930. While participating in the Federal Arts Project, he worked for the program's mural department until 1941. He also worked with an artist collective, Siqueiros Art Workshop. There, Rosen met fellow FAP artist Jackson Pollack, and together, with artist Phillip Guston, they experimented with new painting techniques and mediums. Art movements are often reactions to the popular styles that precede them, and Abstract Expressionism applied a new and exciting method to Modern Art. Gradually, artists began to break away from an overly-studied, academic approach to painting and liberated their technique. During these workshops, Rosen was introduced to Pollack's groundbreaking "drip painting" before it changed the art world.
As America became involved in World War II, the Federal Arts Project wound down, officially ending in 1942. Around this time, Rosen enlisted as a Merchant Seaman with the U.S Merchant Marines. During this time, he traveled to North Africa and Italy before concluding his service and moving to California where, in 1945, he devoted his full attention to building an art career. Within a couple of years, he landed a major exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1947, and his first one-man show, which opened to rave reviews, was held at Hollywood's Contemporary Art Gallery. The exhibition’s success led to mural commissions from Palm Springs' Hotel del Tahquitz, and he scored more solo shows at West Hollywood's Chabot Gallery.
The early 1950s brought a surge of recognition for Rosen's career, and while his work was certainly still influenced by Abstract Expression, his painting style included elements of Surrealism, Figurative Art, and Cubism. Like his colleague Jackson Pollack, Rosen produced work inspired by drip painting; however, rather than splattering, his drips were the natural flow marks from painting freely without regard for "mistakes." Throughout Rosen's long career, he would acquire techniques from vastly different art styles which made for a varied, eclectic catalog of work.
Rosen continued to build his California art career and settled at a Laguna Beach art colony in 1958. There, he entered his work in the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts and was the first painter to contribute Abstract Art to the event. Rosen would participate in the festival for the next fifteen years. A year after his move, in 1959, Rosen opened his first studio gallery and began a 12-year collaboration with the Laguna Playhouse. For the next two decades, Rosen participated in 17 art exhibitions and 20 solo shows, and received considerable critical praise.
Rosen's themes were as varied as his evolving painting style, and one of his themes focused on classic characters like Shakespeare's Hamlet. Rosen's close-up portraits of historical and literary figures, illustrated by the piece To Be or Not to Be: Soliloquy From Hamlet, capture the essence of the characters while remaining loose with the painting and even adding a slight cartoon feel. His ongoing Hamlet series, as a complete collection, makes an impact with the diversity of technique. Unlike the loose style of some of his works, the painting Madaam... that he is mad is true is influenced by the structure of Cubism, the flat dimensions of Byzantine Art, and his utilization of mixed media.
After Rosen's death in 2004, the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts sponsored an exhibition of his Hamlet paintings at the Wells Fargo Building gallery. Throughout Rosen's career, he amassed a great deal of critical, industry, and public praise for his work. His beloved town of Laguna Beach bestowed numerous awards that include the Laguna Beach Annual Art Gallery Award and Orange County's Annual Exhibit Award. Rosen's work flourished in California, and he received recognition from the San Diego County Fair, Los Angeles' Miracle Mile...
Category
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Nocturnal Train In The City Abstract Expressionism
By Tom Hamil
Located in Soquel, CA
Bright, small abstract expressionist painting of train and town at night by Tom Hamil (American, b. 1928). Signed upper left corner "Hamil". Condition: Excellent. Presented in rustic wooden shadow box frame. Image size: 8"H x 6"W.
Tom Hamil, was born in New York in 1928 and raised primarily in California. After attending the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, he returned to California to begin his formal art training at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (now known as the San Francisco Art Institute). He completed his education at the University of Washington with a Master’s Degrees and Doctorate in Fine Arts and Education. His first solo exhibition was held in 1956. Since then, he has participated in numerous one man shows, group shows, and has been represented in galleries in the US and Mexico.
In addition to his painting, Hamil has authored and illustrated a number of books. While at the Naval Academy, he received recognition for his paintings, drawings, and illustrations. Listed among Hamil’s many awards and honors are a Ford Foundation Fellowship and an Award of Excellence from the American Graphics Society.
Currently, he lives in Zirahuen, Michoacan, Mexico and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Hamil’s statement: “I am a man...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Abstract Expressionist Two Sided Painting -- Male Figurative
By Daniel David Fuentes
Located in Soquel, CA
Double sided figurative abstract by San Jose, California area artist Daniel David Fuentes (American, 1978-2016). San Francisco bay area abstract expressionist and landscape artist du...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Mid Century Modern Silver & Earthtone Abstract Expressionist - Corban Lepell
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous mid century modernist abstract combining earth-tones and subtlest metallic silver background by Corban LePell (American, b. 1933), 1955. Signed ...
Category
1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
$3,080 Sale Price
20% Off
Rocket Boy Abstract Expressionist Figurative
By Kristin Cohen
Located in Soquel, CA
A lighthearted figurative abstract by Bay Area artist Kristin Cohen (American, b.1963). Signed and dated lower left, "Cohen '95." Presented in the artist's painted wood frame. From ...
Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Painting-- "An Oblation to Shells"
By Leslie Luverne Anderson
Located in Soquel, CA
A dymanic mid century abstract expressionist painiting with geometric shapes in cool tones and two figures by Leslie Luverne Anderson (American, 1928-2009). Oil on masonite. Titled "...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Civil War Painting
Jewish Russian Painting
A Wilson Painting
Jew Painting
Abstract Art 30 X 50
Mondrian Signed
Leg Paintings
Wilson Oil
George Read Art
Ben Long
Oil Paintings 30x50
Russian Empire Painting
Death Spray
Russian Constructivist
Antique Oil Paintings Round
Russian Command
Wpa Stone
Antique Jewish Paintings