108 - PETER BUSA (AMERICAN 1914-1985)

PETER BUSA (AMERICAN 1914-1985) Juggler in the Baroque Theme, oil on canvas 50.8 x 91.4 cm (20 x 36 in.) framed dimensions: 52.2 x 92.8 cm (20 1/2 x 36 1/2 in.) signed lower left PROVENANCE Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York (label on verso) LOT NOTES Columns of cadmium yellow rise through layers of vermilion, crimson and orange, dragged and scraped so the colors beneath flicker through like light behind stained glass or the heart of a fire. Busa built the surface in vertical, dry-brushed passages that never settle into a fixed shape. The title points to the restless rhythm of a juggler’s tossed objects, set against the drama of the Baroque. It is a fully gestural canvas from the years when Busa moved beyond the flat, interlocking Indian Space forms he had pioneered. Born in Pittsburgh in 1914, Busa studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and then at the Art Students League under Thomas Hart Benton, in a class that included Jackson Pollock. From 1935 he trained with Hans Hofmann in New York and Provincetown. In the 1940s he became a leading figure among the Indian Space painters, who built a new abstract language from Native American art, and in 1946 he had a show at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century. He taught at NYU and Cooper Union and from 1961 to 1982 at the University of Minnesota, and he was active in Provincetown for over three decades. N.B. Condition reports are available upon request. All lots are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale. Please note that any condition statement regarding works of art is given as a courtesy to our clients in order to assist them in assessing the condition. The report is a genuine opinion held by Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals LLC and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report or a photograph does not preclude the absence of defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals, LLC., including its consultants and agents, shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.