EMERSON WOELFFER – FORTY YEARS
2018-07-09A prominent figure linking Abstract Expressionism to Los Angeles, Woelffer was a highly influential artist, educator, and mentor to a generation of Los Angeles artists including Ed Ruscha, Mary Corse, Joe Goode, Larry Bell, Llyn Foulkes, and Allan Ruppersberg. Woelffer stands out as one of the most historically significant artists in Los Angeles by bringing an international discourse to what was a growing art community.
Emerson Woelffer (1914 – 2003) was born in Chicago to a middle class family. After studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago he joined the WPA Arts Program in 1938 followed by a job in the U.S. Army Air Corps topographical survey program. In 1942 Woelffer was hired by Lászlo Moholy-Nagy to teach painting, photography, design, and sculpture at the recently founded New Bauhaus in Chicago. During this time Woelffer developed his interest in Surrealist automatism through drawing and playing the drums in jazz groups, two activities that sustained Woelffer’s painting practice the rest of his life.
Opposite – Untitled, 1977
Exhibition runs through to September 1st, 2018
Ibid
670 S Anderson Street
(entrance on Sunrise St)
CA 90023
Los Angeles
