EXHIBITION
TITLE: William Wolff - The Invisible City
DATES: 71/07 -
7/29/07
HOURS: Tuesday -
Saturday 11:00 - 5:30
RECEPTION: Thursday, July 12,
6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
ADMISSION FEE: free
GALLERY NAME: Warnock Fine Arts
STREET ADDRESS: 49 Geary,
Suite 211, San Francisco, CA 94108
PUBLIC INFO: (415) 677-4001
www.warnockfinearts.com
EMAIL CONTACT: lwarnock@earthlink.net
PUBLIC INFO: (415)
677-4001 www.warnockfinearts.com
Telephone number for media: (415) 677-4001
EMAIL CONTACT: lwarnock@earthlink.net
William Wolff - The Invisible City
A journalist reviewing William Wolff's retrospective in 2002
asked him to define his contribution to the art world. Without hesitation Wolff
said, "
my relationship with other artists." That spirit of humility and
interconnection is celebrated in the exhibition, William Wolff -The
Invisible City, presented at Warnock Fine Arts in San
Francisco from July 5 - July 28, 2007.
William Wolff, (1922-2004), was an artist who inspired other
artists. Among his many bold, modernist works he created a series of woodblock
prints called The Invisible City. These
prints emphasized the unity of those living under the oppressive weight of an
industrial sky. In these prints the dominating geometry of the sky is counter-balanced
by the human interaction of the characters. For Wolff the Invisible City came
to signify the unity of creative souls across time and space.
Following in this spirit Warnock Fine Arts presents the
works of William Wolff alongside several artists who made up his community.
From an early age William Wolff was living in the invisible city of artistic
interaction. He went to high school with Richard Diebenkorn, as well as his
lifelong friend and studio mate, painter James Weeks. In 1950 when Max Beckmann
came to Mills College to teach for the summer, William Wolff was among the
students.
From the 1960s on Wolff focused on printmaking, especially
woodcut prints. His circle of artist friends from this period is made up
primarily of printmakers such as Roy Ragle, Gordon Cook, Anthony Ryan, Art
Hazelwood, Richard Correll, Stanley Koppel, and Emmy Lou Packard. These artists each represent very
different techniques and were active over a long span of time. However, the
conversation that took place between these artists is the essence of the
Invisible City.
The prints by William Wolff
in this exhibition include examples of his mythological woodcuts, in which he
brought a modernist esthetic to literary themes. From Ancient Greek and
Biblical narratives to twentieth century literature, Wolff explored the human
experience in prints that are bold, simplified and direct. Following a
tradition linked to Fernand Leger, Diego Rivera and Max Beckmann, Wolff saw the
human figure as the center of his art and yet turned that figure into a form
of universal expression. His work differs from the Bay Area Figurative
approach to
abstracted figures. Wolff's people are bold and clear cut but they are also
universal symbols existing in a fundamentally mythological state.
William Wolff's prints are
in many public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art,
the New
York Public Library, the Library of Congress, the Hearst Gallery at St. Mary's
College, Moraga, and the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts in San
Francisco.
Warnock Fine Arts specializes
in contemporary European and American printmakers and is the only gallery in
San Francisco specializing specifically in the contemporary print. The goal of
the gallery is to seek out printmakers who have developed their own authentic
voice, while mastering the printmaking skills that have endured for five
centuries through such masters as Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt, and Picasso.
William Wolff - The Invisible City will run from July 1 - July 29: the Opening Reception for the
exhibit will be on Thursday, July 12, from 6-8 p.m. Gallery hours are Tuesday
thru Saturday, 11 - 5:30.