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Untitled (Sand Painting)

Artist Seymour Fogel (American, 1911 - 1984)

Datec. 1970s

MediumAcrylic and sand on linen

DimensionsCanvas: 48 × 48 inches (121.9 × 121.9 cm)
Framed: 48 3/4 × 48 3/4 inches (123.8 × 123.8 cm)

Credit LineGift of Jared Allen Fogel and Gayle Laurel.

Object number2005.23

On View

Not on view

CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextBorn in New York, Seymour Fogel studied at the Art Students League with George Bridgman and attended the National Academy of Design. Early in his career, he established a reputation as a Social Realist, and counted artist Ben Shahn as a good friend. In the 1930s, Fogel was selected by the Federal Arts Project to create six fresco panels depicting various stages of pioneer settlement for the Post Office in Safford, Arizona. This mural is one of twenty-one major murals by Fogel still in existence today. From 1946 to 1954, Fogel was a professor of art at the University of Texas, and during this time his work was associated with the Texas Modernist movement. Most of his career, however, was spent in the New York area, and beginning in 1960 his primary residence became Weston, Connecticut. His work during this period was deeply influenced by Abstract Expressionism, but Fogel’s vision was a highly personal one, informed by transcendental and spiritual concerns. His willingness to experiment with unconventional media is vividly displayed in this work, in which Fogel brilliantly organizes sand—a messy, shape-shifting organic material—into a precise and satisfying geometric composition. Fogel exhibited at many prestigious institutions and museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney, the Corcoran, the Metropolitan, and the Dallas Museum of Fine Art. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Telfair and the Whitney, and in many corporate and private collections.

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