Back to the Future: Alfred Jensen, Charmion von Wiegand, Simon Gouverneur, and the Cosmic Conversation
September 12 – November 15, 2009
This exhibition focuses on three American abstract artists who created works on spiritual themes from the 1940s through the 1980s. Although Jensen, von Wiegand and Gouverneur did not know each other, their works express common yearnings of the post–WWII generation. While the Cold War ushered in a period of cynicism, these artists pursued positive, life-affirming themes of unity and harmony. They delighted in the colorful patterns of sacred geometry and mathematical patterns found in the natural world. These artists, like many disaffected intellectuals in the 1960s, sought to fill a spiritual void by embracing Western mystical traditions and non-Western religions.
Generously funded in part by
The Judith Rothschild Foundation
Image: Charmion von Wiegand, The Kundalini Lotus, 1968-69, oil on canvas, 35" x 35". Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY