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Mosaic is Light: Work by Jeanne Reynal, 1940–70

40 Great Jones Street | New York, NY

January 28 – April 10, 2021

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Equation #2, 1940

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Equation #2, 1940

mosaic tesserae in concrete

23h x 20w x 3/4d in
58.42h x 50.80w x 1.91d cm

JREY032

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1945

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1945

smalti and pigmented plaster on board

24h x 18w x 1d in
60.96h x 45.72w x 2.54d cm

JREY081

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Young Friends, 1949

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Young Friends, 1949

smalti and lapis, amethyst, quartz, citrine, obsidian or schorl, agate, and feldspar in cement on wood

19 3/4h x 15w x 1 7/8d in
50.17h x 38.10w x 4.76d cm

JREY024

Jeanne Reynal and Isamu Noguchi, Mosaic by Jeanne Reynal on a Table by Isamu Noguchi, 1943

Jeanne Reynal and Isamu Noguchi

Mosaic by Jeanne Reynal on a Table by Isamu Noguchi, 1943

magnesite, paint, mosaic tesserae

13 1/4h x 48w x 35 3/4d in
33.66h x 121.92w x 90.81d cm

JNO001

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Now is Winter, 1951

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Now is Winter, 1951

smalti, marble and pigmented cement on board

47 1/4h x 55 1/2w x 1d in
120.02h x 140.97w x 2.54d cm

JREY006

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Icarus Returned, 1951

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Icarus Returned, 1951

smalti, marble and pigmented cement on board

52h x 48w x 1d in
132.08h x 121.92w x 2.54d cm

JREY036

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1951

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1951

smalti, marble and pigmented cement on board

58 1/8h x 48w x 1d in
147.64h x 121.92w x 2.54d cm

JREY009

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Ogo, 1952-1953

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Ogo, 1952-1953

smalti, marble, sulphur and pigmented cement on board

52h x 59 3/4w in
132.08h x 151.77w cm

JREY069

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), The Stallion Oat, 1952

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

The Stallion Oat, 1952

smalti, marble and pigmented cement on board

52 3/4h x 48 1/4w x 1 1/2d in
133.99h x 122.56w x 3.81d cm

JREY011

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), The Hours and Their Birds, 1955

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

The Hours and Their Birds, 1955

smalti, marble, and pigmented cement on board

47 3/4h x 48w x 3/4d in
121.29h x 121.92w x 1.91d cm

JREY119

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1959

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1959

smalti and semi-precious stones, including obsidian, amethyst, and tourmaline, on pigmented cement

60h x 40w x 1d in
152.40h x 101.60w x 2.54d cm

JREY037

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Amarillo, 1960

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Amarillo, 1960

smalti and dyed Japanese shell on pigmented cement

72h x 60w in
182.88h x 152.40w cm

JREY041

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Mother and Children Between Sun and Moon, 1966

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Mother and Children Between Sun and Moon, 1966

smalti and Japanese shell on pigmented cement

48h x 60 3/4w x 2 1/8d in
121.92h x 154.31w x 5.40d cm

JREY058

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Songs of the Tewa, 1959

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Songs of the Tewa, 1959

smalti and dyed Japanese shell on pigmented cement

82h x 81w x 2 1/2d in
208.28h x 205.74w x 6.35d cm

JREY099

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Reincarnation Lullabies, 1959

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Reincarnation Lullabies, 1959

smalti, Japanese shell and pigmented cement

Three panels: Each panel: 57 1/2h x 57 1/2w x 3/4d in 
146.05h x 146.05w x 1.91d cm 
Overall dimensions: 57 1/2h x 171w x 3/4d in 
146.05 x 434.34 x 1.91d cm

JREY124

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Rain Shadow, 1959

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Rain Shadow, 1959

smalti, dyed Japanese shell and pigmented cement

66h x 56 1/4w x 3/4d in
167.64h x 142.88w x 1.91d cm

JREY122

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1963

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1963

smalti, marble, Japanese shell, pigmented cement and steel

17h x 38 1/2w x 1 1/8d in
43.18h x 97.79w x 2.86d cm

JREY085

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1963

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1963

smalti, Japanese shell, and poured glass on pigmented cement and steel

27 1/4h x 26 1/2w x 1 1/4d in
69.22h x 67.31w x 3.18d cm

JREY084

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1963

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1963

smalti, Japanese shell, hand-formed cement and steel

27h x 27w in
68.58h x 68.58w cm

JREY132

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1963

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1963

smalti, Japanese shell, hand-formed cement and steel

29h x 39 3/4w x 3/4d in
73.66h x 100.97w x 1.91d cm

JREY082

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Winter Count, 1963

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Winter Count, 1963

smalti, mother-of-pearl, obsidian and pigmented cement on wood

77h x 40 1/2w in
195.58h x 102.87w cm

JREY004

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), African Village, 1969-70

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

African Village, 1969-70

mosaic tesserae, horn, mother-of-pearl, concrete and steel

79 1/2h x 19 1/4w x 9 1/2d in
201.93h x 48.90w x 24.13d cm

JREY063

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Two Rivers, 1970

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Two Rivers, 1970

mosaic tesserae, mother-of-pearl, Japanese shell, concrete and steel

111h x 11w x 5 1/2d in
281.94h x 27.94w x 13.97d cm

JREY080

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Africa: King and Queen, 1970

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Africa: King and Queen, 1970

mosaic tesserae, Japanese shell, concrete and steel

116h x 9 1/2w x 6d in
294.64h x 24.13w x 15.24d cm

JREY079

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Woman Clothed With Son, 1970

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Woman Clothed With Son, 1970

mosaic tesserae, obsidian, concrete and steel

114h x 7 1/2w x 15d in
289.56h x 19.05w x 38.10d cm

JREY078

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Untitled, 1970

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Untitled, 1970

mosaic tesserae, mother-of-pearl, Japanese shell, concrete and steel

101 1/2h x 5w x 6 1/2d in
257.81h x 12.70w x 16.51d cm

JREY076

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), The Pangolin, 1971

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

The Pangolin, 1971

mosaic tesserae, Japanese shell, concrete and steel

121 1/2h x 5w x 15d in
308.61h x 12.70w x 38.10d cm

JREY077

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Lovers, 1970

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Lovers, 1970

mosaic tesserae, Japanese shell, concrete and steel

76h x 7w x 3d in
193.04h x 17.78w x 7.62d cm

JREY075

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993), Young Woman, 1970

Jeanne Reynal (1903-1993)

Young Woman, 1970

mosaic tesserae, concrete and steel

82h x 4 1/2w x 10d in
208.28h x 11.43w x 25.40d cm

JREY074

Press Release


Mosaic is Light: Work by Jeanne Reynal, 1940 - 1970
January 28th - April 10th, 2021 
Opening | January 28th, 10am -8pm 
40 Great Jones St | New York, NY 10012 

 


ERIC FIRESTONE GALLERY, New York, NY announces the representation of the estate of JEANNE REYNAL and a survey exhibition, Mosaic is Light: Work by Jeanne Reynal, 1940 - 1970 at 40 Great Jones Street, NYC. JANUARY 28 - APRIL 10, 2021
This major retrospective is the first opportunity to fully examine Reynal’s significant contribution to post-World War II American art. On view will be work from the early 1940s through the 1970s, including works on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Sculpture Garden. Jeanne Reynal (1903 – 1983) was a mosaicist, and a first-generation New York School artist. She challenged expectations of the medium by creating, as she described, “a new art of mosaic, a contemporary and fresh look for this ancient medium.”  Her work was largely abstract, and she was dedicated to the ways in which hand-cut stones and glass tiles, set on a bias, could reflect and create light across a surface. She applied tesserae (the tiles, stone, and shells she used to 
construct her mosaics) in loose formations, to a ground of pigmented cement. Her work was often subtle and painterly.  

Reynal would begin directly, without preparatory designs, and elaborately re-work her surfaces by removing tesserae and re-applying thin layers of cement.  As Dore Ashton wrote of her work:

“These surfaces, so appealing to the tactile sense, carried the eye on a fantastic journey through planetary landscapes punctuated by crusty routes of closely-grouped obsidian, and soft, misty hills of pulverized mineral matter. In these compositions the artist approached the freedom of the easel painter.”  

Born in White Plains, NY, Reynal apprenticed from 1930-38 with Boris Anrep, a Russian mosaicist working in Paris. She spent the World War II years living in San Francisco, and in Sierra Nevada.  Her first solo exhibition was held in Los Angeles in 1940. During her California years, Reynal also developed a lifelong friendship with Isamu Noguchi who had enrolled, voluntarily, in an internment camp to aid other Japanese-Americans.  She collaborated with Noguchi on several mosaics for tables of his design. The exhibition will include a 1942 table on loan from the Noguchi Foundation. Additionally, the exhibition catalog accompanying the show will include an essay by Dakin Hart, Senior Curator of the Noguchi Foundation, on the subject of their collaboration.  

The inheritance following Reynal’s father’s death in 1939 gave her the resources with which to build a significant art collection.  She acquired a 1941 Jackson Pollock painting from Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery -- the first notable sale of a Pollock. At this time, Reynal developed a relationship with the first director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Grace McCann Morley. Reynal introduced Morley to the work of Pollock, and counseled her on other artists emerging in New York, such as Arshile Gorky: profoundly impacting the course of acquisitions and exhibitions at the museum. Another essay in the accompanying exhibition catalog will be written by Morley scholar Berit Potter, in the context of this collaborative relationship.  Reynal was the subject of three solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: the first in 1941. 

Gorky, and his wife Agnes (known as Mougouch), were Reynal’s closest friends. Reynal was associated with the Surrealists - many of whom were living in exile in the U.S.  Her 1950s work utilizes the biomorphic shapes associated with the intersection of Surrealism and early Abstract Expressionist painting.  Reynal’s work was part of the seminal 1947 exhibition “Bloodflames” —designed by Frederick Kiesler and presented at the Hugo Gallery — alongside Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, Arshile Gorky, David Hare, and others. 

In 1946, Reynal moved to New York City, where she would live and work for the rest of her career. In 1953, she married Thomas Sills, a largely self-taught African American painter, who went on to have a significant career and four solo exhibitions with Betty Parsons Gallery beginning in the mid-1950s. In 1960, Reynal was asked, by Elaine de Kooning, to take over the organization of a show of Abstract Expressionist women artists held in West Texas, at Dord Fitz Gallery.  It was in this period that Reynal began exhibiting with Betty Parsons Gallery.  She also began working with shaped surfaces: diamond, octagonal, and circular structures. 


Reynal was an extensive traveler, and was influenced by indigenous art across the world. In the late 1960s, Reynal began making totem sculptures. These monumental, freestanding sculptural works, some of which are over 10 feet tall, were originally exhibited at Betty Parsons and at the Art Association of Newport, Rhode Island.   A large group of these works will be on view in this exhibition.  
Reynal’s work can be found in numerous institutional collections throughout the country, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Noguchi Foundation and Sculpture Garden; the Menil Collection, Houston, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  
 

The gallery is committed to re-investigating the ever-evolving art historical canon, and developing the scholarship on this significant American artist.


'MOSAIC IS LIGHT' OPENS JANUARY 28TH, 2021
40 Great Jones Street | New York, NY 10012 
646.998.3727 | efg@ericfirestonegallery.com | hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm
Appointments are necessary and can be scheduled by clicking here

 

 


 

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