Gallery Hours: Daily 10am – 6pm

An important new show: the last works of the late Vita Petersen, curated by Graham Nickson.

Vita Petersen is known for her vividly colored abstract works over the last forty years. In the ninety sixth year of her life, it became difficult for her to distinguish colors. She had an epiphany: paint in black and white.

The black and white paintings, shown for the first time, and now on view at the New York Studio School are the triumphant expression of an artist who overcomes great obstacles when in 1938 she and her husband fled the Nazis and started a new life in New York City. There, Petersen developed her own style alongside the legendary abstract expressionist painters of the New York School including Pollock, Krasner, Kline, Guston, Motherwell, de Kooning, Tworkov, and Sterne, many of whom were her close friends. Her work was shown at Betty Parsons Gallery and the Stable Gallery. Peterson was integrally involved with the founding of the New York Studio School and remained an active and guiding voice until her death last October.

IN BLACK AND WHITE: THE LAST WORKS, pushes past the boundaries and restraints of her previous work, rooted in European traditions, and bursts forth with irrepressible, startling and brilliant gems. This work encapsulate the century of Petersen’s life and offers a unique perspective on the work of her contemporaries.

Exhibition catalogs with an essay by Michael Brenson at the gallery for $10/ea.