An artwork by Ad Reinhardt, called Untitled, circa 1940
An artwork by Ad Reinhardt, called Untitled, circa 1940

Ad Reinhardt

David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of work from the 1940s by Ad Reinhardt (1913–1967) at the gallery’s East 69th Street location in New York. Organized in collaboration with the Ad Reinhardt Foundation, this is the third solo exhibition of Reinhardt’s work at David Zwirner, following major presentations of his black paintings in 2013 and his blue paintings in 2017.

Reinhardt charted a unique and radically experimental path in his art during the 1940s, thrusting himself, from the outset of the decade, into the project of completely non-objective painting. While many of his contemporaries treated the canvas as a stage for depicting archetypal forms, mythic iconography, and the representation of the subconscious, Reinhardt pursued and achieved a degree of directness in his exploration of color, line, and form that would not be matched by his fellow American abstractionists until the end of the decade. As art historian Yve-Alain Bois notes: “Reinhardt was perhaps the only American artist in the forties … to understand what the real issues were at the time. In this sense … he was already (even before the fifties) an artist of the sixties.”1 

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1 Yve-Alain Bois, “The Limit of Almost,” Ad Reinhardt. Exh. cat. (New York: Rizzoli, 1991), p. 17.

Image: Ad Reinhardt, Untitled, c. 1940. © Anna Reinhardt/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2023.

Dates
November 1, 2023January 27, 2024
Gallery Hours
Tues—Sat 10am–6pm
Installation view of the exhibition "Ad Reinhardt" at David Zwirner on 69th street in New York, dated 2023

Installation View, Ad Reinhardt, David Zwirner, New York, 2023

Installation View, Ad Reinhardt, David Zwirner, New York, 2023

Ad Reinhardt in his studio

Portrait of Ad Reinhardt, c. 1939. Photo by Harry Bowden

Portrait of Ad Reinhardt, c. 1939. Photo by Harry Bowden

"In its dissatisfaction with ordinary experience, the impoverished reality of present-day society, an abstract painting stands as a challenge to disorder and disintegration. Its activity implies a conviction of something constructive in our own time.”

 

—Ad Reinhardt, 1943

A work on paper by Ad Reinhardt, titled Gouache Painting, dated 1949.

Ad Reinhardt

Gouache Painting, 1949
Gouache on paper
27 1/2 x 25 3/4 inches (69.9 x 65.4 cm)
Framed: 34 5/8 x 32 1/2 inches (88 x 82.5 cm)

Reinhardt charted a unique and radically experimental path in his art during the 1940s, thrusting himself, from the outset of the decade, into the project of completely non-objective painting. While many of his contemporaries treated the canvas as a stage for depicting archetypal forms, mythic iconography, and the representation of the subconscious, Reinhardt pursued and achieved a degree of directness in his exploration of color, line, and form that would not be matched by his fellow American abstractionists until the end of the decade.

A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled Abstract Painting, dated 1940.

Ad Reinhardt

Abstract Painting, 1940
Oil on canvas
15 x 15 inches (38.1 x 38.1 cm)
Framed: 17 x 17 inches (43.2 x 43.2 cm)
A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled No. 12, dated 1950.

Ad Reinhardt

No. 12, 1950
Oil on canvas
40 x 32 inches (101.6 x 81.3 cm)
Framed: 41 1/2 x 33 1/2 inches (105.4 x 85.1 cm)

“Reinhardt's role throughout [the 1940s] was in the creation of the new style—a role once taken for granted, but now somewhat obscured by the more kinesthetic enthusiasms in recent years and his own redirection.”

 

—Martin James, Art News Annual

An untitled collage by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1941.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1941
Collage on board
5 11/16 x 12 3/8 inches (14.5 x 31.4 cm)
Framed: 12 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches (32 x 49.5 cm)

Among the works in this presentation are collages and gouaches from the early 1940s that signal Reinhardt’s ambitious progression and reaction against geometric order, which might surprise viewers primarily familiar with the artist’s later work. Art historian Martin James noted of this period: “The early ‘forties see a destruction or ‘breaking up’ of the geometry.”

Ad Reinhardt in his apartment on 19th street.

Ad, Rita, and Anna Reinhardt in their apartment at 209 East 19th Street in Manhattan (single frame from a contact sheet). © 1991 Hans Namuth Estate, Courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona

Ad, Rita, and Anna Reinhardt in their apartment at 209 East 19th Street in Manhattan (single frame from a contact sheet). © 1991 Hans Namuth Estate, Courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona

The variety of approaches reflected in this presentation elucidate Reinhardt’s embrace of immediacy, the formal and material conditions of the support, and all-over compositional formats. Taken together, Reinhardt’s exuberant experimentalism during the 1940s stands as a testament to his vast and singular achievements in abstraction.

A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled Painting, dated 1950.

Ad Reinhardt

Painting, 1950
Oil on canvas
40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
Framed: 42 5/8 x 62 1/2 inches (108.3 x 158.8 cm)

“Works of 19401941 clearly reveal the over-all quality that was to become a stylistic feature later in the decade, and Reinhardt may well claim to have been its earliest practitioner in its sheerly abstract form.”

 

—Martin James, Art News Annual

Ad Reinhardt sitting at a dining table during a session at Studio 35

Artists’ session at Studio 35, April 1950, in Modern Artists in America, edited by Robert Motherwell and Ad Reinhardt © Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona Foundation. Courtesy the Ad Reinhardt Foundation. Left to right: Seymour Lipton, Norman Lewis, Jimmy Ernst, Peter Grippe, Adolf Gottlieb, Hans Hoffman, Alfred Barr, Robert Motherwell, Richard Lippold, Willem de Kooning, Ibram Lassaw, James Brooks, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Pousette-Dart. Photo by Max Yanvo

Artists’ session at Studio 35, April 1950, in Modern Artists in America, edited by Robert Motherwell and Ad Reinhardt © Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona Foundation. Courtesy the Ad Reinhardt Foundation. Left to right: Seymour Lipton, Norman Lewis, Jimmy Ernst, Peter Grippe, Adolf Gottlieb, Hans Hoffman, Alfred Barr, Robert Motherwell, Richard Lippold, Willem de Kooning, Ibram Lassaw, James Brooks, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Pousette-Dart. Photo by Max Yanvo

“Anyone who loves modern painting cannot get around Ad Reinhardt. You have to relate to him in some way or another.”

 

—Marlene Dumas, The Brooklyn Rail, 2013

Ad Reinhardt at an opening of a solo exhibition in 1948

Ad Reinhardt at the opening of his 1948 solo exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery, New York. Photo by John Albert

Ad Reinhardt at the opening of his 1948 solo exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery, New York. Photo by John Albert

Several works in this exhibition were featured in Reinhardt’s groundbreaking survey at the Jewish Museum, Ad Reinhardt: Paintings, on New York’s Upper East Side in 1966. Their presentation at David Zwirner’s intimate 69th Street space calls to mind the Jewish Museum’s galleries and serves as an homage to that pivotal exhibition.

Installation view of an Ad Reinhardt exhibition at the Jewish Museum

Installation view, Ad Reinhardt works painted c. 1930s–1940s, on view in Ad Reinhardt: Paintings, Jewish Museum, New York, 1966

Installation view, Ad Reinhardt works painted c. 1930s–1940s, on view in Ad Reinhardt: Paintings, Jewish Museum, New York, 1966

Installation view of the exhibition "Ad Reinhardt" at David Zwirner on 69th street in New York, dated 2023

Installation view, Ad Reinhardt, David Zwirner, New York, 2023

Installation view, Ad Reinhardt, David Zwirner, New York, 2023

“There was something very magnificent about his presence. It was one of those things where I felt shaken to my feet; that has happened very few times in front of very few people. That was Reinhardt.”

 

—Richard Serra, The Brooklyn Rail, 2013

Inquire About Works by Ad Reinhardt

An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
An installation view of the exhibition, Ad Reinhardt, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2023.
A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled Abstract Painting, dated 1940.

Ad Reinhardt

Abstract Painting, 1940
Oil on canvas
15 x 15 inches (38.1 x 38.1 cm)
Framed: 17 x 17 inches (43.2 x 43.2 cm)
An untitled painting by Ad Reinhardt, circa 1940.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, c. 1940
Oil on canvas
12 x 9 1/8 inches (30.5 x 23.2 cm)
Framed: 14 1/8 x 11 inches (35.9 x 27.9 cm)
An untitled collage by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1941.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1941
Collage on board
5 11/16 x 12 3/8 inches (14.5 x 31.4 cm)
Framed: 12 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches (32 x 49.5 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1943.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1943
Gouache, ink, and oil on board
5 1/2 x 12 1/8 inches (14 x 30.8 cm)
Framed: 13 7/8 x 19 3/8 inches (35.2 x 49.2 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1950.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1950
Gouache and oil on paper
25 7/8 x 20 inches (65.7 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 32 5/8 x 26 3/4 inches (82.9 x 67.9 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1943.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1949
Gouache and oil on paper
27 5/8 x 40 5/8 inches (70.2 x 103.2 cm)
Framed: 34 1/4 x 47 3/8 inches (87 x 120.3 cm)
A gouache and ink artwork by Ad Reinhardt, titled Untitled, n.d.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, c. 1940
Gouache and ink on paper
7 5/8 x 12 inches (19.4 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 11 1/2 x 15 7/8 inches (29.2 x 40.3 cm)
A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled No. 4, dated 1946.

Ad Reinhardt

No. 4, 1946
Oil on canvas
50 x 20 inches (127 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 51 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches (130.8 x 54.6 cm)
An untitled painting by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1948.

Ad Reinhardt

Abstract Painting, 1948
Oil on canvas
50 x 20 inches (127 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 51 1/4 x 21 1/4 inches (130.2 x 54 cm)
A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled Painting, dated 1946.

Ad Reinhardt

Painting, 1946
Oil on canvas
50 x 20 inches (127 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 51 1/4 x 21 1/8 inches (130.2 x 53.7 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1941.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1941
Gouache on board
11 5/8 x 13 5/8 inches (29.5 x 34.6 cm)
Framed: 18 3/8 x 22 3/4 inches (46.7 x 57.8 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1941.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1941
Gouache on board
12 x 16 1/8 inches (30.5 x 41 cm)
Framed: 18 3/8 x 22 3/4 inches (46.7 x 57.8 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, 1940 to 1941.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1940-1941
Gouache on board
11 1/2 x 13 7/8 inches (29.2 x 35.2 cm)
Framed: 18 3/8 x 22 3/4 inches (46.7 x 57.8 cm)
A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled Painting, dated 1950.

Ad Reinhardt

Painting, 1950
Oil on canvas
40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
Framed: 42 5/8 x 62 1/2 inches (108.3 x 158.8 cm)
A work on paper by Ad Reinhardt, titled Gouache Painting, dated 1949.

Ad Reinhardt

Gouache Painting, 1949
Gouache on paper
27 1/2 x 25 3/4 inches (69.9 x 65.4 cm)
Framed: 34 5/8 x 32 1/2 inches (88 x 82.5 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1945.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1945
Ink and gouache on paper
15 1/2 x 22 3/4 inches (39.4 x 57.8 cm)
Framed: 19 1/2 x 25 1/8 inches (49.5 x 63.8 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1943.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1943
Gouache on board
15 1/8 x 22 1/8 inches (38.4 x 56.2 cm)
Framed: 19 5/8 x 28 inches (49.8 x 71.1 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1943.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1943
Gouache on paper
8 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches (22.2 x 32.4 cm)
Framed: 15 5/8 x 19 3/8 inches (39.7 x 49.2 cm)
A painting by Ad Reinhardt, titled No. 12, dated 1950.

Ad Reinhardt

No. 12, 1950
Oil on canvas
40 x 32 inches (101.6 x 81.3 cm)
Framed: 41 1/2 x 33 1/2 inches (105.4 x 85.1 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, n.d.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, c. 1941
Ink and gouache on paper
19 x 23 5/8 inches (48.3 x 60 cm)
Framed: 26 3/8 x 31 1/8 inches (67 x 79.1 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, n.d.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, c. 1941
Gouache and ink on board
7 1/2 x 9 5/8 inches (19 x 24.4 cm)
Framed: 13 3/4 x 15 1/4 inches (34.9 x 38.7 cm)
A drawing by Ad Reinhardt, called Untitled, circa 1941 to 1943.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, c. 1941-1943
Gouache and ink on printed paper
6 1/2 x 10 3/8 inches (16.5 x 26.4 cm)
Framed: 12 x 13 3/4 inches (30.5 x 34.9 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, n.d.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, c. 1940
Gouache and oil on board
15 7/8 x 19 7/8 inches (40.3 x 50.5 cm)
Framed: 19 1/2 x 22 7/8 inches (49.5 x 58.1 cm)
An untitled drawing by Ad Reinhardt, dated 1943.

Ad Reinhardt

Untitled, 1943
Gouache on board
7 7/8 x 10 7/8 inches (20 x 27.6 cm)
Framed: 14 3/4 x 17 5/8 inches (37.5 x 44.8 cm)

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