|
Born in Millville, NY, Greene didn’t plan on becoming
at artist until he met and married the sculptor Gertrude Glass. He was influenced heavily by
Piet Mondrian’s work while in Paris in 1931 and soon embarked on painting in a geometric
abstract style throughout the decade. Very few of these works on masonite or canvas survived a
studio fire in New York in 1941.
He was the first chairman of American Abstract Artists
in 1935 and led the fight for acceptance of American abstract art along with his friends and
fellow artists Byron Browne and Ibram Lassaw. Leaving NYC for a teaching position at Carnegie
in Pittsburgh in 1942 the figure started to slowly evolve in his art through the decade of the
1940’s. He also built his eventual home with the help of artists overlooking a 300’ cliff at
Montauk Point, Long Island.
In 1951, he changed to almost exclusive use
of the figure, although quite abstracted at first. His annual shows at Bertha Schafer
Gallery in New York during the 1950’s were considered among the best for six
years
by ART NEWS magazine culminating in his inclusion in the MOMA’s “New Image of Man” show in
1959 and a Whitney Retrospective in 1961. Robert Beverly Hale wrote a book about his career
in 1976
He is represented in over sixty major museum
collections and has been represented by the Harmon-Meek Gallery since 1973. The gallery has
done ten shows including a show in 2001 of his geometric works with a catalogue which is available
for $10 ppd.
|
