Famous Artworks
- “Ceres 6,” 1967
- “Aloha,” 1970
- “Arachnid,” 1977
- “Peach Basket,” 1981
- “Zen Gardens,” 1982
- “Rocks and Water,” 1983
- “Resurrection,” 1985
- “Bypass,” 1987
Cleve Gray was an American painter best known for his contribution to the Abstract Expressionist movement. His artistic style changed radically in the 1960s, with his earlier interest in Cubism giving way to an aesthetic influenced in part by French modernism and the traditions of the Far East.
The Life of Cleve Ginsberg
Birth and Childhood
Cleve Ginsberg was born in New York City on September 22, 1918 and grew up in the Bronx, the child of an affluent Jewish household. At the age of six, he enrolled at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, a progressive kindergarten with an emphasis on moral philosophy and community service.
He was born Cleve Ginsberg. The family changed their name to Gray in 1936.
In 1929, he began his formal training in visual art with Antonia Nell, a former student of Realist painter George Bellows. His talent for the subject was evident and his technique matured at a prolific pace, leading to his acceptance into the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover in 1933.
During his time there, he was mentored by educator and art historian Bartlett Hayes Jr., under whose guidance the teenager developed an interest in non-representation painting.
Early Adult Life
With his history of academic excellence, Gray was accepted into Princeton University in 1936, majoring in archaeology, painting and Oriental art. His instructors at the time included James C. Davis and George Rowley, the latter of whom inspired his thesis on the landscape painting of the Yuan Dynasty. After graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1941, he moved to Tucson to establish himself as a professional artist, exhibiting several Cubist genre compositions at the Alfred Messer Studio Gallery.
After graduation in 1941 he moved to Tucson, Arizona. Our painting, which we call Reflections on a Lake, was most likely displayed at, and purchased from, the Alfred Messer Studio Gallery in Tucson, where Gray exhibited his landscape paintings and still lives.
Europe
As the United States became increasingly involved in the “War in Europe,” Gray returned to New York to enlist in the Armed Forces. He was dispatched to Britain in 1942, serving in Germany and France before the liberation of its capital.
Even as the Occupation came to an end, he remained in Paris in order to meet its cultural elite, intellectuals and painters including Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein. His acquaintance with them put him in contact with avant-garde theorist Andre Lhote and printmaker Jacques Villon, under whom he resumed his artistic training in 1944. His first exhibition was subsequently mounted at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
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Career
Gray did not come back across the Atlantic until late 1946, settling in New York for a few years before moving to his parents’ 94-acre property in Connecticut. Over the next decade, he became a regular in the national art circuit, participating in prominent festivals and expositions such as the Corcoran Biennial, the Whitney Annual Exhibition and the Annual Exhibition of Abstract and Surrealist Art in Toledo.
In the 1960s, the artist formed a close friendship with the Color Field painter Barnett Newman who urged him to abandon his Francophilia in favor of a more individual voice.
What emerged was meditative and minimalist in comparison to his earlier style, dissolving lines in a sea of color with the distinctive restraint of Oriental traditions.
This shift in aesthetics was met with critical acclaim, with numerous awards and showcases of his work in New York and abroad. Gray remained an active figure in the art world well into the 1990s, producing new compositions in his studio in Warren.
Later Life
In 1957, he married the Polish-American writer Francine du Plessix. His wife of 47 years, Francine du Plessix Gray reported that he suffered a “massive subdural hematoma after he fell on ice and hit his head.” He passed away in Hartford Connecticut on December 8, 2004 after his fall.
Timeline
- 1918 – Born in New York
- 1924 – Enrolls at the Ethical Cultural School
- 1933 – Attends Phillips Academy in Andover
- 1940 – Graduates from Princeton
- 1941 – Moves to Tucson
- 1942 – Returns to New York to enlist in the army
- 1946 – Returns to New York after serving in Germany, Britain and France
- 1949 – Moves into his parents’ home in Warren
- 1957 – Marries Francine du Plessix
- 2004 – Dies of a subdural hematoma
Major Exhibitions
- 1948 – Jacques Seligmann Gallery, New York
- 1955 – Philadelphia Art Alliance
- 1964 – Staempfli Gallery, New York
- 1967 – Saidenberg Gallery, New York
- 1970 – Betty Parsons Gallery, New York
- 1977 – Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
- 1981 – Betty Parsons Gallery, New York
- 1984 – Armstrong Gallery, New York
- 1990 – Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York
- 1991 – Eva Cohon Gallery, Chicago
- 1998 – Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
- 1996 – Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase
Museums/Collections
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
- Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Wash. D.C.
- Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury
Books/Publications
- “Cleve Gray” by Nicholas Fox Weber
- “Cleve Gray: Man and Nature” by Cleve Gray,
Karen Wilkin and Francine du Plessix - “Cleve Gray: Paintings” by Thomas B. Hess
- “Cleve Gray: A Considered Life” by Claire Giblin
