Sale 213 Lot 294

ELAINE KURTZ
American, 1928-2003
White Abstract, 1980
Oil on canvas.
Verso pencil signed and dated "80". Unframed.
6 x 6 feet
$800-1,200

ARTIST PROFILE: Elaine Kurtz (1928–2003) was a distinguished American painter whose career evolved from "cool, intellectual geometric abstractions" in the 1970s to a profound, minimalist exploration of the natural world. In her later "Alluvial Paintings" series, she formulated a unique artistic geology by incorporating raw materials like sand, pebbles, and mica directly into her medium, effectively tracing paint back to its mineral origins. This approach distilled natural phenomena into a "pure composition" that sought to balance the earth’s crust with the artist's touch, moving beyond the traditional confines of the canvas. Recognized for her exquisite sensitivity to the environment, Kurtz’s legacy was further cemented by a major posthumous retrospective of 76 works organized by the Woodmere Art Museum.