Winter Art & Design Auction
Sun, Dec 8, 2024 10:00AM EST
Lot 1063
Kathleen Parks Adkison (1917-2010) Oil on Canvas, Shape of Winter, 1967
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000
Bid Increments
| Price | Bid Increment |
|---|---|
| $0 | $10 |
| $200 | $25 |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $2,000 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
| $500,000 | $50,000 |
Titled "Shape of Winter," 1967. Signed and dated lower left, "Gemberling 67" (Gemberling was Adkison's maiden name). Gallery label from Gordon Woodside/John Braseth Gallery adhered to back. Canvas is in very good condition. Frame has small dents along edge (see photos). Visible canvas approx. 36 x 46 in. Frame approx. 38 x 48 in.
NOTE: This painting is not available for previewing on December 4th in Sunland, CA. Please request additional photos and condition report if desired. This painting will only be available for FLAT RATE SHIPPING of $250 DOMESTICÂ and $500 INTERNATIONAL. THERE IS NO LOCAL PICK UP FOR THIS PAINTING.
Kathleen Gemberling Adkison was one of the first American artists to abandon easels and traditional brushwork in favor of applying paint directly to canvases set on the floor. She learned this radical approach from her primary teacher, Mark Tobey. For his part, Tobey, while living in Seattle, had developed these techniques in an effort to produce paintings inspired by Oriental calligraphy.
Kathleen Gemberling was born July 5, 1917 in Beatrice, Nebraska. In 1936 her family moved to Seattle, where she attended West Seattle High School and began private art lessons with realist painter Leon Berbyshire.
From 1946-1950, she studied in Seattle with both Morris Graves and Mark Tobey, though it was Tobey whom she considered to be her most influential teacher.
Adkison (her married name) soon moved on to Spokane, Washington, where she set up a studio in the basement of her home. There, she stretched and primed canvases, laid them out on the floor, and poured, spattered, brushed, pooled and dripped paint on them to achieve her naturalistic effects. She also used the more traditional technique of working with encaustic or hot-wax to lend greater depth and luminosity to her oil painitng.
While Ms. Gemberling Adkison always accepted the label of abstract expressionist, she insisted that her artistic inspiration was rooted in nature, "its mystery, its surprise, its cycle of growth," as she told agents at one of the Seattle art galleries that represent her. This genesis is reflected in the titles that she consistently gave her works, such as New Season, Basalt Event, Winter Retreat and Crystalline Face. To find that inspiration she loved to observe nature in depth, taking long hiking and back-packing trips in Asia, Europe and around the United States.
Ms. Gemberling Adkison's first gallery show was at Zoe Dusanne Gallery in Seattle in 1958. Her first one-person exhibition was at Washington State University in 1960. The Seattle Art Museum presented her work in 1962, in a show curated by its founder and director Richard E. Fuller. Also in 1962, Adkison's piece Change-Over was displayed at the Seattle World's Fair exhibition.
Many years later, after a full career of museum and gallery shows and various awards, her work was presented in a 1999 retrospective at the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane. Her work was also included in the 2005 exhibition titled "Northwest Matriarchs of Modernism: 12 Proto-feminists from Oregon and Washington," at the Schneider Museum of Art, Southern Oregon University. As recently as 2009, her work was included in a group show at Gonzaga University.
Ms. Gemberling Adkison's work is held by many art museums, including the Seattle Art Museum, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Museum of Northwest Art, the Frye Art Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Boise Art Museum and the Museum of Northwest Arts and Culture. Her work is also held in numerous public, corporate and private collections, including the Washington State Capital Museum in Olympia.
Ms. Gemberling Adkison continued painting well into the first decade of the 21st century. She passed away on August 3, 2010 in Spokane, Washington.
Sources include:
Gordon Woodside/John Braseth Gallery, Seattle
Butler Institute of American Art
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
World and I Journal, 4/1997, article #15507
Domenico Mattozzi, Art Conservator
- Compiled and written by Robert E. Burns, researcher and collector.
The following information is from John S. Van Dewerker, son of the artist:
Kathleen's name changes include:
Kathleen A. Parks birth-1937
Kathleen A. Van Dewerker 1938-1954
Kathleen A. Gemberling 1955-1966
Kathleen A. Gemberling-Adkison 1967-1980
Kathleen A. Adkison 1980-2010
NOTE: This painting is not available for previewing on December 4th in Sunland, CA. Please request additional photos and condition report if desired. This painting will only be available for FLAT RATE SHIPPING of $250 DOMESTICÂ and $500 INTERNATIONAL. THERE IS NO LOCAL PICK UP FOR THIS PAINTING.
Kathleen Gemberling Adkison was one of the first American artists to abandon easels and traditional brushwork in favor of applying paint directly to canvases set on the floor. She learned this radical approach from her primary teacher, Mark Tobey. For his part, Tobey, while living in Seattle, had developed these techniques in an effort to produce paintings inspired by Oriental calligraphy.
Kathleen Gemberling was born July 5, 1917 in Beatrice, Nebraska. In 1936 her family moved to Seattle, where she attended West Seattle High School and began private art lessons with realist painter Leon Berbyshire.
From 1946-1950, she studied in Seattle with both Morris Graves and Mark Tobey, though it was Tobey whom she considered to be her most influential teacher.
Adkison (her married name) soon moved on to Spokane, Washington, where she set up a studio in the basement of her home. There, she stretched and primed canvases, laid them out on the floor, and poured, spattered, brushed, pooled and dripped paint on them to achieve her naturalistic effects. She also used the more traditional technique of working with encaustic or hot-wax to lend greater depth and luminosity to her oil painitng.
While Ms. Gemberling Adkison always accepted the label of abstract expressionist, she insisted that her artistic inspiration was rooted in nature, "its mystery, its surprise, its cycle of growth," as she told agents at one of the Seattle art galleries that represent her. This genesis is reflected in the titles that she consistently gave her works, such as New Season, Basalt Event, Winter Retreat and Crystalline Face. To find that inspiration she loved to observe nature in depth, taking long hiking and back-packing trips in Asia, Europe and around the United States.
Ms. Gemberling Adkison's first gallery show was at Zoe Dusanne Gallery in Seattle in 1958. Her first one-person exhibition was at Washington State University in 1960. The Seattle Art Museum presented her work in 1962, in a show curated by its founder and director Richard E. Fuller. Also in 1962, Adkison's piece Change-Over was displayed at the Seattle World's Fair exhibition.
Many years later, after a full career of museum and gallery shows and various awards, her work was presented in a 1999 retrospective at the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane. Her work was also included in the 2005 exhibition titled "Northwest Matriarchs of Modernism: 12 Proto-feminists from Oregon and Washington," at the Schneider Museum of Art, Southern Oregon University. As recently as 2009, her work was included in a group show at Gonzaga University.
Ms. Gemberling Adkison's work is held by many art museums, including the Seattle Art Museum, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Museum of Northwest Art, the Frye Art Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Boise Art Museum and the Museum of Northwest Arts and Culture. Her work is also held in numerous public, corporate and private collections, including the Washington State Capital Museum in Olympia.
Ms. Gemberling Adkison continued painting well into the first decade of the 21st century. She passed away on August 3, 2010 in Spokane, Washington.
Sources include:
Gordon Woodside/John Braseth Gallery, Seattle
Butler Institute of American Art
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
World and I Journal, 4/1997, article #15507
Domenico Mattozzi, Art Conservator
- Compiled and written by Robert E. Burns, researcher and collector.
The following information is from John S. Van Dewerker, son of the artist:
Kathleen's name changes include:
Kathleen A. Parks birth-1937
Kathleen A. Van Dewerker 1938-1954
Kathleen A. Gemberling 1955-1966
Kathleen A. Gemberling-Adkison 1967-1980
Kathleen A. Adkison 1980-2010
