Selina Trieff

Artist Info

Selina TrieffAmerican, 1934 - 2015

Along with her husband Robert Henry (b. 1933), Selina Trieff was a student of Hans Hofmann (1880-1966). Eager to learn from the renowned teacher, both Henry and Trieff began their careers with an abstract style. Citing early influences such as Hofmann and Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Trieff gained a wealth of knowledge from some of the most prominent figures in mid-century American art. Her use of opulent color echoes Hofmann's teachings in the tradition of Abstract Expressionism, whereas her figurative subject matter recalls the earlier tendencies of European Expressionists.

Now in her seventies, Trieff retired from overt abstraction. Her more recent canvases hybridize her abstract roots with an emphasis on theatrical portraits.

Distinguished for their lasting presence and influence on the art colony, both Henry and Trieff continue to leave their mark on the Provincetown community.

EXTENDED BIO

Selina Trieff (born in Brooklyn, 1934) is an American artist who has been painting and exhibiting for over fifty years.[1] Trieff paints archetypal figures in a flattened and heavily delineated manner, which acts at once as self-portraits and allegories for the human condition.[2] She developed her singular style of figuration through her strong abstract roots which continues to evolve to this day.[3] Although she most often paints figures and animals, Trieff considers herself an abstract artist.[4] Among her animal paintings are Green Goat with Moon (1983), Two Figures with Goat (1997), Three Figures with Green Goat (1992), and Connected (1996).[5]

Trieff's somewhat autobiographical gold-leaf and oil portraits of human figures, such as Three Graces, (2005), read paradoxically like characters on a modern stage wherein the painted figures who are neither male nor female, functioning as the face of the soul and the viewer, as if engaged in a dialogue.[6] Trieff uses oil and gold leaf on canvas.[7] In her paintings, Trieff conjures a cast of characters that can be both visually appealing and profoundly disturbing.[8] Trieff’s artwork is deeply autobiographical as her paintings and drawings represent herself as well as members of her immediate family.[9] Trieff’s characters are often androgynous, clothed in costumes from another time.1 The androgynous characters can be viewed as mysterious entities in the painting.[10] Trieff transforms the characters so that her paintings seem to refer to a nonspecific time.[11] Sometimes Trieff’s sober figures are accompanied by other entities such as skeletons or animals.[12] Often they are set on a stage, sometimes in twos and threes, holding hands, whispering to each other, as in Dancers, (1991) and Sweet (2008).[13] Reviewers have said that they provoke a powerful sense of mystery and myth a sense of old stories being told.[14]

New York Times art critic John Russell has called Trieff a “peculiar painter.” [15] Trieff’s artwork testifies to the strength of her contemplative sensibility and the quality of her workmanship.[16] The pensive, introspective character of Trieff’s work as well as its spirituality and its iconic format have all been attributed to the influence of the abstract painter Mark Rothko.[17] Trieff has myriad other influences: the confrontational quality of Watteau’s Pierrot; the structure of Velazquez’s Infanta series; the isolation of the wise fools of Shakespearean clowns; the flatness of Medieval painting; and the mystery of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and other films. All have played a role in her work from its earliest inceptions.[18] Trieff has been called "an American original" by New York Times art critic John Russell.[19]

Selina Trieff has had solo exhibitions at the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, CA, The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY; and The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY.[20] Trieff's work has been exhibited across the United States and in Europe, and is included in such public collections as the Brooklyn Museum, New York Public Library, and Provincetown Art Association and Museum.[21] Trieff studied at the Art Students League in New York (1951–1953) with Morris Kantor, at Brooklyn College (1953–1955) with Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko, with Hans Hofmann in New York and Provincetown. (1954–1956) Trieff has taught at schools such as the New York Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, Kalamazoo Art Institute, and New York Studio School. She is married to the painter Robert Henry. She divides her time between New York City and Wellfleet, Massachusetts.[22]

REFERENCES

Gillian, Drake. website images/selina-images/selina-article-10-17.pdf "The Images and Icons of Selina Trieff". Cape Arts Review. Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ "Exhibit Press Release". Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ "Selina Trieff". Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ "Berta Walker Gallery". Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ Drake, Gillian. "The Images and Icons of Selina Trieff". Cape Arts Review. Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ Marter, Joan (June 1986). "Confrontations: The Paintings of Selina Trieff". Arts Magazine.

Jump up ^ Raynor, Vivien (March 4, 1990). "2 Shows, Bad Girls and Personal Visions". New York Times.

Jump up ^ Robin, Corinne (April 1978). "Selina Trieff".

Jump up ^ Campbell, Lawrence (December 1986). "Selina Trieff at Graham Modern". Art in Magazine.

Jump up ^ Gillian, Drake. "The Images and Icons of Selina Trieff". Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ Drake, Gillian. "The Images and Icons of Selina Trieff". Cape Arts Reveiw. Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ Russell, John (12 June 1987). New York Times.

Jump up ^ Mullarkey, Maureen (16 April 2012). Art Week LA.

Jump up ^ "Laurel Tracy Gallery". Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ "Exhibit Press Release". Retrieved 5 May 2013.

Jump up ^ "Laurel Tracy Gallery". Retrieved 5 May 2013.