Louise Pershing Oil Painting on Wood Abstract Composition

Item Details

An oil painting on wood abstract composition by Louise Pershing (Pennsylvania, 1904-1986). Three waves of white color follow one another from left to right with abstracted forms of black and brown throughout. Signed on a label to the verso.

Louise Pershing was the niece of US Army General John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing (1860-1948). She studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts in Philadelphia as well as the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, and the University of Pittsburgh. Most notably, she studied under celebrated abstract expressionist Hans Hoffman in Cape Cod. Louise was a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society, and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. She had a solo exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art in 1945.

One of Pershing’s largest works can be found along Sixth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. Executed in 1974, The Flow sculpture was produced from COR-TEN steel, a type of steel invented by the U.S. Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh. Inspired by a visit to their open hearth, the sculpture is an abstract depiction of steelmaking.

Condition

- to fair; paint loss and chipping to the lower left; scratches and marks present throughout.

Dimensions

Item #

17DCC211-697