Phillip Callahan Original Abstract Watercolor Painting

Item Details

An original watercolor painting on paper by American artist Phillip Callahan. Two abstract figures in purple and green interact in an abstracted background. Unsigned. Unframed.

Phillip Callahan (1918-1991) was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. His work reflects the modernist style characteristic of mid-century art. Beginning in the 1930s when he was just a teenager, Callahan began exhibiting his work in New York art galleries, several of which earned him citations from the New York Art Critics Society. Callahan later began studies at the Worcester Institute of Fine Art and eventually moved to Paris in the late 1930s to continue studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. World War II brought a stop to Callahan’s studies in Paris and by 1941, he joined the United States Army. While in the army, he painted murals at Fort Langdon in New Hampshire while also serving in England and in France. When the war ended in 1945, Callahan began his artistic studies again at the Art Students League of New York where he studied under Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984), a Czech-American artist heavily influenced by Cubism. He also exhibited at galleries throughout New York, including the New York Contemporary Arts Gallery, which was known for jumpstarting the careers of several modern artists including Mark Rothko. Callahan moved back and forth between the United States and Europe during the late 1940s and later moved permanently to New York during the early 1950s.

Condition

Uneven right edge.

Dimensions

Item #

18DAL037-030