WHERE: Hirschl & Adler Modern Gallery.
WHEN: On view Thursday, January 10 to February 9, 2013.
TITLE: Electric Pencil
BRIEF ABOUT: The show will consist of 30 drawings created over 45 years when Outsider artist James Edward Deeds, Jr. (1908-1987) was a mental patient in State Hospital No. 3 in Nevada, Missouri. His hand-bound album of 140 double-sided drawings, numbered in the upper corner was given to his family in 1970 when he was discharged from the institution.
When the family was moving, the book was accidentally discarded; however unknown to the family, the book was rescued from a trash heap by a boy who kept it for 40 years. Deed’s identity was completely unknown except for one obvious clue, being, the paper he drew on was the hospital’s stationary.
After extensive forensic research by New York based sculptor and art dealer Harris Diament, a private investigator and Springfield News-Leader reporter Juliana Goodwin, the identity of the person who created a hand bound book of 283 drawings was discovered.
Today, Hirschl &Adler Modern Gallery curator Tom Parker believes this collection of work done in crayon and colored pencils by Mr. Deeds is a perfect example of outsider art because “outsider artists use the tools they have at hand to make complex, beautiful imagery.” In an interview with the Riverfront News of St. Louis, Parker compares Edward Deeds to other outsider artists. “Artists that are the purest example of art brut (the original French term for outsider art) … are truly intuitive…..” he explained.
Editor’s note: In March 2013, a much larger selection of Mr. Deeds’ work- 60 to 80 drawings- will debut at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, the world’s premiere showcase for outsider art.
MORE DETAILS: The show is open and free to the public. The gallery is located at 730 5th Avenue (@ 57 St), 4 floor. To reach Tom Parker, call 212.535.8810 or see: www.hirschlandadler.com.
About
Hirschl & Adler Galleries was founded in 1952 by Norman S. Hirschl and Abraham M. Adler. In 1967 Stuart P. Feld joined the firm as a partner, and since 1982 has served as its President. In February 2011, they moved to expanded quarters in the Crown Building at the world-renowned crossroads of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.
As in the past, the gallery continues to specialize in American and European paintings, watercolors, drawings and sculpture from the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries, including American prints of all periods and American decorative arts from 1810 to 1910. Its contemporary arm, Hirschl & Adler Modern, has developed a select group of established and emerging realist artists and also features American and European art from the Post-War period.