Saul White's career as an artist, musician, and poet began in Los Angeles where, during high school, he befriended artist Wallace Berman, often considered the spiritual leader of the Southern California Beats. In his senior year White developed a serious interest in music and landed a position as record librarian at KFWB, one of Los Angeles’s earliest jazz radio stations. After serving in the Korean War, White abandoned his career in the music industry to become a painter. He studied at the Otis Art Institute on a fellowship in the mid-1950’s and took a storefront studio in Venice Beach on Ocean Avenue, which became a gathering place for artists Berman, Edward Kienholz, and John Altoon. Venice was then Los Angeles's counterpart to the North Beach Beat scene, and White began writing poetry and became a regular at Lawrence Lipton’s Sunday evening "literary salons," where poetry readings and wide-ranging discussions were attended by poets such as Stuart Perkoff, Bruce Boyd, Tony Scibella, and Charlie Foster. The rhythms of White's jazz-inspired work caught the attention of Kenneth Rexroth and Kenneth Patchen, who invited him to read with them in North Beach. Although White continued throughout his life to write poetry, he concentrated on painting and printmaking. In 1958, he moved to New York, where he befriended the luminaries of abstract expressionism Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline and became a familiar name in Greenwich Village artistic circles. In the early 1960’s de Kooning invited him to live and work with him in East Hampton, where he helped build the older artist’s studio. It was at this time, under the mentorship of de Kooning, that White became convinced of the permanent viability of expressive abstraction, regardless of the dictates of fashion. In the ensuing decades, even though painting itself became anachronistic in the eyes of the art world, White continued to explore his chosen style of abstraction. This exhibition presents a small group of White’s work from the past two decades, selected in conjunction with the artist shortly before his death in May of 2003.
White, Saul "Untitled" Works on Paper (not prints) Acrylic on Paper
Hand Signed
Signed lower right
Edition #
Original
Provenance & Extra Info
Seller has an email from Saul White's son Aaron representing the Saul White Estate verifying the work as authentic. Seller also has an email from the O'Melveny Gallery in Los Angeles, the gallery that represents the Estate placing a value on the painting. The painting was received as a gift from a Law Firm that represented Saul White.
Excellent Condition
The painting and frame are in excellent condition
Retail Price
$4,000
Asking Price
$3,400
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Saul White's career as an artist, musician, and poet began in Los Angeles where, during high school, he befriended artist Wallace Berman, often considered the spiritual leader of the Southern California Beats. In his senior year White developed a serious interest in music and landed a position as record librarian at KFWB, one of Los Angeles’s earliest jazz radio stations. After serving in the Korean War, White abandoned his career in the music industry to become a painter. He studied at the Otis Art Institute on a fellowship in the mid-1950’s and took a storefront studio in Venice Beach on Ocean Avenue, which became a gathering place for artists Berman, Edward Kienholz, and John Altoon. Venice was then Los Angeles's counterpart to the North Beach Beat scene, and White began writing poetry and became a regular at Lawrence Lipton’s Sunday evening "literary salons," where poetry readings and wide-ranging discussions were attended by poets such as Stuart Perkoff, Bruce Boyd, Tony Scibella, and Charlie Foster. The rhythms of White's jazz-inspired work caught the attention of Kenneth Rexroth and Kenneth Patchen, who invited him to read with them in North Beach. Although White continued throughout his life to write poetry, he concentrated on painting and printmaking. In 1958, he moved to New York, where he befriended the luminaries of abstract expressionism Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline and became a familiar name in Greenwich Village artistic circles. In the early 1960’s de Kooning invited him to live and work with him in East Hampton, where he helped build the older artist’s studio. It was at this time, under the mentorship of de Kooning, that White became convinced of the permanent viability of expressive abstraction, regardless of the dictates of fashion. In the ensuing decades, even though painting itself became anachronistic in the eyes of the art world, White continued to explore his chosen style of abstraction. This exhibition presents a small group of White’s work from the past two decades, selected in conjunction with the artist shortly before his death in May of 2003.
