"I’ll say something here about abstract painting – I wonder what we mean by abstract painting. I see it as a gradual sharpening of the artist’s power to express himself, his keener insight (also physically speaking) into the “real,” the paring away of more and more of the non-essential, - he no longer finds it necessary to build up the object he paints to a stage where it’s normally recognizable."
This excerpt is from Noble Curry's written essays, the date of writing unknown, on the nature of abstraction and modernity in mid-century painting. To read the full text of his essays, please click here.
During the 1940's, Noble's paintings and prints were becoming increasingly abstract, but some elements were still identifiable (in particular, faces). By the time the 1950's arrived, his art was identified as Abstract Expressionist. He painted in his home studio in North Olmstead, Ohio, producing canvases of heavily textured paint, some of which incorporated printed paper and cardboard. In March of 1953, Noble's paintings and those of an artist named Bret Eddy (I found no information about him after an internet search) were featured in a gallery show in New York City. The name of the gallery was Creative. Two reviewers described Noble's exhibited work in contemporary art journals. This reviewer, writing for The Art Digest, seems to have understood Noble's painting:
Noble Curry piles newspaper bits, torn cardboard strips and gobbed pigment into striking paintings of black and white impact, although other colors, Rouault-like, are discernible in the ensembles. He digs into dark turbulent areas to reveal other colors beneath, and, in a final resolution, presses broad white layers over the darker ones to achieve a highly charged spatial synthesis, powerful and plastic.
In another publication, the author of this review wrote with similar insight, referring to both artists represented in this show:
Eddy and Curry, both newcomers, combine forces in a show of opposites. Noble Curry, from Ohio, is the more forceful and more assured, and his abstract compositions (in heavy impasto shaped like putty) of plaster and oil incorporate torn composition board, newspaper and surfaces scratched so that the underlying board curls in an added texture. These compositions seem Non-Objective at first glance, but with study the irregular shapes and crushing wedges of white coalesce with dark linear rhythms to suggest images of amorphous heads.
In reading Noble's essays, I sense the intellectual challenge my great uncle undertook in describing his own painting and what artistic impulses he responded to. To convey in words such a deep and personal activity is something many painters don't even attempt. While he refers generally to painters who worked abstractly, I felt he was indeed describing his own creative process in words we might understand. According to Noble's daughters, he stayed in touch with fellow artists. I wonder if they exchanged their written thoughts on becoming "modern" artists early in the era of abstract styles.
“Modern Art” to begin with is only a term certain forms of art expression are identified with. The steady flow of man’s learning and his great advancement in other fields of knowledge is responsible for “modern art.” It came about simply because of man’s search for more interesting things to do. Noble W. Curry
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All of the artwork depicted in these articles belongs to the family members of Wylie W. Curry and Noble W. Curry, who reserve all rights to reproduction of the images. If any reader should know the whereabouts of any additional artwork by these two painters, please contact me. Thank you!
