6: SALLY COOK (1932) GEOMETRIC CUBIST PORTRAIT NY C. 1965

Sally Cook (Born 1932)
Untitled (Portrait of Hope) (Circa 1963)
The oil on canvas of a deconstructed sitter, the artist's good friend Hope, and an off-kilter compote of fruit, is signed lower right front.

Sally Cook is a Buffalo, New York artist who moved to downtown Manhattan in the late 1950s at the urging of her Albright Art School instructor Peter Busa. She easily found a place in that Tenth Street co-operative galleries scene of the day where artist-run galleries were clustered. Her works of abstract expressionism, like the painting up for bid here, and an earlier example also in this sale, were exhibited at the Camino, Phoenix, and Feiner galleries. She often shared exhibition space with luminaries like Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Alice Neel. She was elected to the Artist's Club (also known as 'The Club'), a hub founded by de Kooning, Kline, Hans Hofmann, and others, where artists gathered to exchange ideas and inspire each other. Around 1960, she even gave talks at the club and at the Camino gallery. In 1963 she was featured on the CBS television series Eyewitness as one of only two living artists, Marcel Duchamp was another, highlighted as continuing the modernist legacy in contemporary painting.
Measures 40 x 30 inches.
Very good untouched condition. There are no issues of scratches, losses, repairs, in-painting or touch-up to any degree.
Provenance: Property of the subject's relative, a close friend of the artist.
$2,000 - $3,000