Provenance:

Acquired at a New York gallery, circa 1960s.
Private Collection, Ontario.

Literature:

Harold Rosenberg, “The Tradition of the New,” New York, 1959, page 45.

Joan Murray, “Painters Eleven in Retrospect,” Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, 1979, page 15.

Note:

Ronald moved to New York in 1955, shortly after the first Painters Eleven exhibitions, and quickly became immersed in the energetic art scene there. The artist played an important role in securing the American Abstract Artists’ invitation to the Painters Eleven to exhibit in New York in April of 1956 and he also pressured members of the Painters Eleven to accept (and finance) Clement Greenberg’s visit in 1957. That same year, Ronald’s first solo exhibition was held at Kootz Gallery in New York, where he remained on retainer with a remarkable roster of abstract artists until 1963.

Joan Murray notes that upon his move to the city, Ronald “quickly discovered the work of Jackson Pollock, which he was always to admire.” That admiration shines through in Ronald’s magnificent homage to action painting here in “Memories, New York”. Pollock was certainly on the minds of New York art critics, collectors and artists, mourning the sudden loss of the postwar American icon in August of 1956.

In gestural abstraction, the canvas becomes what art critic Harold Rosenberg described as “an arena in which to act”. Ronald is certainly in action here; his dripping, splattering and pouring of paint upon the canvas reveals a composition that is bursting with bold colour, spontaneity and energy. Vivid blue and yellow calligraphic lines fill the canvas, truly solidifying Ronald’s reputation as an outstanding colourist. Joan Murray writes how residing in New York made Ronald’s experience “different from other members of the Eleven. For Ronald, New York and its art atmosphere ‘makes you rise up to your best.’” In “Memories, New York”, Ronald does just that.