May 22 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2705 -

Sale 2705 - Lot 99

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
CHARLES SELIGER (1926 - 2009, AMERICAN)
Oriflamme II.

Oil on canvasboard, 1960. 510x406 mm; 20x16 inches. Signed and dated indistinctly, lower left.

Provenance
Collection of Commerical Decal/Charles K. Silberstein, Mount Vernon, New York.
Thence by descent to current owner, New York.
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Additional Details

Seliger was an Abstract Expressionist artist, born and raised in Manhattan. He was one of the original generation of Abstract Expressionist artists connected with the New York School and was one of the youngest artists to exhibit at Peggy Guggenheim's The Art of This Century Gallery, New York (the forerunner to the Betty Parsons Gallery). In 1943, Seliger met and befriended Jimmy Ernst the son of Max Ernst (married to Peggy Guggenheim at the time), and who at the age of 23 years was just a few years older than Seliger. Drawn into the circle of the avant-garde in New York through his friendship with Ernst, Seliger's paintings attracted the attention of Howard Putzel who worked with Peggy Guggenheim. At 19, Seliger was included in Putzel's groundbreaking exhibition "A Problem for Critics" at the 67 Gallery, New York. Also, in 1945 he had his first solo show at the Art of This Century Gallery. Seliger showed his paintings there until 1947 when Guggenheim closed the gallery and returned to Europe (the representation of her artists was taken over by Betty Parsons). At the age of only twenty Seliger's oil painting "Natural History: Form within Rock," 1946, was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for the permanent collection.

Seliger's unique style of layered pigment with intricate line differentiates him from his peers of the American Abstract Expressionist painters. He typically worked in a small intimate scale like his friend, Mark Tobey, whom he exhibited with at the prestigious Willard Gallery, New York. His talents were employed by the Commercial Decal Corporation where he began his career designing patterns for decals that could be applied and fired on ceramics. He retired in 1993 with the position of Vice President of Design.

Commercial Decal was founded in Mount Vernon, New York in 1912 and was one of only a few firms of its kind in the United States. They produced decals for ceramics and glassware for major international brands. The introduction of photo color separation to the printing process by the company's president, Charles Silberstein, had great impact on the speed and accuracy of the printing process. Charles Seliger remained with the company until it closed in 1992 and he remained another year aiding in the archival preservation, donating printing documentation and pattern designs to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History in 1993.

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