Oct 26, 2011 - Sale 2258

Sale 2258 - Lot 480

Price Realized: $ 6,480
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
JOHN FERREN
Untitled.

Oil on paper, 1932. 260x320 mm; 10 1/4x12 3/4 inches. Signed and dated in ink, lower right recto. Ex-collection Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, with the label on the frame back.

In an effort to blend purist discipline with more expressionistic strokes of whimsy, Ferren's paintings, since his move to Paris in 1931, articulated more firmly modeled curves, that sometimes suggest objects and figures. In Paris, he immersed himself in the culture and art of the time through meetings at cafes and workshops, such at Hayter's Atelier 17; he avoided the formal training of art institutions, unless offered to sit in on classes or informal drawing sessions such as those at the Sorbonne or Academie Ranson.

While John Ferren (1905-1970) initially trained as a sculptor, his exposure to painting and prints left an indlible mark on his work, so much that his abstract paintings are most noted. His marriage to the daughter of the Spanish artist Manuel Ortixz de Zarate further connected him with practicing artists, especially the Parisian-Spanish painters Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, the latter certainly influential in on the present painting in color, form and overall conception. Even the pastiche of muted white at the bottom shows some understanding of Hans Hofmann, whom Ferren met on a trip to Saint Tropez.

Following his divorce in 1938, Ferren moved to New York where he integrated himself into the Parisian-like bohemian New York School that allowed him to assimilate the ideas and artistic expressions he saw fit. He exhibited with the American Abstract Artists group and achieved considerable recognition, enough to even move back to California, where he spent his childhood, and worked as an art consultant for Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry (1955) and Vertigo (1958), while also opening his own studio.