Barbara Grossman's Survey Exhibition at New York Studio School Showcases Three Decades of Work

Barbara Grossman's traveling exhibition concludes at the New York Studio School from May 12 to June 26, 2005, featuring paintings, oil pastels, monoprints, and drawings. The show includes a brochure with an essay by painter and critic Hearne Pardee, who describes the work as radiant and expansive. Grossman's art employs color and pattern, often anchored by human figures in domestic settings, where skin tone serves compositional purposes rather than racial references. Early pieces like the 1976 charcoal "Apple Tree" and oil "Louise in Rocker" reveal her structural focus, while later oil pastels and monotypes show figures blending into backgrounds, building complex patterns. Graham Nickson noted the psychological interplay in her grouped figures, termed a conversation. The exhibition highlights Grossman's evolution toward abstract expressionist design, with a call for re-emphasizing linear clarity to distinguish composition from decoration, echoing Gombrich's views on ornamentation in art.