Lot #148 - Mavis Pusey, 1928-2019 (USA/England)

Mavis Pusey, 1928-2019 (USA/England)

Estimate: 9 000 - 18 000 £

Auction ended

Lot Description

Mavis Iona Pusey (1928-2019). Oil on canvas, size 50,5 x 63,5 cm (20 x 25 inches). Frame dimensions 53 x 68 cm (20 3/4 x 26 3/4 inches). Signed on the lower right. (In the 1960s Pusey moved to London to work as a fashion designer for Singer. In 1968 Pusey moved to Paris, returning to New York, she took classes with Robert Blackburn to learn the process of painting and printmaking. During her three years there, Pusey became especially fond of painting the energy and rhythm of construction sites. For her, construction and demolition represented a cycle of death and rebirth, she herself said that "in each of my works.... there is a circle representing the infinite continuation of the natural order and of all matter." By 1971, her work had been acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, and the following year she received a grant from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. The painting "Dejigea" on display at the Whitney, depicts geometric shapes in various geometric configurations, making room for herself in an art community dominated by white males).