Provincetown Artists: Lillian Orlowsky

Lillian Orlowsky (1914-2004) is one of the great abstract painters associated with the Provincetown scene. When she studied there with Hans Hofmann one of her fellow students was Robert DeNiro, Sr., who, as their careers developed, never really worked in a pure abstract style as Orlowsky did. The images posted here (which are from Acme Fine Art in Boston, who represents Orlowsky's work) demonstrate the beauty and musicality of abstract painting at its finest. Like much instrumental jazz, the content of the pieces are found less in narrative storytelling than in the dynamic, rhythmic relationships among color and form. These relationships are actually the story that is being told.

Lillian Orlowsky, Red Dominance, c. 1952, 30 x 24 in.

In this interview with PBS, Orlowsky talks about things she learned from studying with Hoffman:

"Hofmann didn’t think in terms of dark and light but he thought in relation to color. And it was color light that he was thinking of. So he transformed it. You don’t experience in Hofmann’s paintings an element like a photograph which is light and dark vanishing. But you feel an experience that each color has a life of its own and each color can go back and can go forward, both ways. Whereas, the academic point of view was that dark was a shadow. Well, the dark could be light if you’re using it as a color. So it depends what the relationships are to each other. Hofmann’s colors move back and forth, which we call a “plastic relationship” of the picture plane. They kind of revolve and rotate around the surface. You don’t feel that anything sticks to the surface. It’s always moving."

Lillian Orlowsky, Rose Still Life, c. 1955, 36 x 28 in.

Lillian Orlowsky, Dance Movement, c. 1942, 24 x 18 in.

 
OTHERS IN THE P-TOWN ARTISTS SERIES

Blanche Lazzell, white line wood cuts

Hans Hofmann, abstract oil

Michael Mazur, Rocks and Water, monotype

Michael Mazur, Pond Edge II, oil painting

Irene Lipton, untitled oil

Mary Giammarino, impressionist oil