McCormick Gallery | Melville Price

Melville Price (1920 - 1970) Melville Price was born in Kingston, NY in 1920 and died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1970. Working in New York City in the 1940s he became one of the youngest members of the Abstract Expressionist movement. His earliest influences were Joseph Stella who became a mentor in 1939 and Franz Kline with home he shared a close, lifelong friendship. After experimentation with Cubist and Surrealist based imagery Price made his breakthrough about 1948 with the "Maze Series," a body of completely original, complex and organically twisting abstractions. With the "Maze" paintings Price began to gain critical notice with exhibitions at Peridot, Egan, Hugo, Bodley and Iolas Galleries. In 1951 he was included in the seminal 9th St. Show and was invited to join the "Club".

In spite of his growing success he, like most of his colleagues, suffered from chronic poverty. Beginning in 1951 Price began commuting to Philadelphia where the painter Leonard Nelson had helped him secure a teaching job at the Museum School. He eventually moved there becoming a full-time faculty member. In Philadelphia he exhibited at Dubin and Hendler Galleries and, in 1955, married one of his students, Barbara Gillette. The couple soon moved to New Hope, a small village on the Delaware River where he began his next major cycle of paintings — "The New Hope Series." Reflecting the artist's new-found happiness, these colorful, large canvases were a complete departure from the "Maze" works but also unlike anything anyone else was doing.In 1958 Price accepted an excellent job opportunity at the University of Alabama where he remained until his untimely death in 1970 at the age of 50. Over those twelve years he created some of his most compelling work. In 1960 he began a series of small oils that became the basis for "Black Warrior," a 10 x 16 foot work completed in a rented studio in Brigantine, NJ, where he worked while on sabbatical from the University. He followed the success of the "Black Warrior" series with a group of massive collage based canvases. He began incorporating words, numbers and fragmented elements of advertising onto the surfaces along with paint and collage.

In 1962 Price began showing again in New York at Gallery Mayer. At the time of his death from a heart attack he had begun a new series of works and was actively pursuing new representation in New York. After his death Price was honored with retrospective exhibitions at the Speed Museum in Louisville, KY and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC. He is represented in numerous private and public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Corcoran Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum County Museum of Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Untitled (Fragile)

Untitled (Fragile), c. 1960
11 x 9 inches
pencil on paper
#4458

Maze Series

Maze Series, 1949
oil on masonite
8 1/4 x 14 inches
signed and dated verso
exhibited: Suitcase Paintings - Small Scale Abstract Expressionism, 2006-2008
#4764

Untitled

Untitled, c.1959
oil on paper
18 x 24 inches
estate signature stamp at lower left
estate of Larry Price, the artist¡s brother
#6544

Untitled

Untitled, 1959
oil on canvas
23 x 27 1/2 inches
signed and estate stamped verso
Provenance: The artist¡s brother, Larry Price
#6565

Untitled (New Hope Series)

Untitled (New Hope Series), 1956-57
oil on canvas
70 x 45 inches
signed and dated on stretcher, estate label & stamp verso
ex-collection: Greenville County Museum of Art
#7159

The Black

The Black, 1960
oil on canvas
20 x 24 inches
signed, dated and titled verso
#3819

Untitled (Fragile)

Untitled (Fragile), c. 1960
pencil on paper
11 x 9 inches
#4458

Untitled, c. 1961

oil on paper

18 x 24 inches

#6552

Maze Series

Maze Series, 1948-49
oil on canvas board
18 x 24 inches
signed verso
estate stamp verso
#374

Big Red

Big Red, 1955
oil on canvas
77 x 87 inches
signed, dated, and titled verso
estate stamp verso; exhib: The Persistence of Abstraction, Pushkin
#836

Untitled

Untitled, c.1960
gouache/acrylic on paper mounted to canvas
19 x 24 inches
signed at lower left
estate stamp verso
#2400