Nearly 100 works by Frederick Hammersley are on view in our current exhibition “Frederick Hammersley: Paintings and Works on Paper.” Featuring paintings, works on paper, computer drawings, prints and photographs, produced between 1937-1990, the exhibition covers the entirety of his life’s work. In the exhibition catalogue, art critic and journalist Hunter Drohojowska-Philp follows the trajectory of Hammersley’s varied career in her essay “An Artist of Consistent Inconsistency.” 

“Frederick Hammerlsey (1919-2009) was consistently inconsistent. One of the most sophisticated painters to emerge in post-war Los Angeles, he was simultaneously rigorous and fluid in his methods and intentions. He was admired for his geometric and organic abstract paintings yet he never wavered from a parallel discipline of figurative drawing.”

Many of the works have remained unseen until now, particularly his drawings, a practice he maintained throughout his lifetime. Kathleen Shields, the Executive Director of the Frederick Hammersley Foundation, contributed a catalogue essay that discusses the role drawing played in Hammersley’s development as an artist.

“Drawing provided Hammersley with a constant source of visual stimulation and connection with the world and with himself, even and especially during the times when he was not actively painting. ‘I always think of drawing as the Queen behind the throne,’ Hammersley said, ‘She is the power, The Kings wears the costume; but he’s a bicep man. The woman is the person of feeling, and that’s where the power lies.’”

“Frederick Hammersley: Paintings and Works on Paper” is on view through June 24, 2017.