Giorgio Cavallon

Biography

Giorgio Cavallon was born March 3, 1904 in Sorio, near Venice Italy and immigrated to the USA in 1920. He became a US citizen in 1929.

Studied

Giorgio Cavallon studied: in 1926 at the National Academy of Design, New York City; in 1927 and 1928 with Charles Hawthorne, Provincetown, Massachusetts; from 1934 evenings with Hans Hofmann’s School of Fine Art.

Participation in the WPA

In 1934 Giorgio Cavallon was employed in the Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) Easel & Mural Division as Arshile Gorky’s assistant.

Participation in American Abstract Artists group

In 1936 Giorgio Cavallon joined other like-minded artists in founding the American Abstract Artists group. This major movement of abstract art in America began in the 1930s with a strong direction toward an emphasis in structural quality in art. Juan Gris statement sums up the movement:

"Artists have thought to produce a poetic effect with a beautiful model or beautiful subjects. We on the other hand believe that we can produce it with beautiful elements, for those of the intellect are certainly the most beautiful."

By the end of the 1940s Giorgio Cavallon connected to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including Paris.

Participation in the artists' annuals

In 1949 Giorgio Cavallon joined the "Artists' Club" located at 39 East 8th Street. He was chosen by his fellow artists to show in the Ninth Street Show held on May 21-June 10, 1951. The show was located at 60 East 9th Street on the first floor and the basement of a building which was about to be demolished.

"The artists celebrated not only the appearance of the dealers, collectors and museum people on the 9th Street, and the consequent exposure of their work but they celebrated the creation and the strength of a living community of significant dimensions."

Giorgio Cavallon participated from 1951 to 1957 in the invitational New York Painting and Sculpture Annuals including the Ninth Street Show. He was among the 24 out of a total 256 New York School artists who was included in all the Annuals. These Annuals were important because the participants were chosen by the artists themselves.

Giorgio Cavallon died on December 22, 1989 at New York Hospital. He was 85 years old and lived in Manhattan.

Selected solo exhibitions

1932: Bottega d’Arte, Venice, Italy

1934: A.C.A. Gallery, New York City

1940: Eight Street Playhouse Gallery, New York City

1946, 1948: Eagen Gallery, New York City

1957: Stable Gallery, New York City

1963: Kootz Gallery, New York City

1964: Weatherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina

1971, 1976: A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York City

1977: Neuberger Museum, Purchase, New York City

1977, 1981, 1986: Gruenebaum Gallery, New York City

1989: Paintings from the 1960s, Jason McCoy, Inc., New York City

1989: Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, California

1990: A Retrospective View, William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

Selected public collections

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Chase Manhattan Bank, New York City, New York

Fogg Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Grey Art Gallery, New York University, Manhattan, New York

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

Prudential Insurance Company of America, Newark, New Jersey

Singer Manufacturing Co., New York City, New York

The Bank of New York, New York City, New York

Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, New York

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York

University Art Museum, Berkeley, California